If you are considering outsourcing your company’s technology management and support to a Managed Services Provider (MSP for short), you’ll first want to make sure they offer these 4 key services; Help Desk, Backups, Security, and Remote Management and Monitoring.
Help Desk:
Managed Service Providers offer remote help desk services, essentially acting as an extension of your team. The main purpose of a help desk is to troubleshoot problems and provide support for issues related to computer systems, hardware and software. They offer technical assistance and support via phone and email, and can also assist in offsite support should the problem require. Typically all support requests are placed into a ticketing system where you should get close to immediate responses and updates for the help you are in need of.
Backups:
Technology failures happen, and just like a natural disaster, you should have a continuity plan. Your data should be backed up, properly, at your place of business as well as off-site in a cloud environment. Backups should be performed regularly and consistently. A good MSP will help you to architect the right backup solution, and set it up properly to monitor and notify when issues occur. A solid backup plan will minimize downtime, will lower costs and help your organization to maintain compliance.
Security:
Your organization’s network is the backbone of your technology infrastructure, having a secure and properly maintained network is detrimental to your business. A good MSP will monitor, audit and update patches, ports, firewalls and passwords before any viruses cause irreparable damage to your network.
Remote Management and Monitoring:
Remote monitoring and management is the type of software that helps Managed IT Service Providers to remotely and proactively monitor their clients network and computers. The software allows the MSP to remotely track and monitor your organizations network and device health. It will create appropriate alerts and tickets when it detects any issues. In most cases issues are detected and resolved before they even become a problem, avoiding system failures. As a result, the client has increased their uptime without disruption of service. The fewer problems that occur, the higher the profit margin.
Choosing the right MSP can feel a lot like making a new friend in that you want to be able to trust them, you want to rely on them and you want some sort of special connection. Check out the MSPs near you (the closer the better). Find out what services they provide and it wouldn't be a bad idea for you to have a list of questions prepared! Good luck!
