3 Managed Services to Drive Business Productivity

Many businesses balk at the vague notion of managed IT services. What are managed services, and what do they do? The answer, in short, is any ongoing supported service related to your business’s IT.

But don’t take that to mean that managed services lack specific, tangible approaches that benefit business productivity. Working with a qualified Managed Service Provider (MSP) has countless approaches that can raise productivity while letting you focus on your business mission instead of fixing your technology.

We’ve put together a list of three managed services that will raise your business’s productivity, along with brief explanations of how they do it. The results might surprise you.

Network security to reduce downtime

Cyberthreats are on the rise and the risks affects companies of every size and shape. In fact, almost half (43%) of all cyberattacks target SMBs. In spite of this, many SMBs lack a professional, guided approach to their network security. This can create a recipe for downtime and lost productivity.

Malware and ransomware attacks get more sophisticated every day. And all it takes is one negligent or uninformed employee’s click on a phishing email to infect your network or put you in a data ransom or data loss situation.

Such situations cost your company more than just expensive downtime (the average ransomware attack costs $100,000 due to downtime).  They can also damage your reputation with clients and even cause legal repercussions for your business.

By having a qualified MSP handle your network security, you drastically reduce the chances that any of the above scenarios will affect your company.

Given the costs of downtime and data loss, it will likely have a positive impact on your bottom line, too.

Backup services to prevent data loss

Modern businesses live and die by their mission-critical data and systems. 60% of SMBs that lose their critical data close up shop within six months. Traditional data backup approaches leave significant exposure to partial or complete data loss due to their lack of redundancy.

For example, if you’re not backing your data up offsite, you’re sitting on a ticking data loss time bomb. Your business is one disaster away from total data loss.

But even if you manage to restore from your backups using outdated processes, your recovery process will take far longer than if you leave your data backup to an MSP. That’s because most MSPs will help you develop a business continuity plan as part of your data backup strategy.

In other words, when your systems go down or hardware fails, you’ll get back to work with far less downtime and incurred costs.

That’s not to even mention the added military-grade security data centers provide – or multiple layers of redundancy.

Your data is your business, and you should protect it accordingly.

You’re a professional in your industry with valuable insider industry knowledge that allows you to succeed.  The right MSP will be an expert in protecting and backing up your data,  too. They can reduce your potential for downtime and preserve your productivity and reputation in the process.

Total network management and support for streamlined systems

Troubleshooting is a huge time suck. Combining network management services with an in-house team can free up their time to deal with other issues that are pertinent and specific to your individual company needs.

The break-fix approach to solving IT problems costs not only money, but valuable time.

By hiring an MSP to manage your network and provide 24/7 IT support, you get the benefit of professional guidance and problem solving from qualified engineers who specialize in the exact kinds of problems that plague networks like yours.

This allows your team to focus on business while they monitor and eliminate potential problems from behind the scenes. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as the saying goes.

Nowhere is that more true than when it comes to network management.

The summary

Whether you take a hybrid approach by outsourcing some tasks to an MSP and keeping others in house, or you decide to outsource all your IT needs to an MSP,  there’s no question that professional guidance can help your business be more productive.

It can also insulate you from a host of potential productivity and downtime issues before they happen.

Where that balance falls depends in large part on the specifics of your business, your budget, and your approach. Often, determining the final balance means having conversations both internally and with potential partners.

Regardless, the first step is arming yourself with the right information.