The “break-fix” approach once was the standard model for acquiring IT support. When a company needed computer repairs, network tuning or any other form of tech-related service, they engaged a solution provider on a straightforward fee-for-service basis and paid the bill once the work was completed.
This type of arrangement is no longer practical. With businesses increasingly reliant upon their technology infrastructure, waiting for problems to arise before seeking help is a recipe for downtime and business interruption. Your best bet for ensuring consistent operations that minimize risk is by establishing a steady relationship with a reliable managed services provider (MSP).
A long-term relationship with an MSP produces a number of tangible benefits. Increased familiarity with your particular IT environment and your specific business requirements enables faster troubleshooting and problem resolution. Instead of fixing problems as they occur, your MSP can usually identify and resolve potential issues before they ever impact performance.
Your MSP can introduce high levels of IT stability and predictability. Because your MSP knows your systems inside and out — hardware configurations, software versions, critical dependencies and more — processes become standardized, repeatable and highly consistent. This eliminates the need to expend time and effort continually reinventing the wheel and produces significant cost efficiencies.
There are other budget benefits. Unlike random and unpredictable break-fix services, a managed services arrangement establishes a consistent budgetary expense. Your MSP also helps reduce costs by minimizing downtime and other unexpected outages. Additionally, a trusted MSP will help you plan for necessary upgrades in order to avoid emergency purchases that can blow up the budget and hamstring your cash flow.
As a trusted partner with an understanding of your business processes and goals, your MSP can finely tune your IT infrastructure to increase productivity, facilitate decision-making and enhance customer service. Your MSP’s expertise can also be brought to bear on special projects such as revenue-enhancing initiatives or workflow improvements.
Such benefits are most likely to be realized over a long-term businesses relationship. It takes time to find a technology partner that seems like an extension of your team. Even then, there will always be other providers looking to win your business.
While it is just good business sense to consider alternatives, changing service providers can be a messy process. The vetting process and contract negotiations can be distracting and time-consuming. Once the transition takes place, it may take months for a new service provider to become familiar with your environment, your business and your expectations.
Given those considerations, it makes sense to hash out any differences with your provider before rushing to make a change. If there are business concerns, it is possible your MSP would welcome the opportunity to make changes and shift emphasis to accommodate new requirements. If it is a pricing issue, there may be room for negotiation.
While it’s important for any business to manage costs, IT industry analysts warn that too much emphasis on price can lead to a race to the bottom. Better pricing does not equal better value. If a new provider has fewer core solutions or lacks specific understanding of your industry, you could wind up sacrificing IT stability.
Making good decisions about managed services requires focus on the provider’s ability to stabilize the IT environment and improve business outcomes. Those benefits are typically more common within a long-term MSP relationship.
