Managed security providers vary vastly with how they do business and what they offer. It is often challenging to compare providers if you are in the market for an MSP. On the surface, most MSPs offer a basic level of IT management and help desk. When you dig a little deeper, comparing providers is really more like comparing apples to oranges. The MSPs that rise to the top of the barrel are those that offer a comprehensive approach to managed services. These days, there is more to managed IT services than just the help desk. Cybersecurity must play a prominent role as well as business continuity for fast recovery should a breach occur. Services that every MSP should offer include ones that are holistic in approach, ensuring businesses stay up to date with changing technology, security and disaster preparedness.
Services That Every MSP Should Offer
Be on the lookout for the three MSP categories of services below and the details of what each entail. If the business doesn’t provide all three, you probably want to keep searching to maximize the return on a MSP relationship.
Service 1: Proactive IT Services
Information technology (IT) services used to be reactive, using a break/fix methodology. It was simple: something would break, and the IT provider would fix it in a reactive way. Using this defensive strategy leaves organizations vulnerable in our technology dense world. It is often too late to easily fix a problem by the time it has been observed by the user.
Modern businesses must be aggressive in their approach to IT if they want to avoid detrimental security risks, hardware failures, employee downtime and unplanned costs. To avoid these crippling effects, partner with an MSP that goes on the offense with a dedicated team that works to find those “breaks” before it can negatively impact the business.
World-class MSPs know that business happens around the clock and that companies require 24/7 monitoring of the network, servers and devices to ensure uptime and security. As for the help desk, make sure they offer 24/7 support – do not settle for anything less because when you need help, help needs to be there.
Key Offerings to Look for:
- 24/7 help desk support
- 24/7 infrastructure monitoring & alerting
- Server health management
- Active asset management
- Patch management
- Network performance monitoring
- Managed email (i.e. Microsoft 365)
- Active directory & group policy administration
- New PC refreshes
- Dedicated network administrator
Service 2: Essential Cyber Defense
You may be tired of hearing it, but it cannot be said enough. The need for cybersecurity is more important now than ever. The reality is that cyberattacks have become more sophisticated and increasingly widespread.
Take the example of spray-and-pray attacks which occur at alarming rates. Spray-and-pray attacks are random cyber assaults in which the aggressors do not target specific businesses. Rather, they set up widespread, automated onslaughts and exploit the vulnerabilities unsuspecting companies have.
The good news is that Fort Knox level security is not needed to protect against this kind of attack. Good tools that are properly managed will do the trick. In your search for an MSP, look for one that provides enterprise-level security tools along with a skilled team of experts monitoring and managing them. Don’t be afraid to ask what tools are behind the service!
Key Offerings to Look for:
- Email security
- Web content filtering
- Endpoint protection
- WiFi security
- NextGen firewall
- Patch management
- Role-based data access
- Multifactor authentication
- User behavior analytics
- Enhanced data security
- Vulnerability scanning
- Advanced security operations
Service 3: Backup & Recovery
Q: When is an appropriate time to figure out how to respond to an attack?
A: Not when the attack is happening.
The best time to prepare for an attack is before the attack occurs. There are plenty of reasons why a business needs backup and recovery including systems failure, natural disasters, human errors and of course, cyberattacks like ransomware. All of these can wreak havoc on a business and are reasons to have a well-documented disaster recovery plan to quickly recover from a disaster or attack.
Be sure your plan includes both infrastructure as well as workspace backup, and then give your plan a test run and confirm your strategy. It needs to be flawless in scrimmage if it is going to work during game time.
Key Offerings to Look for:
- On-premises & cloud backup
- Unlimited cloud retention (for at least a certain time period)
- On-site failover
- Continuous snapshots
- Screenshot verifications
- Disaster recovery testing
Remember!
All MSPs are not built equally. Partner with one that is well-rounded and includes not only help desk services, but also proactive IT, cybersecurity and business continuity plans. After all, you need to stay ahead of the game to remain competitive when the digital backbone of a company is in question.
How Brite Can Help
When you partner with Brite, you partner with experience, proven success and world class managed services. We believe in providing a service that includes everything from 24/7/365 help desk support and infrastructure monitoring and alerting to proactive maintenance of hardware and networks.
What truly sets us apart is our critical cybersecurity which utilizes enterprise-grade tools that are expertly managed to keep your data safe. Then we cover all our bases with a backup and recovery plan to be prepared in the event that anything happens. These three services combined make up what we call BriteStar, our comprehensive managed IT service.
