10 Reasons Managed IT Services Make More Sense

The old model of IT is broken.

What do we mean by the “old model”? Traditionally, IT help has taken two forms:

Outsourced, hourly help, paid based on how long something takes to fix
Internal hires, salaried and tasked with serving all IT needs

To tell it truthfully, these solutions have never been the most efficient – they were born out of strained necessity more so than from a consideration of unique business needs. IT was only a priority when the network came crashing down, so traditional solutions were designed to meet businesses at that pain point – not to help them avoid it in the first place.

Thankfully, the marketplace has evolved. Businesses have increasingly realized the true value of IT, and the managed services model has risen to provide it.

So, what are managed IT services? Simply put, they’re customized IT services provided at a fixed monthly price, as opposed to services provided at an hourly rate.

Here’s why managed IT services are better than the old, broken model of IT.

1. Managed IT services align the incentives of IT providers with the organizations they serve.

Traditional IT models work on a break-fix paradigm – if a system breaks, the IT company is paid to fix it based on how long it takes to do so.

The unfortunate reality is that this model incentivizes the IT provider to allow more systems to break, and to maximize the amount of time spent fixing each problem. Now, that’s not to say that hourly IT companies intentionally take advantage of this. Certainly, most companies don’t.

But, it is to say that human nature makes it hard to operate with efficiency when being inefficient makes you more money.

Managed IT services align incentives. By working under a monthly payment model, IT providers are incentivized to keep systems up and to fix them as quickly as possible. Why not incentivize efficiency?

2. Managed IT services are more cost-efficient.

And, speaking of efficiency – managed IT services are more cost-efficient in general. First, they offer a higher level of service, meaning that systems are less likely to go down, resulting in less high-cost downtime.

And second, costs don’t fluctuate as they do under a traditional model. Hourly IT can be cheap – until something breaks, and it’s suddenly incredibly expensive.

With managed IT services, downtime is reduced and costs are the same each month.

3. Managed IT services allow access to experts.

Managed IT services also give organizations access to specialized, IT experts across all fields. This is in direct contrast to what’s available via internal hires.

Here are the standard scenarios when hiring for IT: you can hire a specialist for a specific need, or you can hire a generalist to help out with broad needs.

There are problems with each approach. Hire a specialist, and they’ll be useful for addressing one area of IT concern but not others. Hire a generalist, and they’ll be out of their depth when special expertise is needed.

Assembling the ideal IT solution is a bit like putting together a good basketball team. The best ones have talent at each position – point guard, center, shooting guard, etc. Sure, you can hire someone who’s good at everything – Lebron James – but that’s more expensive than most can afford, and even then, they’ll probably need a team around them to truly succeed.

Managed IT providers have done the work of assembling a top team, with experts in each area that’s critical to your organization. When you need expertise, you have easy access to the experts – but you’re not stuck paying a full salary.

4. Managed IT services are scalable to your organization’s needs.

Along those lines, scalability is another huge advantage of managed IT services. You can access experts when you need them, and you can also pick and choose the services that will best fit your organization’s unique IT needs.

With managed IT services, you won’t outgrow your IT support – and you won’t be stuck paying for services you don’t need, either.

5. Managed IT services provide consistency.

Managed IT services allow your organization to operate with consistency. No longer do you need to budget for the unexpected – both in terms of surprise downtime, and in terms of skyrocketing IT costs when you need an IT fix.

With managed IT services, downtime is negligible, so you can plan for consistent performance. And costs are always the same, which means that your budget can be more accurate.

6. Managed IT services shift the focus from fixing to enhancing your systems.

Traditional IT services work under the break-fix model, which means that the focus is always on getting things back online. And for internal IT teams working at a breakneck pace, there’s barely time to implement necessary patches, much less plan for the future of organization IT systems.

Managed IT services give organizations the capability to move past the focus on quick fixes. With a dedicated team at your disposal, you’ll be able to work on system enhancements, not just necessary maintenance. And it’s all for the same monthly cost.

7. Managed IT services provide real relationships.

Consistency is key in relationships, and hourly IT is simply not consistent.

Contrastingly, managed IT services foster real relationships. Organizations are assigned a dedicated IT technician, who checks in at the site each week, assisting users, maintaining and updating systems, and developing true partner relationships.

Even in today’s highly technical IT world, relationships are more valuable than ever.

8. Managed IT services improve security.

Hacking. Ransomware. Data breaches. The buzzwords are enough to strike fear into the heart of even non-technical businesspeople.

Cybersecurity is a growing concern for organizations in today’s digital world – and organizations that rely on traditional IT models are more vulnerable than ever, because they don’t have the bandwidth to truly focus on security.

Managed IT services mean more time spent hardening systems, not just fixing what’s broken. That translates to better fewer hacks, ransomware attacks, and data breaches – and a better night’s sleep for you.

9. Managed IT services mean less downtime.

This follows logically from better security – managed IT services mean less downtime. When the focus moves from fixes to enhancements, with better security and more consistent service, the result is less downtime.

And that’s a good thing for your organization’s bottom line, because downtime is terribly expensive.

10. Managed IT services remove the difficulty of hiring.

Finally, managed IT services remove the difficulty of hiring. Instead of investing time in finding ideal candidates and onboarding them, managed IT services give organizations quick access to IT experts.

And, managed services remove the burden of unnecessary salaries and benefits.

Managed IT services give you access to an IT dream team, without the burden of hiring internally.

Move Away from Broken IT Models

The old way of doing IT is broken – but managed services can save the day.

If you’re ready to stop worrying about your IT solution, you’re ready to switch to Swift. We’ll work with you to provide customized IT services, ideally suited to your organization’s needs, all at a fixed monthly cost.

Looking for managed IT services in Frederick?

Get in touch with us to take the first step toward worry-free IT, and stop wasting time, money, and resources on IT models that aren’t designed to be efficient.

Reduce risk control cost and maximum IT uptime with Managed IT Service