There are few more satisfying things you can do in life than to run your own business. The process of building a company from the ground up, offering your skills and services to customers, and providing your staff with employment is highly rewarding, but it can also be extremely stressful. You're always watching your bottom line, and worrying about cash flow.

As technology plays a bigger role in day to day business, chances are that IT has become one of your biggest expenses. The speed of technological innovation means new software and hardware is launched daily, and if you don't keep up, you could end up losing out to competitors.

Downtime = Stress

IT can be a huge source of stress, too. When it isn't working properly, your business faces downtime until things are fixed. And there are so many things that can go wrong with your IT that dealing with them can quickly take up time that you can’t afford to give up. Viruses, malware, drive failures, and bad internet connections all take up time that you could be using to build your business.

Managed Services to the Rescue

Stop the madness, it doesn't have to be like this. You can hand over the stress of overseeing your IT to a Managed Service Provider (MSP) who can handle all of your tech needs.

An MSP is an outsourcing company that manages all aspects of IT on behalf of another business. So as a business owner you enjoy improved productivity and security, and more time to attend to your own business without having to worry about your network. Best of all, this work is done for a fixed monthly fee, ensuring your IT budget is both predictable and cost-effective.

The alternative is a break/fix solution, in which you call an IT company when something goes wrong. While you're waiting for them to show up, you're losing valuable work time. Additionally they are incented to fix the problem not find the root cause of the issue.

IT uptime = Less Stress

There are many reasons why computers start running slowly, and when they do, you're losing money. Your staff can't be as productive, work hours are lost and, in some cases, you end up losing clients. Your MSP’s primary job is to make sure your network is running at the best speed possible at all times. They reduce the chore of maintaining your network by monitoring your systems 24x7  and ensure they are free of spyware and viruses, and they can also apply all the necessary upgrades and patches. What's more, as you have experts overseeing your computers, they are proactive and fix problems before they grow and cause frustrating and expensive downtime.

Reduced Staff costs = Increased Profits

When a company gets to a certain size, the daily chore of maintaining IT systems becomes a full-time job. Utilizing an expensive in-house engineer is not the best use of their time. By contacting an MSP you'll have a whole team of people, all experts in different areas, working for you. They can supplement the work of your IT team or take over if you don’t have the budget for new employees. Additionally, as your business grows you reduce the cost and hassle of hiring new IT staff.

Enhanced Security

With an experienced MSP provider overseeing your network, you can be sure that your IT is secure and protected with updated virus protection, regularly patched hardware and monitored networks. With data breaches and compliance violations in the news every day, security has gone from a second thought to a vital part of your IT concerns. If you lose data, you could end up facing costly legal repercussions, not to mention losing customers and your hard-earned reputation. Your managed service provider can also help you put together a business continuity and disaster recovery plan so that you are up and running again quickly if your systems are breached or brought down by a failure.

If you'd like to learn more about the benefits of utilizing Managed Services, talk to one of our experts at Ategra? We can answer your questions and even arrange for a no obligation IT assessment for your company.