Outsourced IT Managed Services - the secret weapon for progressive organisations

Drive business strategy, don't build IT empires

As CEO, how can managed services benefit the business from your perspective? 

Your role is to take the business to new heights, leading and conquering markets and being a shining industry example of innovation, productivity, operational excellence and profitability. 

Sounds easy peasy, right?  

It certainly is for the CEO who can maintain a laser focus, undistracted by building non-core operations within the business. Few CEOs outside of the technology industry see IT as a core business service. And with today’s managed services offerings (which range from managed cybersecurity and outsourced helpdesk to architecture and applications), they don’t need to. 

Attracting and retaining talent are currently the top workforce priorities for CEOs worldwide. Yet 26% of CEOs interviewed for the 2023 Gartner CEO and Senior Business Executive Survey cited talent shortage as the most damaging risk for their organisation.  

At a time when there is an exceptional shortfall in the number of cybersecurity experts (only equalled by the growth in cyber threats), the prospect of building a specialist technology workforce within a business is incredibly challenging and expensive. Likewise, it isn’t easy to find the time, money and effort to keep your technology environment and business running smoothly while supporting the user and customer experience – and their expectation of 24/7 support. 

The investment required to build an internal IT team and capability for the business is significant. Not only are you competing in the market for skill sets, but you need the capability (and ongoing employee training) to cover the entire breadth of your technology solutions. And in doing so, your business can become – by default – an IT business. When all you really want to do is grow or harvest produce, make widgets, sell services, or run retail stores. 

Growth is a major job mandate for most CEOs. Whether it’s by acquisition, being acquired, or increasing market share, the need to scale strategically without risk is critical. Finding the resources and skills needed to support more people, offices, and branches doesn’t need to be a roadblock when you’re planning world domination.  

Naturally, seamless scaling requires partnering with a Managed Services Provider (MSP) with the ability, resources, range of services, commitment, and willingness to grow alongside you. Synergies in culture and how you work together are also critical, as are the value and flexibility your MSP can offer.  

Choosing a single highly capable MSP in preference to working with a range of suppliers and vendors simplifies the effort of both engagement and management.  

Back to the opening question: “How can managed services benefit the business from your perspective?” Outsourcing everything IT leaves you free to build and scale your business without investing in internal resources. While you focus on your core business, your MSP will keep the lights on 24/7 and support your staff whenever they need it. 

Why managed services are so good for your bottom line

The words ‘managed services’ and ‘outsourcing’ typically bring joy to the ears of most enlightened CFOs. And with good reason(s).  

Save on extra salaries 

The opportunity to replace or reduce a large internal cost with a predictable and controllable fixed monthly fee (in most cases) and to avoid growing the number of full-time internal resources needed is a welcome one. A predictable cost structure means you can develop more accurate budgeting and forecasting, so you have clarity of where resources need to be allocated and eliminate those nasty financial surprises.  

Savings made on employee salaries (whether through a hiring freeze, a reduction in numbers, or redeploying them to other roles) can fund an outsourced provider. And the larger your business, the more you can save. 

Fill skill gaps without recruiting 

Instead of recruiting your own costly technology specialists, or constantly investing in training to upskill existing employees, you can fill capability gaps with outsourced experts while reducing business overheads.  

The consultants and engineers employed by Managed Service Providers (MSPs) already have significant and ongoing exposure to a wide range of technologies and industries and are instantly productive. 

Stay financially focused 

For those businesses that are tightly focused on their business, there’s no need to fund and build an IT department or service desk. As opposed to the traditional model, where you’d hire an expert for every requirement, your MSP can do everything for you – and only needs a single point of contact in the business to report to.  

Scale to order 

Thinking about growth? Scaling isn’t an issue either with an MSP. You’re not limited by the staff you need to recruit to support more systems and users, and the cost to support more employees is entirely predictable – and usually includes volume breaks. 

Play safe 

And while risk reduction may not be under your specific remit, it is likely to still be on your radar as a business stakeholder. Having ready access to cybersecurity skills and proactive monitoring and detection at a time when businesses and organisations worldwide are under attack as never before offers a significant degree of risk reduction and saves having to recruit expensive (and hard-to-find) specialists. Plus, it keeps your precious financial data safe and sound while avoiding blowing your budget (or worse) when dealing with the fallout of a data breach or ransom demand.  

Just keep in mind that not all MSPs are created equal. Look for the right size and capabilities, and definitely the right people and cultural fit.  

Cyber risk reduction is everything

As the epidemic of data breaches continues to affect organisations worldwide, so does the importance of the CISO role – and the ability to manage or overcome unacceptable levels of cyber risk.  

High-profile breaches this year alone include file transfer tool MOVEit (and many of their equally high-profile clients), Yum! Brands (KFC, Taco Bell, & Pizza Hut), ChatGPT, Google, and MailChimp. Closer to home, over 14 million Latitude customers in Australia and New Zealand were impacted by a data breach. 

In a 2019 survey by Deloitte, they reported that 99% of organisations have outsourced some parts or the entire process of cybersecurity operations to third-party service providers. Deloitte noted: “…across the board, our survey respondents indicated that they turn to partners most often when it comes to security operations, vulnerability management, physical security, and training and awareness.” 

And with good reason. 

As CISO, the single biggest benefit of cybersecurity as a managed service is its ability to deliver to the standards and expectations laid out in your organisation’s risk management framework.  

Cyber risk management has become an art unto itself as companies undergoing digital transformation are faced with simultaneously managing both traditional and modernised infrastructures. Few organisations can cope with the demands for expensive (and hard to find) specialised resources, 24/7 bandwidth, and the need for advanced cybersecurity technologies and tools. 

So, what approach should you look for if you are going to outsource your cybersecurity?  

With cybersecurity as a managed service, risk should be minimised from the outset with a full independent assessment of your environment to ensure all the basics are in place, fully operational and effective. Areas of risk need to be highlighted, and a baseline established to show where further cultural (training and awareness) and technological alignment is needed to meet or exceed the requirements of your risk management framework. 

From here, expect the managed services cybersecurity team to apply quick win controls that are both easy and low risk to implement. This will address your degree of compliance with what are regarded as the four most instrumental aspects of any organisation's security strategy: Application whitelisting, patching applications, patching operating systems, and restricting administrative privileges. Next should be a review of where you sit in the Essential Eight Maturity Model, and, if needed, raising your compliance to level three, i.e., implementing a range of tools such as specific application controls, workstation logging and monitoring to ensure anomalous activity can be quickly detected and investigated, and rapid patching of known vulnerabilities. 

Your managed services partner should also offer up other targeted risk reduction strategies. If you are a more mature customer, they should help you to fortify your information security management system. 

As cyber threats grow in sophistication and frequency, cybersecurity as a managed service is the most affordable, proactive, effective, and low-risk option for CISOs determined to protect their organisation. But don’t hesitate to ask the hard questions when you shortlist potential managed services partners – experience, reputation, approach, and expertise are everything. 

Managed services: The people enabler

In Ivanti’s ‘State of the Digital Employee Experience (DEX)’, they report that ‘49% of employees are frustrated by the tech and tools their organisation provides.’ And ‘64% believe that the way they interact with technology directly impacts morale.’  

So, whether your title is Director of People and Culture, Chief of Human Relations, or HR Manager, your ability to champion your people depends on the technology experience your organisation can offer.   

By outsourcing IT management and monitoring functions to a Managed Services Provider (MSP), you can enable your employees to do what they were hired for rather than make every day an ongoing battle with technology.  

While Managed Services enable the smooth running and security of your business technology, it also impacts the employee experience. Done well, IT turns from a roadblock into an enabler.  

Here are just three of the benefits of having an MSP on board:   

1. Security 

Cybersecurity is a genuine worry for employees. And it should be. Researchers from Stanford University and a top cybersecurity organisation report that approximately 88% of all data breaches are caused by an employee mistake. And that one in four employees lost their job in the last 12 months after making a mistake that compromised their company’s security. None of which makes any employee feel secure.  

While business culture and training are always your first line of defence, and can go a long way to reducing risk, Cybersecurity as a Managed Service can take some of the pressure off your people. With measures such as in- and out-bound email scanning, Microsoft 365 security, digital rights management, whitelisting, geo-location verification, multi-factor authentication and biometric controls – everyone is safer. You can also lean on your MSP to drive Security Awareness Training for you if you are short on skills or bandwidth. They can also help you get the employee experience right – so you achieve the right balance between not enough system access (and the frustrations that generates) and having too much (and creating risk and chaos). 

While your MSP can’t do everything, it can help your employees feel more confident when travelling, working remotely, or from the office.  

2. Software 

Busy employees find nothing more frustrating than trying to work with outdated software.  

Most companies struggle to keep up with timely technological advancements, so with your MSP ensuring that your software is always up to date and optimised for performance, employee productivity is maximised, and stress is reduced. It’s as simple as that. 

3. Service 

With your MSP providing continuous 24/7 support, your employees have access to help when they need it – not when your IT team turns up for work, or whoever is on call finally answers a midnight text. Whether it’s a minor or significant issue, you can rely on your always-on MSP team to make it BAU even at 2 a.m.  

With security, software and service all sorted by your MSP, the employee experience improves, and retention rates and morale go up. So, it’s job well done.