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23 Jul 5 MSPs Myths Debunked
However, despite their clear benefits, a surprising number of misconceptions still surround MSPs. This article aims to set the record straight by tackling five common Managed Service Provider myths head-on.
Myth 1: MSPs replace your in-house IT team
One common myth often believed is the idea that bringing in MSPs means replacing your in-house IT team. However, this isn’t the case!
In reality, MSPs are designed to complement and enhance your in-house team, not replace them. An MSP is an extension of your current capabilities, providing specialised expertise, advanced tools, and round-the-clock support that might be challenging or cost-prohibitive to maintain internally.
Your internal IT team possesses invaluable institutional knowledge about your specific business operations, legacy systems, and unique employee needs. MSPs bring the technical expertise and the know-how to design and implement new solutions to meet these needs. This specialisation of expertise helps ensure your internal team is freed up to focus on more strategic, high-value work.
Indeed, only 6% of businesses that to work with an MSP decide to eliminate their in-house team. Instead, the value-add comes from the additional capacity and expertise.
Myth 2: MSPs are only for large enterprises
Many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) assume that Managed Service Providers are only relevant, or affordable, for large enterprises with massive IT budgets. There exists a common perception that MSP partnerships are only for FTSE 100 companies outsourcing to IT giants.
In reality, MSPs can be incredibly useful at a much smaller scale. MSP services are highly scalable and designed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes. SMBs often stand to gain the most, pound for pound, from working with an MSP.
With limited internal resources, smaller organisations may struggle to keep up with innovation requirements, security threats or compliance. As an MSP fills those gaps quickly, there can often be quite a huge return on investment (ROI).
Myth 3: Working with an MSP is too expensive
A common concern for businesses is the perception that working with a Managed Service Provider is too expensive. Instead, many decision-makers believe that “doing it yourself” is more cost-effective.
That’s not necessarily true! In fact, MSPs can actually reduce your overall IT costs.
MSPs typically offer predictable, subscription-based pricing models, helping you manage your IT budget with greater confidence. This reduces the setup and sunk costs of starting an IT team and also ensures you avoid incurring large, unexpected expenses when something breaks or requires urgent attention. There is a lot of merit in predictable costs. You don’t need to create as much of a buffer to cover these large expenses, freeing up cash to spend on growing your business.
MSPs tend to offer specialised services such as threat monitoring, predictive maintenance and digital transformation at a much lower cost than sourcing these services separately. Simply put, MSPs bring enterprise-grade capabilities without enterprise costs.
Therefore, MSPs can drive long-term ROI by freeing up resources, keeping you safe from attacks and getting you back online as quickly as possible if things do go wrong. An MSP is likely to save your business far more than it spends!
Myth 4: MSPs don’t understand your business goals
Another concern for businesses is the fear that an MSP won’t genuinely understand their unique business goals and challenges. There’s a misconception that MSPs offer a one-size-fits-all solution, rather than a tailored approach that aligns with your company’s specific objectives.
However, the reality is that the most effective MSPs understand their clients’ overarching business goals. They don’t just fix IT problems; they work to align IT strategy with your broader objectives.
They will take the time to learn about your industry, your growth goals, and your operational workflows. This deep understanding allows them to recommend a digital strategy that works for you.
For example, if you want to expand into a new market, an MSP can help ensure your IT infrastructure is ready for this change, such as suggesting ways to scale up your infrastructure, or by identifying ways to limit bottlenecks between global teams.
Myth 5: You lose control when outsourcing
Finally, many businesses are apprehensive about working with an MSP as they do not want to lose control of their IT operations. This is an understandable fear: outsourcing any part of your business to an external party can be daunting.
Fortunately, when working with a trusted MSP, you aren’t handing over the reins of your IT operations; you’re simply bringing someone on board to help you. In fact, as MSPs free up your resources to focus on your IT strategy, they can grant you more control over your future direction, not less!
MSPs operate on a foundation of transparency and collaboration. You retain ownership of your systems, data, and strategic decisions. What the MSP brings is the expertise to make changes happen and offer enhanced visibility into your IT infrastructure through reporting, performance metrics, and real-time dashboards.
Most MSPs will also work with you to define clear service-level agreements (SLAs), thereby setting the expectations you will hold them to. Here, you get to decide how involved you want to be, and this ensures the MSP is always operating with your business interests in mind.
How We Can Help
Managed Service Providers, or MSPs, are not here to replace your in-house IT team, break the bank, or take over control; they’re here to support your business and guide you through all things digital.
Whether you’re a small business or an enterprise, an MSP can offer scalable, cost-effective IT expertise tailored to your organisation’s goals and ambitions. Ready to get started working with a trusted IT partner? Contact us with us today to see how we can help!
