How a Managed Service Provider Contributes to Business Continuity

No business is entirely futureproofed, whether talking about a mom-and-pop shop or a technology giant worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Every company must ensure its business continuity by addressing various issues. Some do it with the help of a managed service provider, while others handle it in-house.

In some cases, using an outside expert makes more sense. Small to mid-sized businesses tend to benefit more from third-party expertise. But to start working on business continuity, you should know more about what it means and how managed services fit into the equation.

 What Is Business Continuity?

Business continuity is a concept that enables organizations to maintain, scale, or recover business functions while overcoming specific industry challenges.

Continuity is ensured by creating a business continuity plan covering all possible threats specific to a company. Major disruptions tend to occur in the following areas.

• Assets
• Human resourcesResources
• Business resourcesResources
• Business partners and vendors
• Supply chain
• Technology

Naturally, many aspects contribute to business continuity and creating a solid plan to cover the entire business. While some of these issues are covered by in-house solutions, others may need outside intervention. Therefore, companies often reach out to a managed service provider, specializing in office equipment, IT, document management, or a combination of these services.

A Managed Service Provider Creates Disaster Recovery Plans

Disaster recovery planning is one of the most crucial subsets of a business continuity plan. Typically, it focuses entirely on restoring the IT infrastructure after a major event. It could be anything from server wipes, equipment theft, malware infections, and complete office destruction.

These plans must contain detailed procedures and solutions to quickly recover digital data and physical infrastructure losses quickly. One of the secondary goals besides data recovery is to minimize downtime.

A managed service provider can create personalized plans for various companies based on internal threats, industry risks, and environmental factors. Moreover, outsourcing this subset of business continuity planning ensures that someone outside the company can always intervene regardless of what happens to the internal infrastructure.

Managed service providers do this by improving network security to reduce disaster risk. Then, they develop a clear recovery process, create data backups, and implement fail-safes. Furthermore, they can provide 24/7 monitoring of servers, office equipment, devices, and cloud-based solutions. Hence, the reaction time is fast enough to respond in the event of a disaster.

A Managed Service Provider Improves Uptime and Productivity

Another aspect of business continuity is ensuring that a company has room to grow. Companies that lack scalability can lose market share to their competitors. They can fall behind on meeting the needs of their customers.

They might not make enough revenue to invest in better technology and streamline business operations. Businesses that stagnate for too long are at risk of going under.

This is where a managed service provider comes in with several solutions and improvements.

• Updated technology – Businesses must use the latest technology stacks in their industry if they want to compete or get an edge. A managed service provider can offer optimized software and hardware solutions to improve workflow and increase productivity.
• Scalable services – Companies can save money by working with a managed service provider. Moving IT management and even printing outside the company means businesses pay only for what they use. By adding more cloud-based solutions, companies can easily scale without substantial equipment investments.
• Reliable expertise – Every business owner knows the importance of filling knowledge gaps. A managed service provider can fill those gaps in expertise and perhaps cover even more than one or two new in-house employees could. In addition, timely interventions and expert consultations improve productivity and uptime. Thus, it helps companies grow their operations instead of stagnating.
• Document management – This is another type of managed service offered by some companies. It can help businesses go paperless, reduce operational costs, and even resolve workflow issues. The more efficient the workflow, the better the productivity and the higher the likelihood that companies can keep growing successfully.

The impact on productivity varies between industries. However, a managed service provider always has a significant impact on uptime. Whether it improves customer support, sales, marketing, online availability, communication channels, backup server availability, or anything else in between, 24/7 management reduces the risk of infrastructure failures.

Thanks to this, a business can continue operating and generating money. The more money it makes, the faster it can scale, also knowing that managed services can scale with the demand. In theory, managed services make it difficult for companies to become overwhelmed or distracted by areas of the business that lack in-house expertise.

Outsource to Experienced Managed Service Providers

Business continuity is no joke, and planning for it must become a priority sooner rather than later. All companies need it, and not all of them can do it internally. A managed service provider can offer the missing expertise required to create a solid business strategy and continuity plan, especially concerning IT solutions and infrastructure.

The right partner can put your company in a position to bounce back from worst-case scenarios and continue to flourish. In addition, managed services can reduce the risk of even encountering a disaster event. While reaction time matters, a managed service provider is equally dedicated to identifying and eliminating threats before they can cause damage.

And if you can work with a local specialized provider, it’s even better. Quick on-site maintenance and support are highly valuable. Contact Duplicator Sales & Service today and learn about your options in Louisville, Lexington, Elizabethtown, and Paducah to optimize your business continuity planning.