According to the Harvard Business Review, “Research shows that heavy multitaskers are less competent at doing several things at once than light multitaskers. In other words, in contrast to almost everything else in your life, the more you multitask, the worse you are at it.”

Want to salvage the estimated 40% of productivity you lose by doing too many things at once? Look into hiring an MSP.

What is an MSP?

Gartner defines them this way: “A managed service provider (MSP) delivers services, such as network, application, infrastructure, and security, via on-going and regular support and active administration on customers’ premises, in their MSP’s data centre (hosting), or a third-party data centre.”

They’re most often found supporting small businesses and startup organisations, particularly those focused on IT.

Signs That You Need an MSP

Know your SMB could use some help, but aren’t sure if you’re ready to commit to hiring a managed service provider?

See if any of these signals sound familiar:

Your IT team is underwater with tasks or non-existent.

Having a lean team is important during some early stages of business development. But most organisations today can’t get very far without an experienced, responsive IT team. Whether yours is buried in todos or still coming together, you’re opening your business up to a world of risk without the right IT support.

You’re focused on saving money now so you can hire a team down the line.

Cost will always be a huge consideration when you own a business. However, the goal of staying cash positive can feel at odds with the expense of hiring skilled IT help. If you don’t have the funds to hire a specialist now, an MSP could give you access to the IT solutions you need today, without inhibiting tomorrow’s future growth.

You’re having a hard time staying on top of IT-related tasks.

Even if you do have a dedicated IT team, they can easily get mired in the day-to-day IT tasks of running a business. Having an MSP on call can help ensure any time-sensitive issues you come up against don’t create productivity bottlenecks.

You’ve already experienced a security breach or come close.

Last year alone, the number of new businesses who experienced a cyber breach increased 424%! If you’re one of the lucky ones who got spared, now’s the time to hire an MSP for security oversight. 60% of small businesses that are victims of a cyber attack go out of business within six months, according to Fundera.

The Benefits of an MSP

Even if none of the above scenarios perfectly describe your situation, there’s a good chance you can still benefit.

Business 2 Community offers these advantages of working with an MSP:

1. They’re cost-effective.
2. They have extensive cloud expertise.
3. You’re better able to scale your business.
4. They keep track of all the IT trends.
5. You’ll have guaranteed business continuity.
6. You’ll get 24/7/365 monitoring and support.
7. You can avoid expensive downtime.
8. They will keep you up to date on security and privacy regulations.

Don’t have the funds to hire your long-term IT team or the time to do it all yourself? An MSP could help your small business boom.