Why You Should Choose a Larger MSP

A managed service provider (MSP) is an outsourced IT team who will configure your digital infrastructure, monitor your network, troubleshoot any issues you may have, and so on. Ultimately, employing an MSP is the perfect solution for many businesses when it comes to tackling anything, and everything, IT related. Rather than maintain in-house IT personnel, which is the costly alternative, an MSP provides consistent access to specialized expertise without the high price tag. Employing an MSP enables businesses to eliminate the risk of paying high capital expenditures unexpectedly and, instead, to adopt more predictable operating expenditures.

In recent years, it has become extremely popular for businesses of any size to put their technical requirements in the hands of a capable MSP—inherently offloading routine IT tasks, and promoting a focus on core activities which are central to the success of the business.

The range of services and support which are offered by an MSP is usually quite broad. For instance, infrastructure may be managed, consulting may be provided, hardware and software may be procured, cloud services may be leveraged, data backup and recovery strategies may be implemented, and much more. Additionally, an MSP usually looks after other facets of the digital landscape, such as cybersecurity and technical support.

The thing is, the needs and objectives of every business are unique, and, accordingly, different services will be required from their MSP. Therefore, an MSP will likely tailor their services to suit your business’ needs. Of course, what is beneficial is that the capabilities of an MSP likely extend beyond what is required by your business, given that they already work with a diverse clientele. As such, whether your business is interested in scaling up, adopting new hardware, searching for legal advice, or so on, it is likely the case that the MSP will already have experience in that regard.

Thus, when you employ an MSP, you’ll not only have your necessary IT tasks taken care of, but ideally you’ll gain access to an extensive repertoire of knowledge and skills when it comes to the IT industry’s best practices. Regardless of what field your business is in, taking advantage of this IT think-tank for hire is a step in the right direction in terms of developing a competitive edge.

However, when it comes to MSP’s, the name of the game is economies of scale. With this being said, smaller MSP’s are disadvantaged compared to larger MSP’s, primarily because they aren’t able to invest as many resources in developing a talented IT team. Ultimately, the smaller the MSP, the less effective the think-tank becomes, due to the shrinking overall skill base. Accordingly, smaller MSP’s typically aren’t aware of the industry’s best practices, and they take longer to solve cybersecurity issues, struggle with complicated infrastructure configurations, and find it difficult to perform network monitoring. Whereas on the contrary, larger MSP’s excel with these tasks because they are able to invest the necessary resources in acquiring knowledgeable individuals for even the most niche IT specializations. IT staff at larger MSP’s are often provided with the opportunity to improve their skills and seek new certifications. Simply put, larger MSP’s have the resources to push the boundaries, innovate, and impress, in terms of the services they offer.

Regarding cybersecurity, larger MSP’s are often required by their insurance provider to spend more resources refining the talent of their IT team, resulting in more effective monitoring and diagnostics. Ultimately, this is to improve risk mitigation.

In this sense, an MSP that is larger in size is generally recommended over any smaller MSP. A larger MSP typically consists of full-fledged, IT, Client Success, Project Management, and Sales departments, covers a large geographical area, offers adaptive scalability, and has a wider range of services. On the other hand, a smaller MSP would consist of just a handful of employees, targets merely a local area, and assists with surface-level technical issues.

It is far more difficult for smaller MSP’s to acquire real programming talent, and cultivate results, given their restrictions when it comes to resources. Access to cutting edge technology, programming and consulting professionals, experts on privacy laws, and so on, is a product of investing large amounts of resources—a commitment which smaller MSP’s often aren’t able to make.

Therefore, when you’re interested in employing an MSP to tackle something like your cybersecurity needs, one option is to choose a larger MSP that is a real contributor to the research and development of modern cybersecurity, and the other option is to choose a smaller MSP that, more or less, may be considered a glorified reseller of cybersecurity products. A smaller MSP may stray away from provisioning or updating devices, and, unfortunately, they might maintain their sole focus on packaging and selling software.

It is important to note that, for certain industries, cybersecurity regulations deem it necessary that firewall updates must be applied within a certain time frame upon their release. For instance, this period could be 14 days. The problem which arises is that smaller MSPs are unable to meet this requirement in the first place because they simply do not have a support team of adequate size to make such adjustments. Thus, smaller MSPs may be forced to make sacrifices, if they are employed in these industries. On the other hand, larger MSPs are often experienced with these requirements, and are managed appropriately to accommodate such an event.

Overall, the perks associated with employing an MSP are plentiful, but they reside primarily in those which are larger in size. When you are searching for the right MSP, it is always best to confide in those that are able to satisfy the needs of your business and are also willing to invest the necessary resources into improving the talent of their team. With the right expertise, an MSP is proven to give your business a competitive advantage.