What to Look for in a Managed Services Provider (MSP)

Many enterprise organizations have employed the use of a managed services provider (MSP) to free up critical resources, provide unbiased insight, and help speed the development of new products and or services. They have also proven to provide a human and technological resource that allow companies to focus on their core business.

Often over-looked MSP’s can handle a majority if not all IT operations from service desk, system monitoring, endpoint management, network administration and collaboration to name a few. These routine functions can easily put a strain on staff, draining precious time they can utilize to focus on more critical tasks within the IT infrastructure. Furthermore, a managed services provider will ensure that the proper protocols and best practices are followed and applied, that can easily save money and reduce downtime.

Below we outlined three facets to look for when hiring an MSP, or reviewing the duties of your current provider.

Up-to-Date:

A managed service provider should be on top of all technological aspects regarding their clients IT infrastructure. This means they are well-informed on the latest developments in software, hardware and networks. They should be able to discern which updates need to be implemented and what hardware needs to be replaced when necessary. Make sure your provider or future provider has an in-house team focused on keeping their staff up-to-date and informed.

Strategic Partnership:

Your managed services provider should be in every way treated as partner in the success of your business. Although you can choose which service to outsource, an MSP should always have a top-level view of your entire IT infrastructure and how it relates to the operation of your business. Your MSP should also be able to respond and react to changing business conditions, and provide consultative advice to IT priorities and challenges that can affect your business even if they’re not currently responsible for it.

Optimization:

Your managed services provider should be consistently evaluating the health of your infrastructure, validating system utilization, recommending changes and upgrades to software and hardware when needed. They should be making sure your ship is in tip-top shape, and offering constant reviews on the overall status of your IT operations. This helps with determining the market value of your infrastructure and understanding its return-on-investment.  The value of your MSP will truly be recognized when they’re keeping your systems working at peak optimal performance.

Fidelus Technologies, based out of New York City is a Professional and Managed Information Technology Services company focused on customer success and business efficiency . Our services provide seamless networking, data center, wireless, security and unified communications expertise for enterprise businesses.  We have a consultative life cycle approach that includes requirements gathering, assessments, solution design, planning, project management, engineering, adoption and evolution (training) services to fully support the IT needs of your organization.

For more information on our services please visit us here, or feel free to view our managed services data sheet here.