It’s hard to imagine, but there was a time when industrial companies had to generate electricity in-house in order to manage the quantity, cost and consistency of the energy required to support operations. Today, most companies are able to get the power they need from the grid without a second thought. Small to mid-sized businesses and enterprise operations can take their IT support for granted in much the same way.
Thanks to standardised procedures, shared infrastructure and massive scale, it is now not only possible, but also practical and affordable to outsource IT support to a high-quality Managed Services Provider (MSP), like QCS Group.
Of course, outsourcing always comes with concerns about people, especially when IT team members are involved. However, in our experience, CEOs would rather see their in-house IT talent focused on innovation and adding value for the customer, rather than mundane tasks related to maintaining basic operational readiness. IT staff, in turn, can enjoy increased job satisfaction and career growth as they shift their time from routine support to more challenging projects that help move the organisation forward.
Even if you have considered outsourcing before, it is worth taking a fresh look at this topic each year. When you look at the benefits, you may realise outsourcing is the right choice, and now is the right time.
Here are some of the top reasons to consider partnering with a quality MSP:
Outsourced IT Support is More Cost-Effective Than Ever
High quality MSPs have developed standards and procedures that allow them to keep your systems humming at a lower cost per employee and to quickly scale with your organisation as it grows.
Large MSPs Have a Wide Range of Skills & Highly Specialised Expertise in Certain Areas
Because MSPs employ mostly technical people, they often have the ability to attract and retain some of the best talent in the business. Because their team encounters the applications and technology challenges your business faces across many clients, they bring a depth of experience that is hard to match in-house.
Outsourcing Can Help Reduce Your Risk
By placing critical functions in the hands of highly specialised experts, your team may be able to prevent costly errors and problems.
Gain Access to Benchmarks & Best Practices
Since large MSPs work with other companies in your industry, they are familiar with common challenges and solutions. Because they work with clients outside your industry, they can help to cross-pollinate your organisation with fresh ideas. Finally, because they often have deep relationships with software and equipment providers, they have access to resources that may not be readily available to individual companies.
MSPs Never Sleep
Large MSPs provide 24/7/365 monitoring and support that can be very costly to replicate in-house.
Talent Can Focus on Innovation & Adding Value for Your Customer
For many organisations, outsourcing begins as a cost-reduction initiative, but evolves into a competitive edge as in-house staff suddenly finds time to deploy new technologies and even create proprietary solutions that add value.
Outsourcing Can Fill a Skills Gap
With today’s rapidly changing technology, organisations often find themselves in need of specific skills that their in-house team doesn’t possess. They may have difficulty recruiting or affording that talent, or they simply may not need enough of that specific expertise to justify additional salary and benefits.
Outsourcing Can Help Free Up Capital Needed for Growth
Reducing costs can impact the bottom line, of course. But it can also free up the funding you need to fuel new initiatives.
MSPs Can Often Provide Additional Help in Unexpected Ways
From specialised training, to disaster recovery, to security and compliance improvements, to taking advantage of opportunities such as BYOD, big data, workforce mobility, or reducing printing and phone costs, MSPs bring a wealth of expertise and relationships to help protect and grow your business.
Proactive Support Means Increased Productivity
Often, in-house teams are forced to operate in reactive mode, responding to problems as quickly as possible to restore productivity. The MSP business model, on the other hand, ties profitability to anticipating and preventing problems before they occur or even remedying problems before users realise they exist. A large, well-established MSP can keep your employees serving your customers, rather than waiting for the help desk.
If you’re in the Brisbane area and would like to find out more about this or other IT topics, please don’t delay Contact QCS Group, at 1300 858 723 or by sending us an email to: marius@qcsgroup.com.au
