Having a strong IT team is essential in today’s tech-heavy business landscape, for everyone from small companies to large enterprises. Your business may have one IT professional on staff, or you might have hundreds, but chances are, whichever category you fall into, they could use some additional support.

From running your hardware, managing databases, installing updates, undergoing cloud migrations, or working within any type of cloud computing, there is no shortage in the workload that IT professionals are tasked with.

For many businesses, working with a managed service provider (MSP) is an ideal way to supplement their IT teams’ capacity. In the case of smaller businesses, an MSP may provide most of the services they require, while in large organizations, an MSP can work alongside their IT team. Regardless, MSPs provide businesses with IT solutions and relieve your organization of the burden associated with keeping your tech operations running smoothly.

If you’re questioning the value of working with an MSP, let’s look closer at what the right provider can do for your business and how you can select the right team to partner with.

Why Work With a Managed Services Partner?

There are many advantages of working with an MSP that can extend to all areas of your business. Some of the key benefits of working with an MSP include:

• Access to Knowledge

MSP teams are made up of highly-skilled, educated, and experienced IT professionals and developers. Among them, they possess a vast wealth of knowledge on IT topics from cloud computing to app development, migrations, security, disaster recovery, and much more. When partnering with these experts, your team has access to this wealth of knowledge.

• Strategic Guidance

An MSP can assess your current IT infrastructure and quickly determine what’s working and what’s misaligned with your business objectives. Taking your needs and your budget into mind, they have the ability to provide you with a comparison of your IT options and make recommendations about what solutions might be best suited for your business.

This guidance will help you develop a long-term, scalable IT blueprint that’s a powerful investment for your organization. When operating without an MSP, you may not be aware of all your options or the possibilities that are available to you.

• Automated Processes

There are many workplace processes that can easily be automated thanks to modern technology, so if you’re still doing things manually, you’re likely falling behind your competition.

Why is automation so important? Primarily because it speeds up the time it takes to do mundane tasks and frees up the manpower of your team, allowing them to work on more important projects, focus on company growth strategies, and generate new ideas.

Whether installing a customer service chatbot on your website, offering employee help desk support, or booking meetings (as just a few examples), automating these processes will save your team time and your business money in the long term.

A good MSP will be able to identify the areas of your business that could be more efficient and will be able to implement the technology needed to make it happen smoothly.

• Constant Availability

Your MSP will work for your business consistently and without disruption. While your IT employees take vacation or sick days or are tied up in meetings, your MSP remains at your disposal at all times. Their team is available for any of your IT needs, whether monitoring existing systems or working on new upgrades or migrations, without the downtime that can often occur within your own organization.

Choosing the Right MSP for Your Business

Now it’s clear that working with an MSP is a smart move for any business, so the next question becomes how to find the right one to partner with. There are many MSPs out there, and not all are created equal. Depending on your needs, some MSPs may not have the knowledge or the resources required to take on your IT projects. Others may not work with the technology that will be the best fit for your needs. When deciding on which MSP to work with, take these three things into consideration:

1. Areas of Expertise

Each MSP will have certain areas in which their knowledge excels. Whether it’s cloud migrations, security, multi-cloud management, disaster recovery, application development, or certain ERP systems like Oracle or Azure, each provider will have areas of strength and experience.

Depending on your business’s tech needs and objectives, you’ll want to choose a provider that specializes in the type of solutions that you need and can offer you the best possible service in those areas. An MSP that doesn’t excel in the areas you need won’t be the right fit for your business.

2. Scalability

When it comes to choosing your MSP, size matters. Large global enterprises have different needs from their MSP than a small startup will. You may need one person dedicated to your account, or you might require a full-time team from your service provider.

Small businesses should also take their future growth into consideration – going with an MSP that’s too small or inexperienced won’t bode well when it comes time to ramp up your business. You’ll want to partner with a firm that can scale up or down depending on fluctuations.

3. Portfolio and Experience

The right MSP will have extensive IT experience and have a wide range of past clients and projects that they can showcase. As part of your due diligence, you’ll want to look at who they’ve worked for and what types of case studies or past successes they can share.

For example, if they’ve worked on numerous cloud migrations for other businesses, chances are they’ll be a great fit if you’re looking for similar services.

A good MSP will be more than happy to show off their past work and give you details on the type of work they’ve done for other businesses in their portfolio.

Connectria is a full-service MSP that can be the perfect partner for your business. Our experts are experienced in a wide range of IT services including all types of cloud migrations and cloud management as well as a full list of commonly used platforms. Our HyperCare service offers 24/7 support to address whatever your business needs from our team. With more than 20 years as an MSP, our team is capable and confident in taking on whatever IT projects your business requires. We are proud of our 100% dedication to our clients and our extensive portfolio. Get in touch with our team today to learn more about our MSP strengths and how we can help your business meet your IT objectives.