How to Minimize Support Costs Without Harming Your Business

If you’re trying to limit your operating costs to give you more capital to build your business, it is imperative to keep in mind that sacrifice isn’t your only option. Instead, you also have the option of streamlining and minimizing some of your larger expenses by enlisting a managed services provider (MSP) and the more sustainable business model we adhere to.

This month we wanted to list a few ways that support costs can inflate, and how recruiting an MSP can provide boosts to both efficiency and productivity.

How Support Costs Can Grow Out of Control

There are many different types of reasons that your technology support can be extremely costly:

• Your technology may be inherently expensive to repair or replace.
• Repair fees factor in additional fees and travel costs, in addition to the charge for the actual service.
• Repair services tend to only focus on solving the immediate problem, with no consideration for the future. This leaves the possibility of the problem recurring almost immediately. It can also result in creating other interoperability problems, which again, would often require another billable visit from the provider.
• The responsibility ultimately falls to you to call in a technician to fix any problems that do happen and coordinate a time to get them fixed. It often results in significant downtime and the lost revenue that comes with it. 
• These expenses are effectively impossible to accurately plan for. As a result, it is very easy to not be able to truly plan your IT support costs effectively.

Break/fix causes these issues. Now, let’s go over how the MSP is a much safer and more reliable IT support investment:

How an MSP Prevents Cost Inflation

There are numerous ways that the MSP eliminates the challenges that the traditional provider’s services present.

• In addition to remaining up-to-speed on industry best practices regarding repair and remediation, an MSP will have formed business relationships with a variety of vendors who offer them better prices for and quicker access to the technology your company will need.
• Instead of requiring a member of their staff to travel to your location, your MSP will utilize remote access tools to diagnose and mitigate everything that doesn’t require hands-on intervention, resolving issues more quickly. Any additional travel time and associated costs included in the agreement are also covered by the monthly fee.
• When needed, the MSP goes beyond fixing the symptoms of a problem. Instead, they’ll use their access and monitoring tools to identify the source of the issue and resolve that, helping reduce the likelihood of further action being needed.
• Utilizing state-of-the-art monitoring and management tools, an MSP is also capable of monitoring your network and systems for errors, inconsistencies, and other signs of a problem. This means even identifying potential, not-yet-realized issues. As a result, they can proactively prevent obstacles from interrupting your workflows.
• As an MSP operates similarly to a subscription service, budgeting becomes particularly simple as your financial commitment is made much more predictable. This also makes it simple to adjust your agreement to meet your needs, as your fee is simply adjusted to match whatever your business requires.

At Macro Systems, we aim to provide the best IT services in the Metro Washington, DC area. To learn more about how we can provide all types of value to your business, give us a call at 703-359-9211.