Abolishing the Rumor that Large MSPs Aren’t Worth Their Cost

To learn both what a managed service provider (MSP) is, and why those which are smaller in size are disadvantaged, make sure to check out our previous blog, Why You Should Choose A Larger MSP.

In summary, the benefits associated with employing an MSP are plentiful, but they reside primarily in those which are larger in size because of their economies of scale. The larger the MSP, the more diverse the clientele, and the more extensive the service offerings. Accordingly, larger MSPs are able to dedicate more resources to training their staff, so that they may acquire more specialized expertise in various facets of IT. Therefore, an advantage exists for an MSP to be large in size. On the other hand, smaller MSPs, due to their resource limitations, offer—at most—surface-level insight. When you are searching for an MSP to serve your business, it is best to seek those who are able to prove they can satisfy the needs of your business and are also willing to invest in improving the talent of their team. Thus, because smaller MSPs aren’t capable of making this commitment, this is why you should choose a larger MSP.

However, what has yet to be discussed, and is a vitally important consideration, is the price of MSPs, and why they may differ. In this entry, the focus will shift towards a different perspective on MSPs: Specifically, their affordability, and overall value.

So, will a larger MSP really provide the bang for your buck? The answer is yes—and here is why.

To begin, the completion of basic IT tasks is mandatory for a business to remain operational. What is being referred to is the rudimentary management of network, infrastructure, devices, software, and data backups. Without an MSP, a business is forced to undertake these tasks by hiring their own IT personnel. But, this alternative has a price itself. If these personnel work full-time in-house, you’ll have to cover their high salary—even during the downtimes when there aren’t any problems to fix. On the other hand, if they work according to an hourly rate, then any major technical malfunction in need of urgent, and lengthy troubleshooting could deteriorate your IT budget. In the end, both options of compensating in-house IT personnel are expensive.

Additionally, if your business chooses not to leverage the cloud services of an MSP, then you’ll likely be working with on-premise hardware which is quite costly and is subject to ongoing maintenance. In this scenario, outdated or damaged hardware could result in unexpected, but very high, replacement costs.

Now, compare this to the costs of an MSP, and in particular one that is well equipped to leverage cloud services for the benefit of your business. They, according to your contract, will dedicate the necessary time and resources to perform recommended maintenance, and solve any IT-related problems, without any fluctuation in the costs to you.

Therefore, relative to the alternative options, employing an MSP is often the more affordable option. In the end, you’re trading potentially high, and unexpected, capital costs, for basic and more predictable operating costs.

Ultimately, your business needs proper IT management, and tackling this yourself is unrealistically expensive. Therefore, MSPs present themselves as the more affordable solution to well-managed IT.

Well, an MSP may be the most affordable option, but what makes it worth the cost to begin with? In other words, why should you not choose the bare minimum option available, when it comes to managing your IT with an MSP? So, now we turn to see what exactly makes investing in an MSP valuable.

If you find the right one, the added benefit of choosing an MSP is that they’ll already be investing resources to improve their team’s talent, so that they may offer more advanced insight. This means that you’ll have access to better certified, and more knowledgeable, technicians. When you break it down, the larger the MSP, the more likely that they employ personnel in even the most specialized facets of IT. Furthermore, with a more diverse clientele list comes the experience and skills to manage all sorts of business-related requests, from privacy law, and cybersecurity, all the way to device provisioning, and disaster recovery. Therefore, it is often the case that the larger the MSP; the more valuable their services.

When you sign a contract with a large MSP, you’re paying for their oversight of your basic IT services, yes, but you’re also paying to access an enormous IT think-tank that will now lend their insight to your business—so that you may excel and compete when it comes to everything IT related.

Thus, the value in employing a large MSP, like Cloud Metric, is in the fact that you are partnering with one of the industry leaders in innovative technical solutions, cybersecurity development, and proactive support. The IT research and development performed by large MSPs, including Cloud Metric, is unparalleled. Smaller MSPs simply do not retain the same value in their contracts, because they have little to offer compared to their larger counterparts. They may resell existing software, and may complete basic IT tasks, but they won’t be able to offer the services that you will need to succeed from a competitive standpoint.

A large MSP retains its value because you have access to such a wide range of top-tier services that you can trust. On the other hand, if you employ a small MSP you may become frustrated with what little services they offer, and how shallow their expertise is.

Therefore, large MSPs are the ideal solution to IT management, cybersecurity, and support—and they are worth their costs.