South Carolina Business Owner’s Guide to Managed IT Services
If South Carolina businesses have learned anything from the rise in the digital age, it’s that businesses don’t all have to run the same way. In fact, the digital age has proven that doing things differently can be more cost-effective. Enter managed IT services. Like other areas of business management, it’s now possible for your business to have all of your IT managed by a third-party completely offsite without jeopardizing performance, dependability, or cost.
Today, businesses are expected to be connected at all times, with absolutely no disruptions or downtime. A single issue with your network, servers, or communication channels can have a major impact on your business. Time is one of your business’s most valuable assets and it is too precious to allow your businesses to remain in reactive mode. Addressing and repairing problems after they’ve caused downtime is not the best way to do business. Businesses must realize it is time to adapt.
South Carolina businesses need to know what options are available, understand best practices, and understand where the market and technologies are heading. This guide will show how taking advantage of best practice managed IT services can help businesses to improve and develop.
Let’s dive a little deeper.
What Are Managed IT Services?
It might seem plain and clear to some business owners or leaders what managed IT services are, but for the uninformed, let’s start with a quick definition.
Managed IT services are delivered by a Managed Service Provider (MSP), like the team here at Servcom USA. By partnering with an MSP, your business will be outsourcing a bulk of what your business is expected to do to set up, manage, and support your IT infrastructure.
What’s included with managed IT services will differ from MSP to MSP, but in general, you can expect:
- Continuous monitoring of your network, servers, and workstations
- Support for technical problems remotely or on-premise
- Patch management and updates
- Installation of hardware and software
At the end of the day, a managed service provider (MSP)’s goal is to keep your technology healthy. What exactly does that mean? It’s about taking a proactive approach. MSPs don’t just respond to IT issues as they happen (which we will still do), but MSPs will provide ongoing IT support and maintenance to prevent issues from happening in the first place. This gives your technology the lift it needs to remain healthy.
The Benefits of Managed IT Services
Now that you have a better idea of how a Managed Service Provider could help boost your business’s IT support, let’s take a deeper look into the major benefits of managed IT services:
- Increased efficiency and productivity – After switching to managed IT services, most businesses quickly learned that their prior issue management systems were inefficient.
- A dedicated partner that takes on leadership roles– Managed service providers will enhance efficiency, enable risk reduction, and change the technology landscape. For businesses with an IT staff, an MSP can introduce new technologies and processes.
- A better understanding of IT infrastructure– Managed service providers are always on the lookout for upgrades, updates, and patches. MSPs can also identify what technology is connected to business-critical operations.
- A full-time IT department at a reduced cost– Many business leaders understand the importance of proactive management, but not every business has the budget and resources to be proactive. An MSP gives business leaders and internal IT staff affordable IT support, continuous monitoring of business-critical components, backup and disaster recovery solutions, network security, and more.
- Reduced downtime and risk – Since MSPs have the ability to locate and rectify issues before they happen, you will no longer have to worry about significant downtime caused by IT issues.
Choosing a Managed IT Services Provider
Deciding who to trust with the scope of your business’ IT can be frightening. Today’s businesses live and die by the quality of technology and by the support of the IT team. This makes it important to choose the right MSP for your needs. These tips will help ensure you’re getting the most for your money when partnering with an MSP. Professional managed IT service providers will do the following:
- Ask the right questions and design a solution just for you
- Have expertise and skills beyond break-fix
- Offer 24/7/365 monitoring and support
- Display consistency
- Have a proactive, technology-based approach
If you like the idea of taking the hard work out of managing your IT infrastructure, while at the same time, Servcom USA can help. The Servcom USA team has the expertise and knowledge you need to keep your business running seamlessly, whether in-office, remote, or hybrid.
To talk more about how we can help you, call our team today at (803) 619-1414.
