On a strong and steady rebound, Detroit offers a booming environment for SMBs across industries. It has a sales tax rate of 6.0%, which is less than the US average of 7.3%. It also has a job market growth of 0.7% over the last year, and it will reach 29.3% in the next ten years.

Although a thriving business environment does help, technology is equally important to ensure the success of your business. With technology becoming increasingly complex, outsourced IT support from experts is fast becoming a sought-after solution. 

It offers several benefits, especially to small and mid-sized businesses. But before we see the advantages of managed IT support, let’s talk about what it actually means. 

What Is Outsourced IT support?

Outsourced IT support involves hiring or partnering with a managed service provider (MSP) for your IT needs. The MSP is a company with expertise in managing the IT needs of businesses proactively, rather than reactive. 

Being proactive, managed IT often goes beyond fixing your printer or computer. It focuses on the overall optimization, security, and efficiency of your network. In fact, the purpose of managed IT is to prevent potential threats or issues from culminating in a disaster.

It typically includes the following types of managed services.

•  Network and infrastructure monitoring.
• Network and infrastructure maintenance and repair.
• Managed IT support (desk support).
• Managed IT consultation.
• Cloud computing and allied services.
• VoIP and communications services.
• Data analytics and management services.
• Cybersecurity.

Not all MSPs will offer all types of outsourced IT support. While one may provide all managed services, another might specialize only in one or two. Likewise, you can also outsource all or some of the IT needs, depending on your budget and requirements.

Benefits of Outsourced IT support

Outsourcing your IT to a reliable MSP comes with many benefits. We have outlined eight major advantages of outsourced IT support.

Enjoy Lower IT Costs

Most small businesses are looking for ways to save money, which is what outsourced IT support offers. According to the 2020 global outsourcing survey by Deloitte, cost reduction has become the top reason for outsourcing in the face of a pandemic-induced global recession. 

But how does an MSP help you save IT costs?

• MSPs generally offer a flat monthly, quarterly, or yearly fee. It means your IT expenses are predictable and easily manageable when you outsource IT support in Detroit.
• You don’t have to hire IT, staff. You don’t have to pay exorbitant salaries, which can set you back roughly $111,000 annually per employee in Detroit.
• As there is no need to hire and fire IT employees, you don’t need to pay for administrative costs, employee training, bonuses, and employee benefits.
• Outsourced IT support means you can hire the MSP as per your needs – nothing more, nothing less. Naturally, you will enjoy better returns.

Ensure IT Best Practices and Compliance

Implementing IT best practices makes your business safe, efficient, and agile. Each field of managed IT requires a different set of best practices, making it challenging to implement them. 

The same goes for legal compliance. IT best practices and legal compliance often overlap. Ensuring best practices and compliance offer benefits like:

• Time and cost savings.
• Improved efficiency.
• Higher customer satisfaction.
• Enhanced brand trust.
• Better security.
• Boost for innovation.
• Lower risk of lawsuits and hefty fines.

When working with an outsourced IT support partner, implementing IT best practices becomes a lot easier.

• Being professional, your MSP is well aware of the industry best practices and legal compliance needs. They make sure your network and employees adhere to both requirements.
• Your MSP will also ensure the compliance required as per the latest regulations. For example, if you accept digital payments, your managed IT provider will ensure PCI DSS compliance. 

Access to Reliable and Expert IT Team

Technology is not only evolving rapidly but also becoming more complex. You need multiple IT experts to make the most out of your components. Hiring more brainpower is not always a feasible option for in-house IT due to the cost constraints. 

An MSP will have a wider talent pool of IT experts. With IT support, you get access to an entire team. The benefits of having such a team include:

• Being experts, the IT team is up to date with the latest technology in your niche.
• As they have worked on different projects, they can fix various types of IT issues quickly.
• With multiple experts on their payroll, someone is always available to respond to your emergencies.
• They are also aware of the latest cyber threats and how to mitigate them, keeping your business safe.
• Whatever your upcoming IT project may be, they can offer expert advice if needed.
• You don’t have to pay extra to get access to these experts.

Experience Reduced Downtime Due to Proactive IT support

When you opt for managed IT support, you get a proactive approach to managing business technology. It focuses on how to prevent potential disasters, be it a system glitch or a data breach. That, in turn, helps reduce the risk of unplanned downtime. 

Unplanned downtime is often expensive. In a 2020 survey, 25% of respondents worldwide said the average hourly downtime cost of their servers was between $301,000 and $400,000. The financial loss of such scale packs the power to put a small company out of business. However, it is standard practice for an IT company to provide a network uptime guarantee in their service level agreement.

• They will offer quick remote and on-site support, which allows you to function with minimal interruptions.
• Proactive monitoring and regular maintenance reduce the risk of unplanned network failure.
• Your MSP ensures regular data backup and will create a recovery plan. If your network goes down, they can quickly bring the operations online with recovered data.
• MSPs also provide efficient follow-up, making sure your IT issues get resolved quickly.

Reduced Risk of Cyber Threats and Data Theft

Cybersecurity is an ever-growing concern. Unfortunately, the pandemic only added more fuel to this fire. During the rapid digitalization and remote work transition, many businesses have faced increased security vulnerabilities. 

According to HLB Cybersecurity Report in 2020, 53% of respondents saw an increase in suspicious cyber activity that could lead to a breach, while 88% changed their security protocols. In short, keeping your business network safe has become more critical than ever. 

As the threats are constantly changing, your cybersecurity strategy needs to evolve. That’s where outsourced IT support can help. MSPs often take the following steps to ensure 360-degree protection for your business. 

• Monitor your computer network 4/7/365 to identify and mitigate potential threats well in advance. The threats can be neutralized before they can cause a catastrophe.
• Provide complete endpoint protection, allowing your employees and customers to access your network remotely without compromising safety.
• Monitor login activity and implement access control to eliminate the risk of internal threats.
• Monitor your email and other communication channels to prevent cyberattacks like social engineering and phishing, which may eventually lead to ransomware and data breaches.
•  Train your employees to implement IT best practices such as using strong passwords, changing passwords regularly, and recognizing suspicious links.
• Secure your computer network with the latest antimalware, antivirus, and firewall, among other technologies.
• Setting up network filters and blocking suspicious sites to keep your network safe from potential threats.
• Ensure regular data backup and set up a recovery process to increase your business’s resilience.
• Provide data verification measures to authenticate archives and backup files.

Scale Up or Down When Needed

Scalability refers to the ability of your enterprise to adapt to consumer demand and overall market changes. It essentially helps you grow and develop your business. 

Scaling a complex IT network requires in-depth knowledge, experience, and coordination, which you get from third-party IT support in Detroit. You don’t need to assign additional responsibilities to your employees as your MSP pulls in the resources for scaling. Besides, being industry experts, they can ensure smooth scaling according to your business needs.

• MSPs have a diverse pool of talent, allowing them to provide you with additional resources when needed.
• As they have worked on diverse projects, your MSP can immediately implement suitable scalability options.
• No time gets wasted in procuring the resources as most MSPs have strategic vendor partnerships.

Better Vendor Management

Managed IT providers often have strategic partnerships with vendors in cloud computing, hardware, and software industries, among others. They can serve as a single point of contact for communicating and dealing with different vendors. This saves you valuable time and money.

Consider this scenario, where one of your computers breaks down and requires a replacement. You will have to find a vendor and wait until the replacement arrives. Your MSP can get it done quickly, thanks to their vendor partners.

It frees up your employees from the burden of managing multiple vendors, not to mention streamlining the entire vendor management process. Furthermore, you may be able to purchase hardware and software at discounted rates.

However, you do need to make sure to work with a vendor-neutral IT provider.

Get Customized IT Support in Detroit

Outsourcing allows you to get customized IT support. Most MSPs offer customized service bundles to their clients. In fact, you shouldn’t work with a provider that offers one-size-fits-all solutions. 

Such MSPs will not be able to meet your business’s evolving IT needs. Make a list of areas where you need help from IT experts before setting out to find a service provider. You can use this list as a benchmark to find a suitable MSP. 

Some of the things you can add to this list include:

• Advanced network configuration.
• Routine IT management like fixing printers, computers, and routers.
• Secure communication.
• Network and device security.
• Accessibility management.
• Penetration testing to identify security gaps.
• Employee training.
• Advanced cloud computing solutions.
• Advanced cybersecurity.
• Documentation and reporting.

Over to You

No matter what the size of your business is, you need advanced technology management.

Given the knowledge and experienced required to make the most out of technology, outsourcing can be a great option. How will outsourced IT support help your business expand?How can InsideOut Networking Technology Experts make this a reality? Let’s find out together!