Doing "more with less" is a call to action for every type and size of business these days. With a managed service provider a retailer can unload routine networking and cybersecurity responsibilities and protect limited internal IT resources, freeing them up to focus on elevating your brand.
One way a growing business can extract more value from its telecom investment is to engage a MSP, you can unload routine networking and cybersecurity responsibilities and protect limited internal IT resources, freeing them up to focus on elevating your brand.
Here are four ways an MSP can help a retailer do more with less as it strives to edge out the competition.
No. 1: MSPs drive down costs –– Where an individual business focuses on its specific needs, MSPs are in the business of providing a multitude of services to many different enterprises. As a result, MSPs can make investments, such as in automation, staffing and helpdesk operations, that the individual business may not be able to justify. With significant buying power, MSPs can also achieve more favorable price points than the smaller business can attain. Furthermore, due to the scale of their transactions, such as when an MSP invests in machine-to-machine integration, they carry greater sway with telecom carriers, which can dramatically accelerate the speed of fulfillment and service they deploy for their customers.
No. 2: MSPs command attention from carriers –– When carriers experience problems, they prioritize recovery efforts by applying resources to areas with the biggest impact –– like getting service back up and running for their MSP customers. The fact is that MSPs carry significant weight with providers, based on the volume of services they contract –– giving them greater influence over the carrier than a single business can leverage on its own.
No. 3: MSPs provide multi-function expertise–– MSPs compete based on their ability to meet the network needs of their customers and to do so with an element of convenience and speed of service. Yet they also compete in a range of adjacent services. For example, MSPs that provide managed cybersecurity services may also offer managed Wi-Fi services, digital signage solutions, menu boards, VoIP service, and much more. That means, rather than managing numerous vendors who deliver stand-alone capabilities, an enterprise can rely on an MSP to deliver a portfolio of services and simplify the entire process.
No. 4: MSPs enjoy an AI advantage––The strength of artificial intelligence (AI) is its ability to employ proven algorithms to digest enormous volumes of data. The more data available to analyze, the more trustworthy the analysis, which becomes critical to automating operational processes. Here too, individual enterprises can depend on data from within their organizations, yet MSPs have the ability to leverage vast sums of operational data across their entire customer base –– dramatically improving the accuracy of their predictive engines to anticipate failure conditions and take corrective action.