Love to hate outsourcing
Traditionally the owners of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have embraced a love to hate attitude towards outsourcing IT and the companies offering these services. Founders of start-ups and entrepreneurs of SMBs in the business for the long haul have considered outsourcing a threat to corporate autonomy. Some may feel that they will lose control of their company should they choose to outsource their IT infrastructure management. Unfortunately, many SMBs that have adopted a negative stance to outsourcing suffer the consequences of inadequately managed technology and become victims of cybercrime, downtime and data loss.
SMBs don’t have the time or money
Uninformed SMB executives are reluctant to outsource IT, thinking that third-party involvement will impede communication with clients and the implementation of essential development projects will be hindered. But the same individuals are faced with familiar problems when trying to support all of their IT infrastructures needs using an in-house team: no money, no time and few resources.
IT engineers on the payroll usually occupy their days (at times, nights) troubleshooting hardware and software issues such as misbehaving printers or slow-loading apps. Overworked and bored from the monotony of mundane tasks, the IT guys have little or no time to focus on project development aimed at enhancing client experience and increasing revenue. According to the white paper, Today’s State of Work: The Productivity Drain produced by ServiceNow, a California-based cloud-based IT service management company, about 60% of SMB managers find the IT support time-consuming while 48% find the processes frustrating.
As always, cash comes into the overall equation. Unlike billion-pound operations such as Facebook, BP or Citigroup, the average SMB is limited by finite budgets and often run on a shoestring when riding the proverbial storm. Held back by these financial constraints, it is estimated that 65% of small-business IT budgets are allocated merely to keep the network and critical functions alive, but not kicking.
An SMBs IT expenditure should be an investment in improving operational efficiency and promoting competitiveness. Clearly, this is not the case. Time and money are over-spent on diagnosing and solving system problems, troubleshooting software faults and dealing with password issues. Sometimes, serious situations arise such as hacking attempts or virus-infected PCs. To rectify these eats away at IT budgets and all the while the clock is ticking.
Managed services as an alternative
For cash-strapped SMBs having inadequate in-house IT resources, there is an alternative. Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are external consultants that specialise in managing and monitoring IT networks, and the software, hardware and servers integral to the optimal functioning of systems. Using their expertise and experience gained from working with a diverse client base, the MSP will handle the daily routine IT support tasks meaning that internal engineers can be productively utilised in development processes. In short, the MSP will provide a fully-functional Network Operations Centre (NOC) and also apply thorough and comprehensive disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) solutions.
24/7 network management
The NOC, also termed the Network Management Centre, operates 24/7 and provides real-time internal monitoring of the SMB IT infrastructure. Using the NOC, the MSP keeps a watchful eye over all the critical endpoints thereby ensuring maximum uptime. Remotely, MSP engineers will monitor IT infrastructure health, capacity and security, making adjustments and modifications as needed, and effectively optimising network performance.
NOC capabilities also extend to include:
- application and software installation and updates
- email management tools
- data protection, compliance and security enforcement
- virus and malware scanning, detection and remediation
- firewall and intrusion prevention solutions
- backup and storage management
While an SMB may find it difficult to cope with the demands of 24/7 system support, the MSP is able to apply economies of scale and facilitate round the clock management and monitoring of IT operations.
Disaster recovery
In simple terms, DR is a set of tools and procedures used to restore an IT infrastructure to normality after being subjected to a disaster, either natural, environmental or caused by humans. A sound DR plan should guarantee minimal downtime and that critical business functions are back up and running with little or no disruption.
Business continuity
BC is a set of well-defined policies and procedures to ensure sustained business functioning following any disruptive event such as fire, theft, stock market fluctuation or network failure. This said, DR is an important subset of BC. More often than not, the owners and executives of SMBs lack the finance, resources and appropriate understanding to implement effective DR/BC strategies. This is where the MSP comes into play. Drawing on a wealth of acquired knowledge of business continuity solutions, the outsourced provider will provide a complete DR/BC package, which, by design, will match business operational needs should disaster prevail.
Other services
Besides continuous management of an IT infrastructure via a NOC, and sound DR/BC contingencies, the MSP can provide much more. Services include but are not limited to, bespoke data solutions, scalable cloud provision and hardware and software procurements.
The MSP can tailor-make a bespoke IT management package for any SMB offering fixed price costing and a detailed, yet easy to fathom, Service Level Agreement (SLA).
There is more
By forming a silent partnership with your local MSP, your company has nothing to lose. Truth be told, you will only witness increased productivity and revenue together with an IT infrastructure optimised for all your business needs. By handing over your IT to specialist engineers and consultants having superior technological capabilities, you and your team will be able to focus on meaningful development projects. Many organisations view outsourcing to an MSP as a cost-effective means to expand into new markets and cross international borders. Undoubtedly, with an MSP there is more.
