3 Key Benefits of Working With a Managed Service Provider in 2022

Saying that the world of IT is fast moving, is an understatement; new projects, solutions and innovations are always on the horizon, providing IT teams with a duality of being eager to constantly improve, while balancing workloads to manage their ‘as is’ technology estate, throw-in software updates, bug-fixes and software testing and the fine balance between innovation and maintenance is skewed, leaving organisations losing the battle.  The mundane maintenance of core IT stifles innovation before it takes its first breath.

Here we explore the ever-growing world of Managed IT Services, and why they are becoming so crucial to organisations across the world, the impact this has on revenue and the innovation that can arise from finding the right Managed Service Provider (MSP).

IT Managed Services Save You Time

No matter your budget, time is a commodity that is in short-supply, especially in IT – being able to quickly react to changing landscapes or customer demands requires agility and the bandwidth to take on new projects; this is often not the case for internal IT teams, as their current resources are at capacity, looking after what already exists or is soon to be deployed, placing IT Management, CTOs and CIOs in a quandary – drop everything and start innovating, or maintain what is currently available and forgo innovation until things calm down.

Our experience shows the latter is often the common choice, not ‘rocking the boat’ is a safe bet for obvious reasons but being left behind by more agile competitors has less than desirable consequences in the long-term. Managed Services Providers (MSPs) are keen to change this and give you the time required to innovate by:

Removing Time Consuming Maintenance

Updates, patches and day to day management is essential to how your businesses technology functions, however, this maintenance is a task many internal teams feel like they could do without – especially if the software or application is proprietary, meaning that specific sets of skills are to be recruited by the organisation, becoming a task within itself.

Diagnose Issues Faster

A dedicated Managed Service team with experience in discovering problem areas are far more likely to find bugs than those who aren’t. Using a Managed Service Provider means that thorough diagnosis, potential issues are resolved faster.

Note: Prolifics employ our end-to-end QA solutions to improve diagnosis.

Less Time Hiring Staff

Rather than hiring staff specifically to manage legacy software, Managed Services help improve your ROI by having these resources readily available, therefore removing the need to look backwards, and instead providing a focus towards innovation. Why ‘skill-up’ staff on a software that’s no longer part of your organisation’s strategic direction.

IT Managed Services Save You Money

IT budgets aren’t exhaustive, so ensuring the best value for money throughout everything your team does, is essential. As organisations look to Managed Services post COVID-19 in an effort to streamline costs, this route to team augmentation is a viable option to quickly enlist skilled staff, without breaking the bank.

Specialist Skills, Reasonable Costs

As new projects are constantly being commissioned, some of which encompass new technologies or processes, finding the right staff at the right time can be tricky; specialist IT Managed Service Providers often have a cohort of well-trained experts, that can be used on a project-by-project basis, to suit most budgets.

“Prolifics ensures that Managed Service staff have real, client-facing experience before being placed on projects, compared to other SIs, who use graduates.”

24x7x365 Onshore Support for Less

Finding onshore staff that are security-cleared (SC) and can actively monitor your systems is a huge cost that many organisations are finding hard to accept, some believe it is overkill, however, as many have experienced, downtime is never good and could deal a serious blow to profitability. Using a Managed Service Partner allows for a subsidised pricing model with a guarantee of reducing or stopping downtime all together.

Blended Managed Services Model

Organisations often want the security of a UK-based Managed Service provider, while also requiring the power of an offshore or nearshore team to complete projects. This can often be expensive and is shared between multiple companies, increasing the price, and reducing the accountability.

Prolifics offer a blended Managed Service model that allows for the best of all (3) worlds- onshore, offshore and nearshore, providing a service to reduce the cost of team augmentation.

Managed Services Mitigate IT Risk

Downtime, security attacks and data breaches spring to mind when speaking about IT risk- they’re sometimes unavoidable, however, reducing the likelihood of this happening is essential for customer privacy, satisfaction, regulatory compliance and profitability.

Ensuring Business Continuity

Imperative in modern organisations, a strong and thorough business continuity plan must have the correct resourcing to undertake issues swiftly. Working with a Managed Service partner ensures that an end-to-end approach is undertaken, limiting risk and having a strong plan to quickly bounce back.

Best Practice

Enterprise IT is laden with guidelines, Quality Assurance (QA), and vendor best practice, this can sometimes be a minefield for the uninitiated and can be the crux of introducing risk to IT systems. Working alongside a trusted Managed Service partner with certified skills in software, strong governance and processes around QA and security ensures that risk is mitigated.

Industry Compliance

As industries evolve and adapt to changing demands, the compliance that must be undertaken in keeping systems, software and data secure and compliant with government or industry mandates requires both industry and technical proficiency. A Managed Service provider prepares the necessary steps to compliance, working closely with business leaders to reach true compliance.

2022, The Year of Innovation

Time, money and risk, have a direct impact on what projects you undertake, why they’re undertaken and if you’re able to complete them before another shift to the industry or business landscape. Managed Services are quick becoming the ‘secret sauce’ in transformation projects, providing organisations with the assistance they need, exactly when they need it, opening the door for innovation and in turn, a less stressed IT team.

Regardless of where your team are based, the ‘new normal’ ensures that IT departments can connect and work on projects with greater efficiency than ever before; this leads to 2022 becoming a catalyst for innovation and new solutions to empower enterprise IT.

As you look to compete with accelerated modernisation efforts and customer-centric projects, ensuring you have the right team by your side is imperative to success. Prolifics can offer a variety of Managed Services across technologies and vendors- use the calculator today and begin your journey with a trusted partner.