From fostering faster communication to protecting the integrity of sensitive data, IT plays an important role in enabling a company’s growth and productivity.

However, the in-house IT team of a business doesn’t always have the time and expertise required to provide consistent IT support.

This is where outsourcing IT support or hiring a Managed Services Provider (MSP) can pay off. In fact, the IT outsourcing market is forecasted to reach approximately 413.7 billion U.S. dollars by next year.

MSPs not only streamline a business’s IT functions but also provide round-the-clock IT support with a cost-effective approach.

Let’s take a look at the various advantages a business can leverage by outsourcing IT support.

Benefits of IT Support for Businesses

1. Robust Protection Against Cybersecurity Incidents

The average cost of a data breach was reported to be $3.86 million this year. While 52% of data breaches were caused by malicious attacks, human errors and system anomalies accounted for 23% and 25% of data breaches respectively.

MSPs can help businesses mitigate data breaches through their proactive approach to cybersecurity. An MSP actively monitors an organization’s network and safeguards it from potential cyber-attacks and data breaches by:

• Installing Anti-virus and Firewall

MSPs use anti-virus to identify, prevent, and remove malicious software such as Trojans and worms from a business’s network. Anti-virus does a comparative analysis of the files, applications, and programs within a business’s network against known types of malware. If the analysis reveals any similarity to the known malware, the anti-virus immediately removes the file/application/program from the network.

Further, a firewall scans the data packets entering a business’s network against a set of pre-established threats such as malicious codes and attack vectors. If the data packets are found to contain any of the identified threats, the firewall stops them from entering a company’s network.

• Using Secure Email Gateway

Cyber-attackers usually use emails for facilitating social engineering attacks such as phishing. However, with a secure email gateway in place, MSPs can mitigate such attacks by monitoring the incoming emails within a business’s network. A secure email gateway helps MSPs check the domain name of the email and scan it for suspicious attachments and URLs. Emails with malicious content are either rejected or marked as spam.

• Imparting Security Awareness Training to Employees

Businesses can train employees to identify and combat cybersecurity threats effectively through a robust security awareness training program. An MSP develops its cybersecurity training program with the objective of updating employees with a strong password enforcement policy and teaching them to identify signs of a malicious attack, among others.

• Ensuring Regular Updates and Patches

MSPs proactively install software updates as well as patches on all business systems and devices and fix the various network vulnerabilities. As a result, the chances of cyber-attackers compromising a business’s network are reduced.

2. Access to State-of-the-Art Technology and IT Expertise

A reputable MSP makes use of the latest technologies and equipment to deliver IT services to businesses. In short, organizations can steer clear of obsolete IT infrastructure by implementing new technologies in their business through outsourced IT support.

Also, MSPs give businesses access to a team of IT experts who have the qualifications, experience, and skills required to fulfill a company’s IT needs, thereby increasing its productivity as well as efficiency.

3. Reduced Expenditure

Outsourced IT support drives considerable cost savings for a business. As mentioned already, MSPs possess the skills and technology to set up and maintain a robust IT infrastructure. As a result, the business’s capital expenditure of purchasing and maintaining expensive hardware/software is reduced.

Further, MSPs can seamlessly perform all the IT functions ranging from hardware installation and application development. Therefore, businesses don’t need to incur expenses on hiring, training, and providing competitive monthly salaries to full-time IT employees for carrying out these functions.

4. Increased Focus on Core Business Functions

Outsourcing routine and repetitive IT tasks to an MSP gives a business’s internal IT team ample time to concentrate on its core competencies. Since the burden of managing mundane IT tasks is taken off their shoulders, they are free to focus on strategic and profit-generating activities such as marketing and innovation.

5. Access to a Predictable IT Budget

With the help of an MSP, businesses typically pay a fixed monthly fee for the IT services they use. These details are clearly mentioned in a scalable Service Level Agreement (SLA). This, in turn, gives organizations a precise idea of the MSP’s cost structure and prevents extreme budget fluctuations arising from hidden or unpredictable IT expenses.

6. Improved Compliance Management

80% of organizations that suffered a data breach between 2019 and 2020 stated that their customers’ Personal Identifiable Information (PII) was compromised. Also, the average cost per compromised record was $150.

To minimize the effects of data breaches and the financial losses related to them, businesses need to adhere to certain regulatory compliance and secure the sensitive data of their customers and stakeholders. MSPs can provide businesses with proper compliance support.

The outsourced IT support team keeps businesses updated with local compliance regulations. For instance, organizations in Houston can hire IT Support Houston and stay updated with state-specific compliance laws.

Wrap Up

An MSP can provide a business with consistent and timely IT support. It not only resolves IT issues instantly, but also decreases downtime while increasing overall productivity. Further, a business gets high-end IT security and compliance maintenance through outsourced IT support.

All in all, hiring an MSP can help a business grow, evolve, and gain an edge over its competitors.