9 Common Challenges with Managed Service Providers

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Business relationships can be complicated – it takes time to nurture trust and create comfort.

Your relationship with your IT MSP (Managed IT Service Provider) is no different. The managed services market is predicted to reach 356.24 billion by 2025, suggesting that more businesses than ever are seeking MSP solutions.

Managed service providers offer a number of essential benefits for your business, including:

• Access to a team of IT experts
• Cost savings
• Compliance and risk mitigation
• Scalability
• Access to innovative technologies

However, it doesn’t mean that all MSPs are built equal, and it’s only natural for some businesses to feel unsatisfied with the level of IT help they get from certain services.

If you have been facing similar challenges and wondering if you even need them in the first place, it may be time to reevaluate your relationship and find a new IT MSP.

Look Out for These 9 Challenges with IT Managed Service Providers

1.   They Can’t Scale With Your Business

Ideally, your IT MSP should be your guide and support as your business continues to grow. They provide you with new IT strategies and products to facilitate your business evolution.

Your IT MSP should be proactively approaching you with product recommendations and technology that they should be implementing, instead of you having to constantly follow up with them for help.

If you feel you aren’t getting the right strategic guidance from your IT MSP, it’s a clear sign that you’ve outgrown your MSP– and need to move on.

2.   They Don’t Offer The Latest Cyber Security Measures

Quite ironically, a majority of MSPs don’t specialize in cybersecurity – which leaves you vulnerable to hackers that target MSP clients.

The protection and back up of sensitive data, especially in the event of a data breach, is a top priority that should be the main concern for your IT MSP.

If your IT partner doesn’t regularly brief you on threats to your business and finds ways to minimize their severity, rethink whether you still want to stick with them.

3.   Delayed Responses

You shouldn’t have to wait hours for your MSP to respond, especially if you need feedback on issues you’re facing. Ask yourself:

“Is my MSP notifying me of critical IT issues such as internet outages, server crashes, or data loss?”

“Do I need to continually contact my MSP for status updates on issues I requested IT support for weeks ago?”

If they fail to keep you well-informed and up to date, switch to an MSP that will.

4.   They’re Constantly Upselling You

An IT MSP invested in your growth and success will consistently consult you on technology that can increase your profitability and efficiency.

All recommendations should be backed by data and reporting to justify the costs, and how these upgrades can increase productivity, security, or cut costs. If they’re unable to justify the purchase, they may not have your best interests in mind, and merely trying to impact their own bottom line.

If you feel that this is part of your managed services provider’s challenges, move on.

5.   Your MSP Invoice Doesn’t Match Services Delivered

For most businesses, the main incentive behind taking on an IT MSP is to stabilize and secure your IT spending. However, you might find your invoices vary significantly from your expectations.

Here are a few reasons why this is happening:

• Your MSP is installing equipment without your consent or knowledge. Aside from adding to your frustrations, these expenses can also throw your budgets off track.
• You may find quite a few discrepancies between services agreed on and those provided.
• Employees cannot comprehend your IT MSP arrangement.

In any case, given you and your MSP have already agreed on a plan, additional costs shouldn’t even be a part of this equation, to begin with.

6.   Frequent Outages and Downtime

Given that your MSP tracks and manages your IT infrastructure, they’re in complete control of your IT performance. Therefore, downtime and outages can be extremely disappointing, especially when you hired an IT company to avoid these threats to your business in the first place.

Outage associated costs and risks leave a significant impact on your business. If you find this is happening frequently, reevaluate your contract to make sure these issues are covered.

If there’s no coverage, save yourself the trouble and switch your MSP.

7.   No Remediation Strategies

If your MSP is delaying vulnerability assessments and failing to create a remediation strategy to secure your data and assets, you must begin your search for a new partner.

The best MSPs equip their clients with their years of experience, and technical knowledge to defend against cyber threats and data breaches.

If you are experiencing issues, reconsider your current provider and switch to an MSP that ensures cybersecurity compliance and disaster recovery services, so that you can safeguard your customers and employees.

8.   Lack Of Transparency

Your IT MSP should be able to openly communicate all changes and upgrades they introduce in your IT infrastructure.

If your MSP fails to ensure transparency across the board, or if you find that they’re unwilling to explain the impact of new technology and strategies on your business, it’s high time you consider a change.

9.   Lack Of Internal Security

When it comes to internal security, your MSP should take yours very seriously.

MSPs are constantly the source of hacks and cyberattacks, and should take precautions to protect sensitive client information and customer access – even from the MSP’s own employees.

Many MSP’s share credentials for access to the client internally or have flat permissions, allowing all of their technicians access without any security or log-in on them.

When evaluating your current MSP, ask yourself the following:

• Does your MSP clearly lay out how they protect your business from security issues?
• Does your MSP use shared credentials on your network with their team?

If you answered no to question one and yes to question two, then now may be the time to change your MSP.

A lack of – or too loose – security plan could make your business more vulnerable and lead to a variety of issues including logging access, compliance, and security when employees leave. When it comes to your network security, it is always better to be on the safe side.

Challenges with IT Managed Services: Key Takeaway

If you find any of the above-mentioned issues in your relationship with your MSP, it’s time to say goodbye to them.

The good news is that there are plenty of reliable options to choose from.

Power Consulting is a New York-based managed services provider that offers our clients robust data security and performance, and reduced redundancy so that you can ensure the success of mission-critical operations in the face of system failures and server crashes. Ready to switch partners? We guarantee a 50% decrease in downtime and hardware-related problems. Contact us today to get started.