The nightmare that jolts IT professionals upright in bed during the wee hours these days is data breaches. Those restless nights are populated by a world of shadowy threats like ransomware and phishing scams that all seem to have a pink tinge – as in pink slip. Managed IT services offer companies a way to defang those threats at the same time they add convenience, scalability, affordability and, of course, the offloading of headaches so your IT department can focus on high-value projects.
But don’t just take our word for it. The New York Times recently reported that data stored in the cloud generally is more secure than conventionally-stored data. That reality is fueling a huge surge in managed IT use as IT and business managers catch on. Today, some 79 percent of companies run workloads in the cloud and 80 percent plan to increase their use of cloud-based managed services. It makes for much more restful evenings.
The security advantage of managed IT services is especially true for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that lack the resources to employ their own IT security professionals. Even the big players with in-house IT staff find that the growing threat landscape makes it more sensible to partner with a managed IT service provider that employs teams of experts with deep security experience to assist with data loss prevention, endpoint protection and threat remediation.
It’s not a surprise that BizTech magazine reports that SMBs will increasingly look to outsource at least some of their cybersecurity to managed service providers. That decision decreases their exposure in important ways:
Inherent Multi-layered Security
Managed service providers are able to install and maintain multiple layers of security in their core operations. Security is a costly endeavor for companies that are not focused on creating IT infrastructure as part of their core business.
Internal Threat Protection
Employees with malicious intentions have more difficulty locating and damaging data in the cloud. The lack of physical access to that data, its redundancy, and even the lack of contact (internally) with people who can help them do damage generally makes data in the cloud more secure.
Avoiding Equipment Obsolescence
Managed services providers like TPx employ state-of-the-art facilities and equipment. That means you don’t have to worry about your gear becoming outdated or failing, which is where many security holes arise.
Business Continuity Enhancement
A managed services provider can make a company’s data disaster much less disastrous through automatic backups and redundancies, where it’s safe from systems failure, security threats or other disruptions.
There’s also safety in numbers. Financially speaking, managed IT services are more cost-effective because there are no up-front investments. Instead, they leverage a pay-as-you-go subscription model so companies avoid spending a lot of money on IT equipment, operating costs, licensing fees and data storage. Additionally, software updates and patches are executed automatically, saving time and money on the maintenance front. That means more dollars to the bottom line – the ultimate safety net.
About the Author
Matt Mair is a Senior Product Marketing Manager for Managed Services. His role includes marketing and communications for TPx’s suite of managed IT offerings including Managed SD-WAN, LAN Monitoring, Office 365, Endpoints Management, Colocation and Server Backup solutions. Matt holds an MBA from Michigan State University’s Broad School of Business and resides in Los Angeles.