10 Signs That Your Business is Ready for Managed IT Services. Find out when your business will truly benefit from a Managed Service Provider

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1 10 Signs That Your Business is Ready for Managed IT Services Find out when your business will truly benefit from a Managed Service Provider

2 Are managed services necessary for your business? Any company doing business today is tied to their technology in a way that was unprecedented just a few short years ago. Without computers to streamline your work processes, for communications, and the collaboration and networking advantages that the web brings, your business just wouldn t be able to move forward, and you'd soon be left standing by your competitors. What's more, this vital technology is constantly evolving as new innovations are made. Even small companies with only one or two staff members might be making use of several computers and a range of software programs and mobile devices. And the more members of staff you employ, the bigger the headache of taking care of all this becomes - not to mention trying to keep up with all the latest developments in hardware and software that could impact your industry. If you run a small or medium enterprise then, IT is the backbone of your industry, but trying to oversee it all alone is a stressful and complex endeavour that eats into the time you'd prefer to give to your customers and staff, or devote to growing your business. You didn't set out to become an IT expert; you just want to offer your goods and services to people who need them. So having to sit and learn the minutiae of Microsoft's many upgrades, or how to unjam the printer and stop hackers getting at your data, can feel incredibly frustrating when you've a thousand other things requiring your attention. So what are your options? Well, one answer is to build a dedicated IT team for your company, but money is tight in most small and medium companies, and building an in-house team of troubleshooters is wildly expensive. Some companies rely on an IT technician to come in and fix things when they go wrong. The problem is that he or she relies on you for future work - and so likely won't be proactive in making sure things stay fixed. You'll also lose money in downtime waiting for repairs to be made. This is where MSPs come in. A Managed Service Provider can offer services and solutions to optimize your business s IT infrastructure. What's more, they can actively monitor your systems 24/7 to keep problems at bay - and all for a fixed monthly fee. Of course, whether you need to take on an MSP depends on your size, your needs, and your future plans for company growth. To help you learn more and understand the benefits, we've put together these 10 Signs That Your Business is Ready for Managed IT Services. They will help you to decide whether you're currently getting the most suitable tech support for your business, and to establish your other options. 10 SIGNS THAT YOUR BUSINESS IS READY FOR MANAGED IT SERVICES

3 1 2 3 Your Technology Infrastructure is Holding Your Company Back Hardware and software components of IT systems are quickly evolving and developing, and small businesses often find themselves not being able to keep up, or worse still held back by the prohibitive cost of upgrades. Managed Services allow you to enjoy the advantages of the latest IT solutions without breaking the bank, thanks to providers' close links with vendors that can result in procurement discounts. What's more, you get more out of your current setup, as software and patches are updated automatically - allowing you to benefit from robust security and enhanced IT performance. Your Current IT Support is Not Effective With many internal or external IT support departments / firms, professionalism and response times are key. These resources may have been good in the beginning, but the company has out grown their expertise or their resources have changed and effected the level of support you have been used to. With a quality MSP, you will be exposed to a complete IT support approach. This approach should include not only support, but preventative maintenance as well as Security and off site backup solutions. Some providers also include managing your Communication lines as well as your print services. You don t have the time and find it difficult to learn and implement new technologies A good MSP will learn about your business and what your 1-3 yr growth plan is before making any recommendations. The depth of knowledge and expertise in all aspects of technology will allow your company to cut to the front of the line when implementing technology. These same people should be able to help you avoid any of the pit falls that new technology can bring with it, like compatibility issues and solutions that are not the right fit for the overall vision of the company. Having a trusted IT advisor in an MSP will save you time, money and a whole lot of aggravation.

4 4 5 You don t have an updated disaster recovery plan in place Disasters happen, every day, whether it is a flood, tornado, fire or theft. If you have not planned appropriately, your company will be forced to scramble to find key customer data or it may be gone all together. Even if you do find it, how will you get it back in place and is it up to date? A good MSP will build a plan to keep your data safe, within your budget and plan out the steps to recovery, when you can think clearly and not in a panic during a disaster. No one thinks it can happen to them, but we have seen companies with hundreds of employees go out of business after a tornado hit their building. They did not have the time to plan, before the worst unfortunately happened. You experience downtime A good MSP will be able to track all aspects of your network and pinpoint why a problem is occurring that is causing you downtime. The very good MSP s will be able to avoid this downtime all together with preventative maintenance and proactive management. The MSP should be giving you options on how to avoid these issues and outages in the future. The more equipment you have in place to avoid outages usually means a larger price tag. The solutions should match your budget and the potential loss of revenue you may suffer due to an outage. If you have had more than one outage in a year, you may want to consider other MSP options.

5 6 7 You are not sure what IT equipment / software you have and is it healthy When you use an MSP, they should be loading up monitoring software that will give you an Asset Management list of all of your connected equipment. They should also be able to dashboard or color code the health of all of these systems, like your servers and PC s. Your other key equipment, like your routers and switches should be monitored as well to avoid any costly outages. You don t have access to dashboards to see key business metrics What gets measured gets done! Great MSP s can load up software that will allow visibility into your network and all the Key Performance Indicators that are necessary for a healthy network. If you are looking at upgrading all of your PC s wouldn t it be helpful to know which PC s may be OK to keep or may just need a RAM upgrade to make the cut? With dash boarding, you can make an educated decision, instead of guessing, which will save you time and money.

6 8 You don t have up to date documentation and it is unclear how everything works If you have internal IT people or even an IT provider, you may want to ask for the latest documentation on your network. There should NOT be an extra charge for this, after the initial building of the documentation. If you partner with a solid MSP, they will have records of all of the inputted support tickets and documentation on all aspects of your network. The MSP should provide a nice diagram that explains your network in a simple, visual form, so a person that is not technical can have an understanding of how it is all connected Your spending too much time handling IT related issues Technology should be a tool and should work to help you build your business, not distract from it. This is a KEY indicator that you need to partner with an MSP to help you manage your IT. I am guessing you are in the business you are in, because you are good at it and the last thing you want to do is be an expert in IT. Why struggle with these IT issues, when you can work with an MSP to ease this daily frustration and work with you to build a plan to avoid issues in the future! If you have multiple IT issues every day, this is not normal and you should seek a provider or a different provider.

7 10 Your company is growing and you have no clear IT roadmap When companies are growing, their focus should be on servicing their clients. Technology is key in scaling and servicing your clients, so you can keep growing! Think of your IT roadmap as the road your company is driving on to get to where it wants to be. Knowing where you are going is a big factor that the MSP can help your company determine with inquiry, insight and experience. If you are interviewing an MSP and they do not understand the concept of an IT Roadmap, keep looking.

8 Recap: 1 Your Technology Infrastructure is Holding Your Company Back 1 You don t have access to dashboards to see key business metrics Your Current IT Support is Not Effective You don t have the time and find it difficult to learn and implement new technologies You don t have an updated disaster recovery plan in place You experience downtime You don t have up to date documentation and it is unclear how everything works Your spending too much time handling IT related issues Your company is growing and you have no clear IT roadmap 6 You are not sure what IT equipment / software you have and is it healthy If you identify with one or more if these signs, your business may be ready for managed services Request your free consultation today! Phone: sales@networkscr.com