Signs it’s time for your business to hire an MSP

Managing a business is all about resource allocation. And while not every firm needs IT resources—such as that humble lemonade stand a few blocks from your house—many small- to medium-sized businesses could grow immensely if only they had the right information technology and managed IT services provider (MSP) at their disposal.

Indeed, many MSPs in Toronto urge business owners, CEOs, and managers to partner up with them to reap the benefits of having the latest IT tools and competent IT experts. While they are not wrong to market themselves, they sometimes forget to justify why you should take on the additional operational expense of outsourced IT support.

This begs a very important question: “How do you know that it’s time for your business to hire IT MSP services in Toronto?”

The answer? By recognizing one or more of the following nine signs:

You desperately need to upgrade

While the latest tech is not automatically the best-fitting or the most cost-efficient solution for your business, your operations may be suffering from having technology that’s too behind the times. For instance, the software applications you use may already be unsupported by the vendor. Beyond potentially suffering compatibility issues when you collaborate with partners and clients, you’re also making your company vulnerable to advanced cybersecurity threats.

Another factor to consider is cost. For example, users who wish to continue using old operating systems need to enter into support contracts with vendors. In other words, the former have to pay the latter to receive bug fixes and cybersecurity updates, but the fees can become exorbitant.

To address these operational concerns, it may be best to retire your legacy systems and switch to a managed IT services provider. With an MSP, you get the IT tools you need for a low monthly fee. Furthermore, you no longer need to get stressed about maintaining and upgrading your tech—your MSP will do all of those things for you, at no extra charge!

You have rising concerns about cybersecurity

Cybersecurity will always be a major course for concern, regardless of whether or not you partner with a reliable MSP in Toronto. The difference between having an MSP on your side and not having one is preparation, not to mention constant system monitoring.

These are services that an in-house IT department simply can’t manage on their own. For this reason, outsourced IT support is an absolute must.

Your IT needs have gotten more complex

Working with a reputable company that provides top-notch managed IT solutions in Toronto really does make a world of difference when it comes to maintenance and service quality. Dedicated MSPs have a well of resources to tap into to keep your systems up and running according to their full potential, speed, and capacity.

As your business continues to grow and expand into new markets internationally, your IT needs will become increasingly complex. That means you’re going to need managed IT services that can support your networks on a larger scale and grow alongside your business without drastically increasing operational costs. With the right IT MSP services in Toronto, you can achieve those expansion goals seamlessly.

You are facing tech issues outside of regular business hours

Every modern business needs a robust IT department that can handle anything and everything from fixing minor bugs to preventing cybersecurity threats and troubleshooting system malfunctions.

Tech issues can occur at any given moment and if you’re ill-prepared, they can have a tremendously negative impact on your business. It’s not enough to have a small nine-to-five IT staff working for you. You need additional outsourced IT support from a qualified and reputable MSP in Toronto.

Top-tier MSPs like XBASE are on the clock 24/7 to monitor your security systems, update old software, and immediately resolve any tech issues that may come up. All of these efforts can save you a significant amount of money, stress, and reduce business downtime caused by system malfunctions.

You are unable to prioritize IT needs

Running a business takes a lot of manpower, expertise, and above all, time. There’s usually a lot going on, which can make it difficult to prioritize your IT needs. And before you know it, that cybersecurity initiative, productivity suite migration, or server upgrade gets put on the backburner.

The last thing you want is to put your business at a higher risk of a security breach, keep workers from being their most productive, or threaten the health/performance of your infrastructure.

Technology moves so quickly, and hackers have become so incredibly sophisticated that they’re banking on a poor IT setup to wreak havoc on your infrastructure or data. Software updates and IT systems require constant monitoring and attention to keep your IT environment up and running at all times. That’s why you need additional outsourced IT support for your business.

You find it difficult to achieve growth spurts

Opening new verticals or establishing your business in new locations requires more human and tech resources. Perhaps you even need to create or expand old departments, such as customer service. However, growing from 5 to 10 employees is nothing compared to growing from 50 to 100.

To help you scale your business at lightning speed, turn to an MSP in Toronto that can host private or hybrid clouds or can support you in a public cloud. These resources and experts will help you identify and deploy the infrastructure and solutions needed for your company to scale rapidly in a competitive market and achieve your growth goals.

So many things can go wrong, and you know your IT department can’t handle it all

Your IT department is likely to have a lot of things on its plate: infrastructure maintenance, system upgrades, network and user management, trouble ticket resolutions… So many, in fact, that it probably can’t take on any more tasks like training employees on implementing the best cybersecurity practices or preparing for disastrous data loss events.

If you feel that your IT staff can contribute to your bottom line better by developing tech innovations instead of handling important but routine admin tasks, then offload such tasks to a managed IT services provider. A reliable provider has all the technicians you need to expertly handle all of those day-to-day functions for you.

So many things are going wrong, but you can’t determine why

As businesses grow, IT process workflows become more complex. Bottlenecks form and unexpected problems arise. Get a clearer picture of your tech situation by getting managed IT solutions in Toronto like network and server monitoring. These tools allow you to identify problem areas early as well as provide the data needed to come up with effective solutions before they cause further damage.

You need to exercise greater managerial control over your business

At XBASE Technologies, we take managed IT services in Toronto to the next level by providing visibility across your entire organization. With custom dashboards and other business intelligence tools, you’ll be able to review your company’s IT performance in real time, distill insights to improve areas that are under-delivering, and adjust strategies to adapt to changing business realities.

Running a successful business often means allying yourself with the right partners. If you’ve seen the signs that you need outsourced IT support, look no further than XBASE. Contact us to learn how businesses across all of Toronto raise their game with Exponentially Better™ managed Services from XBASE.