When Should I Get Managed IT? [5 Critical Situations and Solutions]

Outsourcing to a managed IT service provider (MSP) isn’t always a straightforward decision, especially when you’re used to relying on your skills to solve your IT problems. You should know precisely if you need managed IT or if your business can still rely on in-house IT.  

As an MSP, Intelligent Technical Solutions has helped multiple businesses decide if they’re ready for an MSP or not. Usually, clients approach us when they’re looking for a fix to one of their problems in their IT infrastructure.  

We’ve listed down the top five critical situations where we recommend a client get an MSP.    

1. You’re experiencing frequent downtime.
2. You’ve been hacked. 
3. You’re putting more effort into IT than you want to.
4. You’re overwhelmed by the IT needs of your employees and customers. 
5. You don’t have the resources to manage a complete in-house IT department. 

By the end of this article, you’ll be able to see if you’re experiencing these situations and if you should get Managed IT. You’ll also see alternatives to an MSP if you’re not yet ready to get an MSP.  

1. You’re experiencing frequent downtime. 

Experiencing downtime means losing profits. According to a 2016 Ponemon study, the average cost of downtime per minute is $8,851. Even if your business is stable, losing that kind of money is not acceptable. 

Smaller businesses may experience a less amount of money lost, and yet it’s even more relevant as this is also proportional to generally lesser profits. 

While technology glitches are inevitable, having recurring downtime means there’s a problem that isn’t getting solved in your IT network. Some common problems are frequently disconnected servers, inaccessible files, or the inability to log in to your database.  

Therefore, when you’re experiencing recurring issues, it’s time to get outside help with the situation.  

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS 

• Short-term solution: Hire an individual technician or a break-fix company if you only need one issue fixed. 
• Long-term solution: Hire an MSP to check your entire network for problems 

2. You’ve been hacked.  

Getting hacked is a nightmare, but one that each business must prepare for. According to Sonicwall’s 2021 mid-year report, ransomware attacks rose by 151%, totaling 304.7 Million attacks. With these numbers, assuming your business will be free from cyber attacks is wishful thinking.  

Even if you’ve prepared, there’s still a chance they’ll break through your security precautions. Once a data breach happens, unless you have staff who’ve been specifically trained to handle cyber breaches, you’ll need the help of different technicians.  

Being able to offload the stress of data breaches to another group of people frees you up to deal with the front-end concerns. 

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS  

• Short-term: Hire an IT specialist to help recover your data (do not pay the ransom for your data)  
• Long-term: Invest in cyber insurance and hire an MSP to help recover your data and prevent future security issues 

3. You’re putting more time into IT than you want to. 

There’s only a limited amount of time per day. As a business owner, you’re aware of what each minute costs you. Each minute spent on IT is a minute less on customer concerns, sales, or product improvement.  

While IT is a worthwhile investment, there can come a time when you’re spending too much time on it and find it’s not worth it.  

Everyone has their threshold of time they’re willing to invest in IT. Once you’ve exceeded your threshold, it’s time to hire someone else to carry the workload for you.  

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS  

• Short-term: Prioritize what’s urgent and allow the non-urgent issues to fall to the wayside.  
• Long-term: Hire more staff or hire an MSP to free up your time.  

4. You’re overwhelmed by the IT needs of your employees and customers.  

As businesses grow, so do the needs of your customers and employees, and these needs will start piling up. Generally, each company will need to have a robust database, fast and efficient networks, and enough accounts for all employees. 

If your business also has a landline, you need to manage that too. Plus, you need to stay on top of the latest cyber security practices; hackers’ technologies evolve, so you should ensure your security evolves with it.  

Understandably, these factors are challenging to juggle when you’re also thinking about the other factors of your business. When you’re feeling overwhelmed due to the demands of your IT needs, it’s a sign to start offloading the work to other people.  

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS  

• Short-term: Scale down on available services or shift staff towards IT.  
• Long-term: Hire more staff or train more employees or offload your IT needs to a third party.  

5. You don’t have the resources to manage a complete in-house IT department.  

Managing your IT takes time and money. You need to have enough knowledgeable staff and all the infrastructure & equipment to support them. When resources start becoming scarce, it’s time to look for alternatives to what you’re currently doing.  

Instead of maintaining an in-house IT department, which comes with employment & equipment concerns, you can start looking for third parties that are cheaper alternatives to an in-house department.  

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS 

• Short-term: Reduce costs thru salary deductions or staff offboarding; shift resources from other departments to your IT.  
• Long-term: Look for alternative sources for IT management aside from in-house IT departments such as managed or co-managed IT.  

Wondering if Break Fix IT or Managed IT is right for you?  

The investment that goes into a business is immense, whether it’s time, effort, or money. You need to know the signs that you need to adjust your IT strategy, and these are the following signs:  

1. You’re experiencing frequent downtime.
2. You’ve been hacked. 
3. You’re putting more effort into IT than you want to.
4. You’re overwhelmed by the IT needs of your employees and customers. 
5. You don’t have the money to manage a complete in-house IT department. 

Each concern has its own solutions. At ITS, we’ve recommended the following solutions to some of our clients: you can try out hiring more staff, investing in better equipment, or offloading the work to a third party such as a break-fix company or an MSP.  

After these recommendations, clients usually ask about the differences between a break-fix company and a managed IT service provider. If you’re also wondering about these differences, read this article about break-fix companies vs. MSPs.  

This will help you decide if you can benefit from an MSP or are better off with other solutions.