Managed IT services allow you to put your IT needs in the hands of third-party specialists. It is a service that is commonly contracted by companies rather than private individuals, as it is meant for those with extensive IT resources. You don’t really need managed internet access in your home, but once you scale everything up to the size of a company, you are very likely to need some extra help. Let’s talk about some of the benefits that you can gain by utilizing a managed service provider.
Florida’s Cybersecurity Situation
It is very difficult to say if Florida suffers more cyber-attacks than other states. However, there is no doubt that Florida has seen its share of incidents. For instance, there was an incident last year in which a water treatment plant was hacked. This was particularly scary because the hacker attempted to poison the water supply. Basically, they attempted to add large amounts of lye (Sodium Hydroxide), which would have made the water both toxic and corrosive.
For a more recent example which might be even more dangerous, we might look at this report. In April of this year, government officials issued a warning about an uptick in Russian cyber attacks in the state of Florida. Due to the current political situation involving the war in Ukraine, Russia is not too happy with the United States right now. Obviously, you don’t want you or your company to get caught up in that mess. Based on these and other reports, we can say that Floridians are at a slightly higher risk when it comes to cybercrime.
MSP Services Save Money
In most cases, companies primarily choose to outsource their IT needs for financial reasons. It’s always a good thing when you can trim the budget without compromising quality in any way, and a good MSP will help you to do just that.
You see, the best IT people don’t usually work cheaply. They know that their labor is in high demand, so they can ask for a higher salary. It might be worth paying more for someone that is truly talented, but you never really know until you hire them. On the other hand, an MSP gives you access to a pool of well-trained experts for a flat monthly or annual fee. Of course, this advantage will only materialize if you choose a company with high-quality staff.
Apart from this, an MSP service can save you money on technology costs. Rather than upgrade your tech on a regular basis, you can utilize some of the MSP’s resources. For instance, if you don’t want to purchase a dedicated server, your MSP can probably provide access to one for a small fee. Due to the high cost of new IT equipment, this can add up to significant cost savings. Not only will you save money, but your IT expenses will also be a lot more predictable.
Streamlining And Efficiency
When utilizing an MSP service, most companies choose to keep some of their in-house staff. There are certain problems that require an on-site solution, and that’s where an MSP can fall short since its services are mostly remote. With that in mind, you can get more efficiency from your in-house workers by freeing them from mundane daily tasks.
Due to the ever-evolving nature of technology, you can never really have a “perfect” IT situation. There will always be ways to improve, but your in-house team is unlikely to find those ways if they have to spend all their time on routine tasks. Things like basic maintenance, updating, monitoring, and disk cleanup can be handled remotely, giving your in-house team more time to focus on streamlining your IT situation.
Guaranteed Uptime
Believe it or not, even a short network outage can be very costly. Online business is very important these days, so losing internet access can cut you off from many potential sales. Think of it this way: How many sales do you think will occur on a major site like eBay or Amazon in a single hour? The answer is in the millions. By the time you add up all that lost profit, it can get pretty ridiculous.
According to this source, Amazon does about 1.29 billion dollars worth of business per day. Divide that by 24 hours and you get 53,750,000 per hour. Your company probably isn’t as big as Amazon, but you can see that the losses add up quickly. An MSP company deals with this by offering an uptime guarantee, commonly called an SLA (Service-Level Agreement). This should guarantee you at least 90% uptime per month, making the MSP company liable for any losses beyond that threshold.
Support Advantages
Technology can often be riddled with glitches and problems, and information technology is no exception. As such, every company needs to provide competent tech support for its employees. When you go with an MSP, that support will usually be folded into the package. Thus, you can consolidate your costs and take care of many things with a single payment. In most cases, a dedicated support service will cost you a little bit more than an MSP.
Security Advantages
As long as you choose a trustworthy company, there are numerous security advantages that can be gained from the use of an MSP. They can independently verify all sorts of things, allowing you an extra layer of security. Also, they can provide you with secure outside storage for important documents, which means that a hacker cannot steal them from you. These are just two of the many ways that an MSP or MSSP can help you to improve your cybersecurity.
Conclusion
Managed IT services are not particularly hard to find in Florida, but it can be difficult to find the right one. After all, you need someone with a reputation for both trust and effectiveness. To save you some time, we recommend that you call PCH Technologies at (856) 754-7500.