Running an effective IT department has never been more expensive. According to CIO Magazine, the average business invests 4–6% of its revenue into IT. When planning your 2024 IT budget, finding ways to save money is often a top priority. It can be tempting to shop around for the lowest price and create a patchwork of providers for your IT needs. However, not only does this create friction and disjointed technology, but working with a single managed service provider (MSP) can actually lead to significant cost-savings. Here are a key ways to save money with an MSP.
1. Streamline IT Costs with a Single Provider
By using a single provider instead of many, you can lower costs, get more predictable spending, and streamline accounting. Consolidating vendors will also help improve time spent on vendor management activities and will make managing invoices, budgeting, and forecasting easier for your business. You’ll also gain better insights across your IT infrastructure versus having a segmented approach to managed IT.
2. Lower Overhead Expenses
MSPs typically have access to special pricing for hardware, software, and security platforms. For example, TPx has several different promos and offers that help you save money on the technology you need and want. Plus, working with an MSP is often significantly cheaper than paying for multiple specialized IT experts in-house. MSPs also provide strategic recommendations for network configurations, technology needs, or how to consolidate your systems to save money.
3. Improve Your Cybersecurity Posture
Recovering from a cyberattack or data breach can be incredibly expensive, especially when you consider the average cost of a data breach has hit $4.4 million. Businesses must put preventative measures in place to strengthen their security posture because the cost of defensive cybersecurity measures is less than that of a breach. By working with an MSP to implement a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy, companies can ultimately reduce their risk of a costly attack. With access to cutting-edge technology, employee education programs, and 24/7 monitoring and alerting in a security operations center (SOC), improving your cybersecurity becomes much more accessible.
4. Consolidate Your Technology Stack and Reduce Repetitive Tasks
Technology consolidation creates a simpler, streamlined infrastructure that also lowers costs. When businesses stop paying for redundant software and features, the cost savings add up along with other benefits like improved operations and employee productivity. With systems and data located in a single, centralized place, employees don’t have to waste time switching between systems to get the information they need. Plus, when you consolidate technology using an MSP, your internal IT teams can save time and focus on high-level business-critical projects instead of time-consuming tasks.
5. Limit Employee Burnout and Turnover
If your IT team is trying to do everything in-house, they can quickly become burned out. That burnout leads to a lag in response times, patches that fall through the cracks, and employee turnover. The cost and time needed to acquire new talent can be significant. With 42% of major companies reporting that they are understaffed in their IT departments, employee retention is critical. An MSP helps give your IT staff more time back to focus on mission-critical projects, improving morale and retention with work that truly matters.
6. Meet Business Goals Faster
With an IT team free to work on business-critical initiatives, companies can move the needle forward on strategic projects that make an impact on your bottom line. Improve your financial outlook with renewed focus on revenue-generating activities.
7. Proactively Ensure Compliance
Regulations like HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and GDPR are becoming more and more prevalent. Without compliance, you face hefty fines and legal exposure. MSPs can support compliance and regulatory requirements to ensure all your policies are up-to-date and proper protective security measures are in place to obtain cybersecurity insurance, so you’re covered in case of an incident.
8. Reduce Recruitment, Labor, and Training Costs
MSPs allow you to augment your team at a fraction of the cost. Recruitment and retention are extremely costly in a competitive field with high salaries. Add in the burden of continuous training, certification expenses, and IT burnout, and it’s incredibly hard to adequately staff IT in-house. MSPs absorb all of these costs and even reduce the skills gap. Your business can maintain one or two internal IT members who will have improved morale and retention.
9. Increase Operational Efficiency
MSPs monitor your business 24/7, keeping all systems at peak performance and top-notch security. With systems running with greater efficiency, your business can be more productive and maximize uptime, leading to financial benefits.
10. Limit Costly Downtime
Downtime negatively affects productivity, employee experiences, brand perception, and customer experiences. It’s also incredibly expensive. A serious incident can even lead to serious financial or legal repercussions. MSPs drastically reduce your risk of downtime utilizing cutting-edge technology, training your employees on security awareness, and continuous monitoring for cyber incidents to mitigate their extent.
Save Money With TPx
Ready to save your company money and get back to growing the business? A single MSP fuels your IT strategy, creates predictable costs, and even easier accounting with consolidating billing. Let an expert MSP like TPx improve your operations while lowering your IT costs. Ready to start saving money on your IT? Get in touch with our team today.