Microsoft 365 is a great tool for many businesses. But managed Microsoft 365 is even better. The managed part refers to having a managed service provider (MSP) partner with you to correctly configure your Microsoft 365 and more. Here are nine benefits to consider:
1. Visibility Across All Microsoft 365 Applications
We all know what a giant ecosystem of robust services Microsoft has. They integrate to provide functionality that puts your team on the path to success. But looking at those services can be mind-boggling at first glance.
When you partner with an MSP, your team has access to experts who help identify business needs and fine tune your service selection. For example, you might need a content management platform coupled with a storage solution. An MSP can get you up and running with both SharePoint and OneDrive and configure them to work together securely.
If your IT employees are spending too much time on manual legacy processes, the automation capabilities in Microsoft Power Platform might fit your needs. What about growth? Are you getting to the next level with an end-to-end customer relationship management (CRM) solution? MSPs have certified professionals ready to execute that transition.
Don’t let the vastness of Microsoft 365 dishearten you from raising your business to the next level. When you partner with an MSP, you get full visibility into the Microsoft toolset assuring that you purchase the right solution for your business needs.
2. Easy Microsoft 365 License Management
Microsoft gives businesses a lot of flexibility to take components they need and leave ones they don’t. While this is a great feature, it does create a challenging license landscape to keep track of.
An MSP can set you up with the right licensing and then manage those licenses over time so you will always be up to date for your business needs. A managed Microsoft 365 provider will be well-versed in the differences between various product licenses and can help you select the mix that will meet your business needs at the lowest cost — such as the difference between Office 365 and Microsoft 365 licensing. Plus, you avoid having to read all those riveting Microsoft licensing docs.
3. Improved Employee Experience
Hiring and retaining the right employees for specific jobs, especially tech jobs, is one of the most difficult challenges leaders face. Also, providing the right technology tools to help them succeed in their positions is key to retaining talented people, even in non-IT jobs.
According to statistics, Microsoft 365 suite software is used by more than a million companies worldwide, with more than 731,000 companies in the United States alone. Microsoft 365 is an industry leader in business collaboration and they continually improve their offerings. Managed Microsoft 365 providers keep up with these improvements, manage critical changes, and ultimately improve the experience of the employees who utilize these systems. They can do it with yours.
4. End-to-End Service Delivery
Aside from improving employee experience, an MSP can provide end-to-end service delivery. The MSP’s team assists in process improvement and manages critical systems. There is no longer a need to spend hours and additional resources creating training materials, adopting strategies, sleuthing out best practices, etc.
Managed Microsoft 365 partners can remove roadblocks, streamline adoption and drive collaboration, allowing your teams to take full advantage of Microsoft enterprise services.
5. Scale to Avoid Bottlenecks
When you partner with a managed service provider, you can scale your Microsoft services in real time, anytime you need to. There are no bottlenecks. No bandwidth shortage. No data storages nearing capacity. Your business can secure the resources you need, when you need them.
Avoid challenges that can delay growth opportunities, discourage potential customers, create internal challenges or impact business efficiency. MSPs have the knowledge and expertise to help you scale your resources and stay competitive in the market.
6. Minimize Downtime With a Disaster Recovery Plan
With the rise in remote work and the frequency and impact of cybercrime growing each year, it is critical to have a comprehensive disaster recovery strategy in place to ensure your organization can defend, protect and quickly recover from data loss.
During the past few years, cybercriminals have proved they can breach any business large or small. Educational institutions, municipalities, giants of industries as well as mom-and-pop stores have been successfully attacked by these bad actors.
Disaster recovery plans help mitigate the damages caused by cyber criminals as well as natural disasters. With these plans you minimize downtime and can return to business as usual more quickly.
Most companies deploy integrated systems that work together to drive business forward. When one component fails to function properly it can create a domino effect on the rest of your operations.
That’s where managed service providers can help. An MSP can keep eyes on your systems, identifying potential hardware or software issues that may need your attention. They can also support you in drafting a plan of action that maximizes your response to downtime issues.
7. Support On Demand With Strong SLAs (Service-Level Agreements)
By having an MSP handle your Microsoft 365 services, you have immediate access (24/7/365) to industry professionals who are not just knowledgeable but also have the skills to resolve issues impacting your Microsoft 365 services. This provides your internal team relief and gives team leaders the assurance that they can focus on growing the business.
If your company doesn’t have an internal IT team to rely on, an MSP provides you with your own IT department that shows up on time, every time, right when you need it.
8. Automated System Maintenance
Have you ever been working intensely on a project only to see a prompt that warns you to update your system? You delay running the update until you can save all your documents, or worse, until you are done with your projects. That delay puts not just your computer, but the whole company at risk.
Partnering with an MSP can help by proactively creating and enforcing group policies that automatically deliver updates to every endpoint in your organization, keeping your infrastructure safe from digital exploitation.
9. Managed Infrastructure
Commissioning an MSP to manage your infrastructure allows you to take advantage of enterprise level security and collaboration, maintain data integrity and minimize downtime, as well as return time back to your employees who are responsible for driving your business forward. Storage, conferencing, security, disaster recovery, device management – all of these exist within the infrastructure model.
Managed Microsoft 365 and More
These are some reasons how managed Microsoft 365 can help your business, but there are many additional benefits to working with a managed service provider. Contact us to discuss how we could help your business save money, improve productivity and be more secure.
