11 Benefits to Outsourcing Cloud Management & Support Services

So you’re weighing your options of whether to hire an internal IT department or outsource your Cloud IT management and support?

Before you can answer the question of what is the best IT support option for my business, you must first know which cloud solution you will be implementing. In a recent blog post we discussed how to get determine which IT Solution is right for your business and how to get started.

Once you have decided which direction you want to go with your Cloud IT Solution, the next decision is to determine how you will implement and support your solution both short-term and long-term.

As a cloud-first managed IT service provider, we are obviously a bit biased because we believe we offer unmatched value to our customers. However, we talk to businesses every day and we turn several businesses away because we’re not the best fit for their needs. There is no one size fits all, but many small and mid-size businesses will benefit from a managed cloud service provider. 

Here are 11 Reasons to Outsource your Cloud Management & Support:

1. Eliminate the Hiring Expenses. Finding top talent in today’s market is the number one challenge for companies with an internal IT department, especially when it comes to specialized cloud expertise. Staffing a full-time IT department is expensive and perhaps unnecessary for most small to medium-sized businesses. By outsourcing to a cloud-first managed service provider, you can offload maintaining the efficacy and security of your network.
2. Depth and breadth of cloud skills. A small internal team simply can’t know it all. And because the cloud is still relatively new things are constantly changing, requiring dedicated resources who are staying up to date on cloud best practices, cloud certifications and have expertise in each your specialized skillset. Established IT outsourcing firms will have a deep bench of consultants with experts best suited for each job at hand. Providing your internal IT employees access to a team of well-trained cloud solution experts can ensure problems are resolved quickly and effectively. It also gives your internal IT employees an opportunity to get trained on and build their knowledge of the most up to date technology that your business requires.
3. Insurance policy. Have you heard the term the ‘The Great Resignation’? When small businesses have internal IT they acquire significant amount of internal knowledge about their system setup and configuration that likely no one else in the company can replace. If your IT Manager leaves, so does all of the knowledge of your IT systems and cloud environment. When you partner with a managed IT company, they will provide clear documentation of all of your systems and configurations, so if you need to switch providers, the transition is seamless. Internal IT Managers are almost always strapped for time and do not have strong or up-to-date documentation in place.
4. Best in Breed Tools. Cloud MSPs aggregate purchasing across all their clients, affording the option to pass down enterprise-grade tools to SMB clients – tools that may otherwise be hard to justify or out of reach on your own.
5. Projects On-Demand. When you choose a managed cloud solution provider, they know your business. They help you at ever stage of the cloud transformation from onboarding to ongoing support of your environment. This provides a cohesive and than hiring a professional services IT company to come in and do a one-off project for you.
6. Strategic Role of Internal IT. There are 2 types of internal IT staff members, one who is strategic in nature and works closely with your executive team to see that your IT and business plans are aligned, and a “smart hands” role, which is primarily used for handling end-user issues. Depending on your organization size and set up, we find tremendous value in both roles and love to work together as a team when the opportunity arises.
7. Increased Security. The cyberthreat landscape is evolving at a pace that is extremely hard to stay ahead of. Cybersecurity is a major time suck, and if you only have one or two IT members on your team, it’s hard to dedicate the time and energy you need to cybersecurity. Or you risk getting nothing else done. At ANP we have a whole team dedicated solely to security. When they aren’t proactively managing your security, they are also evaluating tools to make sure we’re using the best the best to keep you protected.
8. Better Performance. A quiet and well run environment is what you want, and that's what you get when you outsource your IT and cloud management to a mature MSP. Since contracts are generally structured to provide unlimited support for a fixed monthly fee, your success is the goal. The MSP business model is designed for alignment. When we row in the same direction, your IT environment is optimized for success and the MSP gets less tickets to support. 
9. Predictable expenses. With managed cloud services in place, you can figure out what you will be spending on IT each month, quarter and year. This way, you have a fixed bill for any period with no hassle of dealing with a surge in maintenance expenses. So you can plan your IT investments weeks or even months in advance. Based on how much you need for your operations, you can scale up or down your requirements and have your IT budget prepared in advance.
10. Fast & Centralized Support. All your management needs related to the cloud, which can possibly include monitoring networks, tracking patch requirements, and integrating current processes with new technologies, can be taken care of by their network infrastructure. Managed cloud service providers provide you with robust infrastructure and round-the-clock support. So, you don’t need to fret about unscheduled breakdowns that can impede the smooth running of your operations.
11. Future-Ready Solutions. The goal of cloud and managed IT services is to meet the needs of today's dynamic business environment, innovation, enhancing growth, and improving profit margins. This essentially means you can be assured of running your operations in a hassle-free manner with no risk of data loss or security threats.

With the cloud as the new normal, there are a whole new set of requirements for IT to handle. IT is evolving at a rapid speed and in today’s competitive market, you can’t afford to make mistakes. It’s important that you have the right expertise and the right solution to propel your business forward.

We understand that every business has a unique set of circumstances and transparency is in our DNA. If you’d like to explore ANP’s cloud solutions and support plans, contact us at (215) 572 – 0111 or connect@anp.net.