A Business Guide To Managed IT Services in Winston Salem

Your Guide to Managed Information Technology (IT) Services

Businesses, big, small, and of all types, rely heavily on IT services to keep financial and operational processes going. Managed IT Service Providers (MSPs) help your business do this by reducing IT costs, maximizing IT efficiency, and minimizing IT downtime. Business operators cannot afford to take their focus off of what makes their business earn revenue to worry about IT issues. That’s when MSPs can be extremely useful.

What are Managed IT Services?

Managed IT services are tailor-made IT plans that are adapted to the way your business functions and the methods used to run your business. CPA firms, healthcare organizations, property management companies, retail stores or restaurants that use POS systems, and government organizations are examples of businesses that would benefit from IT managed services.

The following focuses on what services are available from MSPs to create an IT plan that is tailor-made for your business needs.

What Services Do MSPs Offer?

MSPs offer a range of services to maintain individual computers, IT systems, and servers.  For example, MSPs will keep computers operating at an optimum level by performing regular maintenance. They will also attend to any cybersecurity concerns such as installing malware protection or managing firewalls.

Common Services Offered by MSPs

Cybersecurity

In this day and age, cybersecurity concerns have become more prominent as personal information is stolen from businesses, and websites are taken hostage by ransomware. These cybersecurity pitfalls and revenue stream interruptions should not be tolerated. MSPs can help provide the utmost cybersecurity protection possible by installing and monitoring cybersecurity tools.

Unlimited Offsite Backup for All Computers

Providing unlimited offsite backup for computers will help in the event that a computer is taken over by malware or ransomware. Having the backup stored offsite will keep it out of the hands of hackers and will be available when there is a need for a clean backup to be reinstalled on a computer that is infected with malware.

Backup and Recovery Testing and Monitoring 

Once a local or server backup is accomplished, regular monitoring and testing will be done to ensure the backup was a success and that the backup is able to be restored if the machine or server has been compromised.

Malware Protection for All Computers

Of course, defending against malware should be the first priority.  MSPs can install malware protection for all the business computers and scan for malware on a daily and weekly basis. If a scan detects an anomaly, the MSPs will be notified and will be able to take action.

Firewall

The firewall is the first defender against malware.  Keeping the firewall up-to-date will ensure optimum performance to defend against malware.  MSPs will keep the firewall up-to-date and make any needed changes.

IT Document Management

Storing network and server information on a secure document management platform will allow an MSP to have access to important information to solve problems quickly. If vendors require information for problem-solving or alerts need to be sent about potential issues, this can be done efficiently by extracting the information off of a secure document management platform.

IT Managed Services

Monthly Maintenance of Computer Systems

Sometimes you may find your computers running slow or not at the optimum level that they should be. MSP services provide regular maintenance of computer systems to ensure they are running at an optimum level at all times.

MSPs provide services such as cleaning up any temporary files to make more disk space available.  Another computer maintenance service they provide is disk defragmentation. Regular disk defragmentation will improve performance.  Other services include removing any toolbars or other unneeded software that may be slowing down the computer system.

Quarterly Business Reviews

The objective of the quarterly business reviews is to review the condition of the IT systems to make sure they are supporting the business as they should.  At these business reviews, strategic IT consulting and recommended services and projects will be suggested to fix any problems or obstacles that may be preventing the business from operating at the most efficient level.

Unlimited Remote and Onsite Support

Of course, immediate help is a phone call away, as MSPs can react to problems remotely. However, MSPs also offer unlimited onsite support during regular business hours to help with services such as equipment upgrades. Additional IT managed services provided are:

• Wireless network and connectivity management
• Legal, finance, and HR business app support
• Vendor management
• Rapid response

Other Services Offered by MSPs

Business Continuity Planning

There is a multitude of disasters that can occur to a business IT system, causing excessive downtime and lost revenue.  Natural disasters, human errors, power outages, or cyberattacks can be detrimental to businesses. However, MSPs ensure that information and resources can be recovered quickly to minimize downtime and resume business operations if any of those disasters occur.

Cloud Solutions

Cloud solutions take the worry of finding enough storage on business networks or servers to access the unlimited potential of that business. Cloud solutions offer affordability and security to business information and operations.

Dark Web Monitoring

When data breaches occur, that data or digital information that was stolen, such as credit card numbers, usernames, and passwords, can be sold on the dark web. If the data that was compromised was a business credit card number or a username and password to a business network or server, this can mean devastating results for a business.

MSPs monitor and scan the dark web to ensure business digital credentials are not available on the dark web. If notified of a threat, MSPs can respond immediately.

Why Should I Outsource My IT Needs?

• Control and reduce overhead costs
• Increase security
• Reduce downtime
• Have the ability to focus on business operations
• Have access to the most proficient technical expertise

It’s Time to Ask for the Best

Outsourcing IT responsibilities has a multitude of advantages for your business. Ready to outsource your IT needs to Parkway Tech in Winston Salem? Contact us to schedule a no-obligation review of your business IT service needs.