The fact you are weighing hiring more in-house IT staff is a telltale that something isn’t quite working. Like so many other organizations, your technology people resemble firefighters. They spend much of their time putting out small fires to help staff members overcome computer issues and network crashes. With an obvious need to onboard experienced people, deciding between a managed IT service provider or more staff members may not be as difficult as you think. By understanding what a managed service provider (MSP) offers, you can make an informed decision.
A managed IT service provider is a third-party firm responsible for remotely overseeing portions or all of an organization’s technology infrastructure. It’s not uncommon for small and medium-sized outfits to outsource all of their needs to an IT MSP. That’s largely because the cost of hiring full-time staff proves prohibitive. Large corporations that can afford in-house IT still outsource aspects of the technology needs, such as the following.
Companies often work out scalable arrangements to have a managed IT service provider handle segments of the needs. This helps ensure essential items such as cybersecurity and regulatory compliance don’t fall through the cracks. But there are a wide range of reasons to weigh MSP vs in-house practices.
Some industry leaders make the case they prefer to maintain a team of in-house IT professionals to oversee their organization’s needs. The underlying thinking is they are company employees and on-site. But the notion someone in an office down the hall can best access the network and protect digital assets has become outdated.
If you stop and think about it, even the employees in the brick-and-mortar facility are not hardwired. Remote access to networks exists at all levels. Whether an IT professional is in the building or at the facility of a third-party firm makes little difference in terms of real-time actions. These rank among the top benefits of managed services to consider.
Perhaps the most important benefit companies gain by working with a third-party firm is heightened cybersecurity. That’s because the reputational and economic losses of getting hacked are devastating.
Hackers continue to devise new schemes to penetrate networks and steal valuable and sensitive digital assets. The use of antivirus software and even enterprise-level firewalls are unlikely to prevent a successful cyberattack. Without the support of a cybersecurity expert who tracks hacker trends and issues alerts, your operation is the low-hanging fruit waiting to get plucked.
And without someone whose purpose is to stay ahead of cybercriminals and government mandates, it’s entirely likely you’ll fail to maintain compliance. Take the FTC Safeguards Rule, for example. It requires non-banking financial institutions to develop and maintain an information security program that protects customer information on the administrative, technical, and physical levels. Is that something you want to leave to a new hire or an experienced cybersecurity MSP?
At CyberTeam, our managed IT and cybersecurity experts have the experience and technology you need to protect your company from a data breach. Our cybersecurity risk management solutions help our clients protect their business interests and intelligence, so they can focus on growth. Interested to know if working with CyberTeam is right for your business? Schedule a risk assessment to learn more about your cybersecurity vulnerabilities and how we can help.