Technology plays a crucial role in the success of small, mid-sized, and large businesses alike. Yet, small businesses, in particular, are usually reluctant to enlist the help of an IT support service because they think it will be too expensive. However, the cost of not getting one could be much greater.
If you’re still unsure, here are five compelling reasons why you should hire a Managed IT Services Provider (MSP) immediately.
1. IT Readiness Through Round-the-Clock Network Monitoring.
For any business to operate successfully, its network connectivity and technical infrastructure need to be up and running at all times. However, we all know that technology is not immune to unexpected crises and events, and businesses need to be able to adapt and overcome such random events that can make or break them.
A proficient IT support company will provide round-the-clock monitoring of all your business’s network elements, such as computers, virtual machines, routers, firewalls, and servers, to ensure 24/7 network performance. It’ll also identify any slow or broken components as soon as they fail, allowing for swift repair or replacement and significantly improving your work efficiency.
Overall, hiring an MSP will minimize the risk of sudden downtime since faulty components can be identified in advance and replaced before they result in complete interruption of service.
2. Protection From Viruses and Other Compromising Software
Technology lies at the heart of most business processes, with many firms focused on procuring more advanced solutions to improve their yield. However, with the prominence of cyber threats, securing your tech is just as important. We’ve seen the likes of Dropbox, Capital One, and several other companies fall prey to viruses, malware, and other online attacks in the past, resulting in their websites being compromised and the security of their users jeopardized.

Every DC IT provider knows this and will look to first evaluate the safety of your computer systems for weaknesses that hackers could exploit, fix them, and proceed to test for even more vulnerabilities. Next, your MSP will set up standard antivirus management and keep your systems updated and well-monitored to protect your devices and keep your business from falling prey to attacks.
Failure to implement this level of protection will leave your company at great risk of a data breach that could expose customer information. Such compromises often result in costly lawsuits, customer mistrust, a tarnished company name and even plummeting sales.
3. Improved Human Resource and Time Management
Small businesses tend to wear many hats in a bid to handle all aspects of their processes and improve customer service. However, this can quickly become overwhelming, especially when they use manual solutions that are no longer efficient and practical. Still, implementing a more high-tech system that streamlines your processes requires expertise and time.
An IT support service can quickly develop an information system specifically for your business’s structure and procedures. This will not only take the worry of data maintenance, IT infrastructure, and network monitoring off your shoulders, but it will also ensure that all your processes are handled by IT solutions experts, making them up to standard. You also get to free up your time to handle other crucial, less technical aspects of your business.
4. Enhanced Marketing Strategies for Business Growth and Development
The ultimate goal of every business is to enhance its marketing strategies and drive growth and development. However, whether you’ll achieve that result or not is dependent on the decisions you make regarding your products or services, marketing strategies, customer approach, and — perhaps most importantly — the internal processes that govern your entire workflow.
IT support, using information systems, can help to amplify your marketing strategies by facilitating accurate market research and valuable data accumulation. This may come in the form of discovering target audiences and their unique needs and demands, as well as building promotional campaigns that persuade people to act.
Algorithms could also be designed to track your business’s online transactions and customer purchasing behavior. This information will provide a data-driven basis for planning and deciding on new strategies concerning fresh product introductions, price allocation, and promotion campaigns.
5. Refined Customer Support
Customer support revolves around assisting consumers with any issues they may have regarding your products, services, and business in general. Small companies need all the positivity they can get; hence, they need to provide seamless customer support when needed. However, it’s not uncommon to suffer downtime that cripples your ability to deliver excellent and reliable customer service.
An MSP will help prevent such avoidable outage periods by setting up multiple communication channels to assist customers. This will give users more options to reach your business conveniently. Excellent customer support translates directly to business success, as you’d have established an uninterrupted channel between you and your consumers, giving you more data to understand their behavioral preferences.

Also, consider that the volume of queries and customer concerns you need to deal with increases as your services and audience reach expands, making it challenging to keep up. However, with a reliable IT provider to manage all the technicalities, you’d only need to focus resources on hiring remote staff to supplement your existing support team.
Overall, hiring an MSP will help you provide excellent customer service, which you’d be unable to do if you didn’t have a reliable network, email, or website connection.
Strengthen Your Business With IT Support
Information technology covers various services and industries and is crucial to the success of many businesses. Whether it’s in the form of simple processes like data input and record-keeping, implementing complex operations, or keeping customers satisfied, there’s no denying the role advanced systems have to play.
If you ever find your business in need of an IT services company that can align its interests with yours and provide rapid response to technical issues while maintaining a predictable and consistent billing, Shipshape IT is the answer! We work with organizations of all sizes to ensure you have the secure, reliable technology available to help you meet even the most aggressive business goals.
Call us on 703-312-9040 or contact us today for an uncluttered and uncomplicated IT solution.