A Managed Service Provider (MSP) is an outside company that provides a range of IT services for businesses. Companies use MSPs because they can get access to expertise that they don’t have in-house for less than the cost of hiring a full-time employee. As a business owner, this gives you an experienced outside team to manage their IT and connectivity and provide tailored advice on the best systems to use to increase efficiency.
Having someone take care of IT needs also gives you peace of mind that systems are as secure as possible and that support and backups are available in the event of a problem. If a problem occurs, there is less downtime as support is already in place to deal with it. You can then focus on doing what you do best without worrying about IT systems.
What types of connectivity can an MSP provide?
An MSP can provide a range of options to suit any business:
1) Business broadband
Business broadband is a far better option than using a home broadband service for running a business. With business broadband, you get excellent customer service, technical support when you need it, higher speeds with low or no contention ratio, security measures, and a service level agreement that specifies what you will receive.
2) Leased lines
A leased-line is a fibre optic cable connection that no one else can use or share. This gives incredible speeds of up to 10Gbps, allowing your business to work smoothly with no slowing down at peak times. The connection is symmetric with a leased line, which means that your upload and download speeds are the same. You can easily hold video calls and conferences without losing call quality.
3) FTTP
FTTP stands for Fibre to the Premises and provides a direct connection from your business premises to the exchange. This makes for a fast connection where upload and download speeds are often the same. You don’t need a phone line for this connection, which can save on costs, and despite the high-speed connection, this is a cost-effective solution.
What types of telephony can an MSP provide?
With an MSP, you can get advice on the best telephone system for your business. They may still offer a traditional PBX system, though these run on ISDN connections which will be phased out by 2025, so if you have a new system, it is better to go for a digital phone system instead. An MSP can provide you with a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone system which is scalable, flexible, and easily allows you to add or remove team members. Call quality is also incredibly clear with a VoIP system.
Another option is Microsoft Business Voice, which integrates into Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 for a more streamlined system. It is a cloud-based phone system that provides chat, files, meeting options, and calling all in one place.
An experienced MSP can provide a complete cyber security service, including email security, password security, and network security.
Your MSP can protect your network with firewalls and antivirus software, but also with a system that constantly monitors your network and proactively looks for any problems, stopping spam getting through to staff, looking for viruses and other types of attacks, enforcing strong passwords which should change regularly, and more.
With so many different ways cybercriminals can attack a business, including trojans, viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks, cyber security is vital for any company’s IT systems.
What else can an MSP do for a business?
As well as general monitoring and protecting your IT system and providing business connectivity, your MSP is there to provide support if anything goes wrong. Depending on your service level agreement, you will be able to get support 24/7, 365 days a year, which would be hard for any business to match with in-house staff.
Some MSPs also provide a help desk function where your employees can call if they have a problem. An experienced IT person will talk your employee through their issue and help them fix it over the phone, or they may log into the employees’ computer remotely and fix the problem. It allows your employees to get back to work much faster.
Some MSPs will also look after your hardware, giving you advice on what to buy and source it for you at a reasonable price so you can keep your computers and other equipment up to date.
With the right MSP, your business IT systems will run quickly and smoothly, with low downtime, keeping your business up and running efficiently.
