No one wants to feel like they are losing full control of an important part of their business. As a business owner, your business means everything to you. Giving up control over any portion of your business can be very difficult. Some of the confusion comes from outsourcing which truly is a release of control, whereas a Managed Service Provider (MSP) allows you to maintain a great deal of control over your leased services. Control is one of the major benefits of using an MSP over outsourcing.
One of the frequent questions we get when talking to potential customers or signing on new clients is about control of their IT. When an organization chooses an MSP do they lose control of their IT and their administrator controls?
The answer is no! However you do lose direct control of what you delegate and you delegate what you wish.
For the most part clients gain more administrative control over their infrastructure because of the visibility and communication that is driven through a great MSP. While your MSP will have access to a lot of things, you should still have full control of everything (your own Admin accounts) so if you ever need to you can cut the MSP out, the MSP can’t cut you out. By managing your MSP you will maintain control over policies and service levels that it adheres to.
When you begin working with a great Managed Service Provider they will act as your virtual CIO (VCIO). Top MSP’s will work with you as a consultant to determine an overall strategy for your technology, your situation and where you want it to be. They will sit down and talk to you to get to know your business, guiding you, building your path based on who you are and what’s most important to your business. Having a fixed set of costs allows you to plan for growth in your projects and in your budget predictions. It’s easier to plan your business needs around these fixed costs and pay as you grow. The pay-as-you-go/grow plan is exciting for businesses because it allows you to better manage growth and to expand when ready.
As your VCIO, top MSP’s will provide reporting to help you understand the health and issues with your technology. These reports allow a closer look at what is actually happening with your IT on a daily, monthly and yearly basis so you can see where your environment is and how it’s progressing. Great MSP’s will notify you of exposure and risk so they can take appropriate action on your behalf.
Sometimes letting go of day to day control is what really helps. Some MSPs require that all communication to them go through a single point of contact at your company, but the best MSP’s will let any of your employees contact the help desk and get service. If you don’t want to have to run interference between a secretary with an email issue and the MSP, make sure the outsourcer can work directly with employees. It allows for issues to come direct from the person who is experiencing them, and to speed up assistance by removing a middle man. Maintaining control over every piece of your business can actually slow you down as a business owner.
Businesses see MSP’s as an economical way to maintain a strong IT position without the expense of building and owning a complete IT team. The best Managed Service Providers are invested in your system running well and providing the best end user experience possible through proactive monitoring and ongoing monthly support. In most cases, because of their proactive approach, they are able to find and fix issues before it even effects your business.
The Managed Service Provider you choose should act as an extension of your own organization. The best MSP is always there, working in the background to maintain your systems, to keep its service levels high, and to retain your business. The MSP’s success is tied directly to your success and its ability to perform helps your business to succeed. The MSP and your business are not mutually exclusive to one another. The relationship is a win-win situation one where both parties benefit from the other’s successes.
