Benefits of Managed IT Services for SMEs

The benefits and advantages of Managed IT Services for SME's

Outsourced IT services? This is actually a great option for small and medium size businesses (SME's). In this article we discuss the benefits of Managed IT Services for businesses.

Businesses of all sizes rely on fast computer networks and reliable IT to operate and maximise their efficiency. Do you hire a dedicated IT manager or in-house team, or do you outsource the work to another company that specialises in the type of IT your business needs? While many small business owners have concerns about costs, having managed IT services can actually provide an affordable solution for all your tech issues and maintenance tasks for a fixed monthly fee.

Before explaining the managed IT services benefits, let's talk about managed services in general.

What are managed services?

Managed services are when a company outsources certain tasks to a third-party provider. Outsourcing is common in many industries and increasingly so in the IT services sector, particularly for business processes, application services and infrastructure solutions.

Today it is common to have Software as a Service (SaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS), a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). As technology gets more and more complex, it only makes sense to leave it to specialists in order to keep up with the pace of innovation. That's why many technologies and processes are already being outsourced.

Managed IT service providers, also known as MSPs, work across a range of sectors and industries. There are numerous benefits of hiring managed IT services for your core and extended infrastructure. This includes keeping your company equipment and data secure and updated, or cutting costs in training new personal. One of the invisible costs that many business omit in their budgeting is the cost of training.

Here is a chart showing how managed it services for SME's can help:

Your managed service provider will typically take care of any support issues, your IT networks and servers, software and technology infrastructures, data archiving systems and overall network security. Generally covering everything from cybersecurity needs, VoIP solutions to backup and disaster recovery.

Different industries and sectors need specific solutions. For example, accountants need dedicated accounting software solutions (SAGE, IRIS, etc.) and customer relationship management software (CRM), and finance companies will need to have additional security solutions.

Benefits of having managed IT services to your small business

1. Professional IT at an affordable cost

One of the principal benefits of outsourcing an IT team is flexibility, in both support levels as well as cost. You will pay only for what you really need, it's that simple.

Managed IT services can be a good solution for businesses on a budget because you have options to pay-as-you-go. This is great for small businesses that may have a low budget but still need a reliable IT solution they can trust.

2. Lower training costs

Last year, training a new employee cost to UK businesses close to £1,000 per year, just in training, resulting in an estimated inversion of £53,000 if we consider salary, pension, insurance and other cost related to hiring a new employee. In fewer words, hiring a new employee is expensive. Properly training that employee does not come cheap.

Having an in house IT team can work out to be more costly in the long run. With managed IT services, not only you have around-the-clock monitoring and systems supervision, but the knowledge and experience of an entire team that has the advantage of continuous learning and working with various clients to further sharpen their skills.

Another benefit of managed IT services is that you will save money and time on costly IT equipment. Managed IT services can help you cut down costs and make your expenses more predictable.  This gives you access to the best IT solutions without you worrying about financial risks. SME’s can benefit immensely from managed IT services.

Managed Service Providers take over all your IT operations at a fraction of the cost, handle the buying of new IT equipment and integrating with your existing team.

3. Enhanced security

Security is critical. It doesn't matter if you manage an accountancy firm or a media agency, all businesses rely on operating systems, smartphones, tablets, laptops and other technologies to store and transmit important data.

A data breach can cost companies an average of £3,000, but it doesn't affect you only in a financial way, it can also strongly impact your brand reputation. To prevent this, you can include regular security testing and monitoring for attacks in your managed IT services plan.

You can also improve security by taking the overall security of your network and data from the hands of a single person and putting it into the hands of an entire team with strict access policies and protocols.

Cyberattacks are growing more sophisticated. Your IT needs to support your business and protect your data and assets. Outsourcing your IT security is a good strategy for your business, so you can better manage, support, monitor and protect against attacks. Managed IT services make sure that you have the right security measures in place.

These are some of the services they can offer:

• Email spam and virus filtering
• DNS and IP layer traffic filtering
• Perform penetration tests and network scans
• Install and regularly update your software and operating systems
• Monitor the dark web for stolen credentials

Guaranteeing you fully monitored IT systems and access to enterprise-level services at an affordable rate.

4. Minimise downtime

One of the key benefits of hiring a managed IT services provider is that you will have access to 24/7 monitoring and support even on weekends and holidays. Using a managed service provider is a great way to ensure your data stays always safe and secure. They will have automatic and regular backups in place.

Sluggish IT systems, network downtime, hardware failures, software bugs and security breaches can be costly. Prevention and troubleshooting are always available with managed IT services, 24/7. Whether IT fixes are needed onsite or remotely. You’re guaranteed support at all times.

In addition, your managed IT services provier will monitor your IT infrastructure 24/7, proactively monitoring for threats and potential problems.

5. Keeping pace with the demands for IT expertise

Companies and organisations are struggling to fill IT positions. Outsourcing these roles to a partner, with technically trained and specialized engineers alleviates stresses from company owners.

When you need to make sure that your company complies with laws and regulations on compliance, for sensitive areas such as cybersecurity, the managed service provider can assist you. Emerging trends and IT require fresh IT industry skills and expertise, as well as rapid implementation in order to stay ahead of the competition and cybercriminals.

6. Future-proofed technology

Your managed IT services providers are continuously learning, training and developing their systems to ensure that they stay on top of leading technology innovations. With the right MSP, their future-proof services can keep you on the cutting edge of your industry. The first phase in future-proofing your data is either migrating it to a state-of-the-art cloud infrastructure or building and future-proofing your internal servers and connectivity with a clear long-term IT strategy. All of these can be prepared by a managed IT service provider.

7. Centralised network services and applications

Managed IT services look after all applications and servers in a centralised way. Centralised management of your IT services reduces infrastructure costs and ensures speed and security for your employees even when they’re working from home.

Using managed IT services can boost your work productivity, cut cost and prevent loss of data and cyber attacks. Outsourcing managed IT services is a good option for your company. It will help your business grow and expand, save you money and keep up with the latest technologies.

Managed IT services you can trust

Choosing the right managed IT services provider is crucial, so be sure to know what to look for in an IT services company. Managed IT services are continuously evolving while your employees don't have to spend time wrestling with their tech.

As your IT managed services provider we provide quick and easy to understand answers to all your technology questions and we use secure remote access to resolve issues (that can be addressed remotely) really quickly. We are available for onsite support at a number of locations, using a local provider is a huge benefit to making sure you have the best service and an engineer visiting your site to discuss your IT questions in person and perform services that require physical presence.

Here at HelpDesk Heroes we help our clients with:

• Complete Network testing and monitoring
• Network security & risk mitigation
• Connectivity and bandwidth issues
• Secure data storage
• Managing installations and upgrades
• Software patch management
• secure web hosting options
• Managing, updating and developing websites & mobile apps
• Providing email hosting with industry leading antispam solutions
• Network provisioning or virtualization
• Performance monitoring and reporting
• Providing helpdesk technical support

TYpically, our price range for managed IT service packages, run from £59 per month to £250 per user, per month. There is a vast range of included services you can choose from, to get a bespoke solution that suits your business best. In this case, 'per user' refers to employees who use technology to do their job – that is, if you have 30 employees who use IT devices for work, be it PCs, laptops or tablets, you'll pay for 30 users.

Remote server maintenance will usually cost the average business somewhere between £100-£400, per server, per month. Remote desktop management and helpdesk services will likely cost the average business anywhere from £60-£85 per workstation, per month.

Read our IT guide for small businesses for an in depth look at things you will need to discuss with your IT provider.

If you are researching Managed IT services and have any questions, call our team for a chat.

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