March 23, 2021
This article was originally published in April 2016.
With fewer than 250 total employees in the company, IT departments in small to medium-sizzed businesses (SMB) are often comprised of a single person—or a small team at best—tasked with the maintenance and expansion of an entire business IT environment. It is a daunting responsibility to say the least, and Managed Services can assist each organization in a precise and relevant way.
It’s hard to quantify exactly how Mindsight’s Managed Services offerings can help streamline processes for most small and medium-sized businesses, because the challenges faced by these organizations are directly impacted by very specific factors related to their environments. It’s not just a matter of size, either. Naturally, a Managed Services contract is going to look very different for a healthcare organization, compared to a food manufacturing company.
SMB Pain Points and How Managed Services Can Help
Within a small IT department, there are certain realities and considerations that do not exist in larger organizations. Below, we’ve gathered just a few of the pain points faced by an SMB and how a Managed Services agreement can address them.
Nitty-Gritty Tasks:
A one-person show or small team in the IT world are not enviable positions. Team members often become a jack-of-all-trades rather than an expert in a specific area of IT. days are consistently occupied with server updates, downloading patches, and other nitty-gritty level IT work. With so much time devoted to tasks, it can be almost impossible to think strategically and develop new initiatives to deliver the resources the rest of the business needs.
- The Managed Services Solution: By leveraging the experience and breadth of knowledge found within a managed services partner’s engineering team, the internal IT team can become more than just the in-office “IT Crowd” and begin to operate more strategically. They can now work more strategically with business leadership to determine what’s necessary to move the company forward and adapt to growth or changes in emerging technology.
Sick Days or Paid Time Off:
IT is a specialized discipline of study. When an IT team member walks out the door, or logs off their laptop, the knowledge he or she has goes with him or her. In the SMB market, this puts small IT departments in a difficult position. If a member of the IT team is sick or on vacation, there is often no one else around to pick up the slack. In 2021, where achieving a work-life balance is more critical than ever, this creates dissatisfaction amongst the team. On their time away, the IT person is either tied to a device, or the company is left vulnerable. Neither situation is very attractive.
- The Managed Services Solution: By partnering with a Managed Services Provider, businesses can ensure protection of their systems every minute of every day. If the team is sick, on vacation, or otherwise indisposed, essential applications will receive any support they need, and the business can proceed uninterrupted.
Turnover in the IT Department:
One of the difficult realities of the IT industry, especially in the greater Chicago area, is the high demand for qualified, experienced IT professionals, particularly in cybersecurity. Every company needs them, and there is a shortage of high level engineers. As a result, IT turnover affects companies large and small, but it can be most detrimental to an SMB. In an instant, an SMB can be left with no technical support of any kind.
- The Managed Services Solution: Much like the illness or vacation scenario, Managed Services can provide a safety net for the SMB organization. If an essential IT administrator leaves, a managed service provider is ready to step in indefinitely or until a replacement can be found. Additionally, there is very little information loss during this transition. Most MSPs will create a knowledge base for each client which include network specifics and procedures.
Augmenting the Existing Team:
IT is a wide-reaching field of study, and each practice area within has enough depth to devote an entire career to its understanding. It is nearly impossible to find one person with a thorough knowledge of the entire IT landscape.
- The Managed Services Solution: Imagine the skill proficiency of the department as a leaky roof. The team can certainly repel most of the water in a rain shower, but there are a few areas where the rain can seep through. Managed Services acts as the sealant plugging these holes. If you only wish us to only fill in for a few spots, Managed Services can. On the other hand, if there are other areas that require additional support Managed Services can help with those areas as well.
Around the Clock Coverage:
The network and data systems of an organization don’t have the luxury of a night off, and discovering a network failure in the morning can cost a business thousands of dollars in lost time. For many small IT teams the only solutions is to create a graveyard shift and keep one of your staff in the office for monitoring and maintenance. While this provides the coverage the environment needs, it places unnecessary strain on the team.
- The Managed Services Solution: Mindsight offers 24/7 monitoring and repair of the company’s most essential business applications. With Mindsight the company does not need to sacrifice peace of mind for work-life balance.
Supplementing the Existing Team, the Existing Strategy
In organizations of all sizes, IT resources are often limited. There’s always another application, another team member, or another piece of hardware that could benefit the environment. The smaller an organization is, the more true this relationship becomes. Mindsight Managed Services can act as a supplement to the existing strategy to round out those areas that may need a little extra support. Generally speaking, if there is something the department needs help with, there is a Managed Services package to solve the problem.
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About Mindsight
Mindsight, a Chicago IT services provider, is an extension of your team. Our culture is built on transparency and trust, and our team is made up of extraordinary people – the kinds of people you would hire. We have one of the largest expert-level engineering teams delivering the full spectrum of IT services and solutions, from cloud to infrastructure, collaboration to contact center. Our highly-certified engineers and process-oriented excellence have certainly been key to our success. But what really sets us apart is our straightforward and honest approach to every conversation, whether it is for an emerging business or global enterprise. Our customers rely on our thought leadership, responsiveness, and dedication to solving their toughest technology challenges.
For Further Reading:
How Emerging And Midmarket Companies Leverage Managed Services