Every business needs technology to operate. But the increasing risks and complexity of IT, especially for small to mid-sized organisations, can feel overwhelming to manage, even with the support of an internal IT team. Security risks, outdated software, remote work challenges – the list goes on. When technology fails, it can bring your business to a standstill, jeopardising productivity, customer trust, and your business’s potential growth. The good news? Partnering with an IT services company can make an invaluable difference to safeguard against these risks.
Let’s explore the competitive advantages of partnering with an IT services company, and the best ways for internal IT teams and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to work together effectively.
Why Businesses Need an IT Services Company
Collaboration between your internal IT team and an MSP offers the best of both worlds, delivering significant business advantages, from cost savings, to critical expertise.
1. Cost Savings
At first glance, partnering with IT service providers may seem like an additional expense. But consider significant cost savings over the long term.
Leveraging their expertise, they can support you to optimise systems, improve efficiency, and prevent expensive problems like security breaches or compliance penalties. Resolving issues quickly and performing proactive maintenance can minimise downtime and the hidden costs of lost productivity.
By streamlining IT operations and ensuring resources are used effectively, MSPs can become an invaluable extension of your team. They can also provide your business with tailored, scalable solutions, allowing you to obtain support and services best suited to your needs.
2. Improved security
Security risks like data breaches and ransomware attacks pose constant threats to businesses of all sizes. Cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated, targeting system vulnerabilities, which may go unnoticed without expert oversight.
IT service providers offer specialised knowledge and can take proactive measures to protect your business from these threats, like implementing robust firewalls and encryption, or monitoring for suspicious activity. By staying ahead of emerging threats and ensuring compliance with security standards, an IT partner can support you in safeguarding sensitive data and reducing other risks for your business, such as costly downtime, reputational damage, and regulatory fines.
3. Increased efficiency
Inefficient IT systems can slow down operations, reduce productivity, and limit your ability to scale effectively. Internal IT teams may work hard to address these issues, but sometimes, they’re stretched thin, or lack the specialised tools and expertise needed to optimise.
IT service companies specialise in identifying inefficiencies. They can implement tailored solutions to streamline these processes and improve the performance of your systems, freeing up your internal team to focus on strategic initiatives, over troubleshooting day-to-day issues.
4. Access to Expertise
Managed IT services can provide you with a wealth of expertise that’s often beyond the scope of internal IT teams. Consider insights they can offer throughout various IT disciplines, such as cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and network engineering. MSPs can ensure your business has the right skills to tackle complex challenges. They can also recommend and facilitate your adoption of new technologies, to stay ahead of industry trends.
How Can Internal IT Teams and MSPs Work Together?
Motivated to get support from an MSP? As a helpful starting point, you may like to frame your partnership as a way to support and empower your internal IT team, not replace them. MSPs can help manage their workload, provide additional expertise and resources, and allow them to focus on other important tasks.
Here are a few tips for making your initiative successful.
1. Establish Clear Roles and Responsibilities
Developing clear roles and responsibilities is essential for a successful collaboration.
As an example, our client seeking
- internal projects
- user training
- managing the MSP relationship.
They directed the MSP to focus on:
- improving day-to-day operations
- system maintenance
- security monitoring
- special projects.
In this instance, enabling their internal IT team to lead the relationship and communication was a great way to give them ownership and gain their buy-in.
Providing this clarity is essential to create efficient teamwork, minimise overlap, and keep your IT systems running smoothly.
2. Facilitate Open Communication and Collaboration
Some people think working with an MSP means losing control, but this is a common misconception. Working with an MSP is a true partnership, where your business remains the decision-maker.
Open communication and collaboration between teams is an essential part of this. Consider implementing:
- regular check-in meetings
- shared documentation and reporting
- open channels for feedback and issue resolution
- clear/common goals
Encouraging transparency and collaboration is a great way to build trust, address challenges or changes, and ensure both teams stay aligned.
3. Implement Effective Data Sharing and Integration
Similar to communication and collaboration, data sharing and integration are additional pillars that support service delivery. Ensure your teams have access to up-to-date information so they can address issues faster, make informed decisions, and achieve set milestones.
Establish tools, platforms, and systems for your MSP and internal team that function cohesively for better overall performance and faster response times for any IT issues that arise.
4. Build Trust and Relationships
This final recommendation may seem obvious, but it’s worth highlighting. At the end of the day, strong, trustworthy relationships between your internal teams and MSP are what create a successful partnership.
Encourage your internal team to raise challenges, learnings, and feedback with your MSP to achieve common goals. Establish clear expectations and roles to eliminate confusion between teams, and build confidence in each other’s capabilities.
Final Thoughts
As IT becomes increasingly complex, partnering with an IT service provider is a powerful way to achieve cost savings, enhanced security, increased efficiency, and expertise. To make your partnership successful, be sure to establish clear responsibilities, encourage communication, and cultivate trust. Partnering with an MSP can ensure your business doesn’t just survive, but thrives in a fast-paced market – ready for whatever tomorrow brings.
Interested in gaining support from an IT services company? Find out more about Managed IT Services,
