Seeing your business grow can be exciting. It’s the ultimate reward for your hard work, after all. Yet the growth of your small- or medium-sized business can bring a complicated need to alter your strategic IT planning solutions quite quickly over time.
The good news is that IT managed service providers can help your business access the highest-level IT services. They can offer your business a scalable IT infrastructure with no need to pay large overheads for building IT with an in-house team — reducing costs.
In this article, our IT managed services company (MSP) will explain why MSPs are the best option for your growing SMB when it comes to handling a scaling IT stack.
Scaling Difficulties without IT MSP Support
When your IT demands increase significantly and far exceed your internal resources, scaling difficulties can happen. It can lead to misalignment between the number of employees, the amount of data, and the number of systems.
You’ll additionally notice that if you have an in-house IT team, they may become overwhelmed by a few specific issues. These issues include:
User requests – When your business is growing, an in-house IT team will have to handle a large number of user requests, from requests to access new applications and hardware support to software update assistance. This can be a challenge if your team lacks the right expertise.
Security issues – Evolving cyber threats may be a significant issue for in-house IT teams when your company is scaling. Difficulties can include scaling the company’s security capabilities with the right solutions and keeping track of sophisticated threats from cybercriminals. It can also include keeping data secure and ensuring the company adheres to guidelines such as PIPEDA.
Outdated infrastructures – In-house IT teams will need to handle outdated infrastructures, offer advanced tech support, and execute troubleshooting duties. Completing these tasks as the infrastructure grows can be a significant and overwhelming job.
There’s also an extra issue related to missed opportunities. With unskilled in-house teams, your SMB could fail to complete upgrades on time, miss out on specific trends such as advanced cloud solutions, or opportunities to use advanced multi-factor authentication across all devices – this can all lead to inefficiencies in your business.
How MSPs Aid Growing SMBs with Critical IT Gaps
With an MSP, however, there’s no need to hire multiple in-house or internal IT roles to handle these issues or access on-demand expertise. IT managed service providers offer significant knowledge and teams that specialize in cybersecurity, networking, advanced cloud computing solutions, and more.
You’ll find that IT managed service providers even offer 24/7 monitoring of any systems or scalable infrastructure they implement. Such services make a real difference in minimizing expensive downtime and reducing service interruptions so your company can maintain its uptime.
Strategic IT Guidance & Sustainable Growth
Long-term IT plans are a significant advantage that MSPs offer growing businesses. They ensure the IT infrastructure and priorities match your specific business goals, doing so with technology roadmaps. These roadmaps may include:
Plans for infrastructure upgrades – MSPs can create plans for infrastructure upgrades with specialized teams and tools. They can recommend scalable solutions and upgrades, expand storage, help you adapt to new technologies, or increase your network capabilities.
Methods to enhance security – From installing firewalls to implementing virtual private networks (VPNs), MSPs can enhance security for your business in many ways. Firewalls and VPNs are both network security methods that help you filter unwanted traffic and keep systems free from viruses.
Steps to complete digital transformation – After checking your existing IT infrastructure, MSPs acknowledge technology gaps and integrate new tech. Their work doesn’t end with installation – when MSPs partner with you, they continuously monitor the new technology investments and optimize it where possible.
It also includes methods to future-proof your business. An MSP will help you stay ahead of your competitors. Their main focus is to look ahead, plan for the future, use a proactive approach, and avoid simply fixing the elements that are currently broken.
Enhanced Security as Your Company Grows
When your business enters a phase of growth and you welcome new employees or handle more data, there’s a certain amount of security risk. New employees who work remotely may access systems from public Wi-Fi, which increases vulnerabilities to your systems.
With new or more data comes a greater responsibility to protect that data, and with in-house IT teams who lack security knowledge, you risk the potential to breach PIPEDA regulations when handling this.
Issues like these are not a problem for managed IT service providers. They offer comprehensive cybersecurity frameworks, such as NIST Cybersecurity Framework, to build the security of small business clients. They’ll even be able to offer employee training and support your company with both backup and recovery and compliance support, which are ideal for data protection.
Predictable IT Spend
Many expect a transparent, fixed monthly price in your partnership with an IT MSP. This type of pricing model means there are no unpleasant cost surprises that often come with break-and-fix services or reactive IT managed services.
The additional benefits of IT managed services are the high-quality tools they offer, such as cybersecurity software, backup and disaster recovery (BDR) tools, remote monitoring and management (RRM) tools, and professional services automation (PSA) software.
These tools are ideal for reinforcing the security of your SMB, monitoring systems 24/7, completing risk management, and handling business operations such as project management. And with many MSPs such as Tech Masters, such tools come without a high or enterprise price tag.
Real Competitive Advantage
A better technology stack will help your business perform more effectively, and this is what an IT MSP can offer. Improved technology has the power to enhance the customer experience, improve productivity, keep your business free from security issues, and make decision-making easier.
New technology offered by MSPs can also help your company release new tools or services with a faster or improved speed to market. For example, by implementing cloud services, MSPs can help your employees with online collaboration, which improves your output.
Additionally, an MSP ensures all your internal teams can avoid troubleshooting tech, since this will already be taken care of. Your internal teams will just need to focus on their business roles, which improves the operational efficiency of your company even more.
Partner with Tech Masters to Scale Your Business and Technology
Experts, tools, strategic vision, and a competitive advantage all come with an IT managed service provider. These are the key elements your company needs to turn your IT systems into a catalyst for exceptional business growth.
Noticed that your company is growing and your in-house IT team can’t handle its new technology requirements? Let Tech Masters become your secret weapon for your growing business. Contact us today, and together, let’s start building your IT roadmap.
