The increasing access to remote working has been a positive change for most businesses. However, there are risks—employees and companies must now share more confidential information online than ever before.
With the drastic growth of online work, cyber threats are sky-rocketing. That’s why many companies are turning to MSPs (Managed Service Providers) instead of break/fix providers to create comprehensive cybersecurity plans that protect against these threats.
That said, not all MSPs are created equal. Many MSPs may not be well-suited for your business’s needs, so it’s important to evaluate what they’re offering and whether their strategy is tailored for your unique needs.
First of All, What is an MSP?
Don’t have an MSP yet? Here’s what you need to know:
An MSP, or Managed Service Provider, is a type of IT solutions provider that can offer various services to help your business succeed using software, online services, and anything else tech-related.
Depending on what your company needs, your MSP can tailor the solutions you need into one package for which you pay a flat monthly fee. Some of those solutions include consulting, 24/7/365 monitoring, helpdesk support, managed cybersecurity, and backup and disaster recovery.
MSPs are usually preferable to break/fix solutions since they are strategized for short- and long-term business goals. They are also significantly cheaper than hiring an in-house team.
What Your MSP Should Be Offering
There are many services that your MSP should be providing for your business. If they’re not, it’s a good idea to switch.
Here are some reasons it might be time to switch your MSP this year:
1. Your current MSP doesn’t offer 24/7 support.
With the number of cyberattacks greatly increasing, a key feature for any successful MSP is to provide 24/7 support for their clients.
Round-the-clock support involves routinely installing patches, monitoring for unauthorized activity, detecting malware infections, and responding quickly if there are any issues with your hardware or software. Without 24/7 support, your business is more susceptible to attacks that don’t get immediately noticed or resolved, increasing your risk of downtime and breaches.
2. Your team is tasked troubleshooting technical issues.
If you have noticed that your staff is having to solve tech issues on their own, it’s time to consider switching MSPs.
Your team shouldn’t have to spend hours Googling how to troubleshoot their system. Using a reliable MSP allows you and your team to get to work while your provider optimizes your systems for efficiency. Any time there is an issue, your MSP will resolve it (usually through a helpdesk ticketing system), leaving your team to focus on what’s most important.
3. You experience unplanned downtime.
Downtime can be extremely frustrating. Whether it’s a computer that won’t start, a broken power supply, or a webpage that just won’t load, any interruption to normal work productivity can impact a business’s success.
Hiring the right MSP means that there’s a team consistently monitoring your system for potential threats that could cause these stalls.
When you switch to another provider, one who is more reliable in general but also has backup plans for when problems happen, this will guarantee that downtime won’t affect your business’s productivity or day-to-day operations.
4. Your MSP hasn’t created a comprehensive security plan for you.
A successful MSP company should ensure that you are proactively safe from online threats rather than waiting for you to be attacked and then responding. Instead of dealing with cyberattacks as they come, a good MSP is able to target vulnerabilities in your system and shut them down before it becomes a problem.
While there are attacks that can penetrate even the best of systems, having a strong threat prevention in place will make larger cybersecurity issues few and far between. Your MSP should have a comprehensive plan that they’ve explained thoroughly to you that will prevent even sophisticated threats, while also considering data backup and recovery in case of an unexpected event.
Syzygy 3 Can Optimize Your Business
If your current MSP is failing to sufficiently protect your information, learn more about our services at Syzygy 3. We are well-known across New York for our reliable managed IT services. We give businesses access to a team of experts who are able to protect your company’s information from falling into the wrong hands, as well as provide tools to optimize your efficiency.
To keep your business and your employees safe, contact our experts to learn more about cybersecurity and our other MSP services.
