Managed Service Providers (MSPs) have increasingly been sought after to handle all things IT related for businesses who wish to outsource or collaborate with external IT partners. A pattern has emerged during recent times which has seen businesses opt to outsource their IT needs in lieu of hiring a full on internal IT department.
Due to the growth in MSPs, businesses often hire a few internal IT staff and outsource the rest for them to manage certain IT functions, including IT support helpdesks, storage and backups. Most MSPs start off with managing network and basic software infrastructure – and that is all some businesses need. The rise in mobility and access on demand has also seen the rise of cloud computing solutions – a popular service of any MSP. Having a business these days without any cloud infrastructure is just, simply put, living in the past – the rise of such work processes including crowd sourcing simply means the ability for collaboration should be the spine of any company. Managed service providers can set businesses up with cloud solutions that will fit any company structure or budget.
Some managed service providers are themselves dependent on clients – quality of service is usually high and for a managed service provider like IntelliTeK, every client isn’t just a statistic but instead consist of engineers who get to know client staff members by name and are able to offer around the clock customer support as well as provide on-site support where and when needed – in short, managed IT service providers adds customer service to their KPI’s so that you won’t feel like you’re talking to a robot when calling in or receiving automated email replies – action really is being taken.
Managed service providers are often comprised of Engineers from the ground up. Your standard Level 1 (L1) support person who answers the support phones and emails is most likely a trained IT Engineer of some sort and not just any body who answers the phone. If, like IntelliTeK, a managed service provider wants to provide the best customer service they will ensure that client calls and emails are answered to by a trained and qualified Engineer who will assess and fix the issues themselves. Whilst some companies do have call centres in place to handle the volume of calls, it can be safe to say that clients prefer to talk to people who are able to look into and fix the problem there and then, which is why managed service providers have the upper hand.
Packaging price points are usually discounted than going direct. MSPs have prices which are lower than regular consumer prices, they are flexible and can be negotiated especially with full-on managed IT services. Let’s not forget, with MSPs you have the chance to have access to the best technologies currently out there – web/email security, cloud CRM’s, to name a few. Nothing decays faster than technology, so it is essential that your managed service provider offers the best technologies out there to ensure you business productivity is optimised to its fullest.
When in doubt just leave it all up to them – managed IT can be a tricky thing to think about at times, with so many decisions to make – what is compatible with what? how much of this do I need for that? They are after all the experts in this area and as long as everything fits under your budget and requirements, then you should be able to keep close tabs on their performance and be one phone call away from speaking to an engineer at all times.