Keeping up with the ever-changing IT needs of a growing business can be a logistical nightmare. That’s why so many organizations have outsourced IT management to managed service providers (MSPs).
Managed services continue to grow at a steady pace, boosted by remote work and the challenges of staffing an IT team with talent in high demand.
This increasing need for MSPs has created a sizable market. Grand View Research reports that the global MSP market was valued at $239.71 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to $267.35 billion this year.
With thousands of MSPs out there, it can be difficult for an organization to find the right MSP to suit their needs. Here we’ll narrow the market to some of the very best managed service providers in the IT space, explain their pros and cons, and give you the tools you need to make the best decision for your business. There are many more good ones out there, however, so consider this list a starting point to help define your needs.
Key MSP Traits to Look for
As when shopping for any product, there are a few traits to look for when choosing the right MSP. These are just a sampling of the factors that may play into a prospective MSP buyers’ decision-making process.
Good Customer Reviews
The first thing to look for is good customer reviews — this includes tapping your peer network too. Online reviews won’t be scientific, of course, and vendors will certainly want to solicit reviews from happy reference customers, but reviews can provide excellent insight into what is and isn’t working in a product. It’s especially good for finding the issues in a product or service, as repeated reports of the same issue by multiple customers makes it likely that the same issue could trouble the prospective buyer as well. If you can’t find any publicly-available customer reviews, we recommend that you ask the MSP for customer references or consult your personal network of contacts for anyone who might have used the MSP in the past. Look for use cases similar to yours of course — the more closely aligned the source is with your needs, the more relevant the feedback will be.
Service Bundles
While enterprise-level businesses might be able to afford to hire specialist MSPs for their specific needs, small-to-midsize businesses will probably want to consider MSPs that offer multiple services or service bundles. This allows them to get similar services at an overall lower price and means they only have to manage one point of contact.
Certifications
Depending on your IT needs, it can be important to check to make sure the MSP is certified in the sort of things you’re looking for. Depending on the service being provided, you might look for ISO, WWWC, 3GPP. IEEE, ECMA, and others. For specific individuals in a company, Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA certifications are also worth looking for. If a service provider’s staff have the right certifications for your needs, they might be one of the best-available MSPs on the market.
Service-Level Agreements
Service-level agreements (SLAs) lay out all the responsibilities you retain and what responsibilities the MSP takes over. SLAs may also offer guarantees for things like response times for open tickets or the amount of uptime for services. For example, a managed security service provider (MSSP) might guarantee a 5-minute response time to all alerts and alarms and will reimburse you for every minute its employees are late. Network downtime might be another issue you’d want an SLA for.
Read More At: Best Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) 2022
Top IT MSPs 2022
Burwood Group
Headquartered in Chicago, the Burwood Group offers digital support for clients nationwide, both virtually and in-person. In 2021, the firm was named a Google Public Sector Partner of the Year for U.S. Education for the second year in a row.
With its 25 years of experience, Burwood provides excellent IT consulting services. Additionally, it can furnish interested customers with 24/7 network management that can support on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments.
Burwood also provides monitoring and event management services for ticket handling, issue tracking, and uptime monitoring. This allows clients to free up any in-house IT staff to work on other essential tasks.
Overall, the Burwood Group is great for organizations looking to deploy new technologies or who need an experienced partner to upgrade their digital strategy.
Right! Systems
With offices in Washington state, Oregon, and Idaho, Right! Systems provides IT managed services both in the Pacific Northwest in-person and across the nation virtually. Managed services on-offer include cloud services, data center management, security, and project management.
Alongside managed solutions, the firm supplies clients with 24/7 emergency IT and support services.
When a client starts with Right!Systems, they are given a customized technology strategy designed to synergize with their business plans. This allows the client to figure out which products, solutions, and services are right for their organization.
Right! Systems is an excellent choice for groups in the Pacific Northwest looking for hands-on IT management and project management services with options for cloud and data centers as well.
Dataprise
Though headquartered in Maryland, Dataprise has offices around the nation, including in Virginia, Tennessee, California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C.
With this wide-ranging number of offices, Dataprise furnishes clients with fully-managed IT services and solutions, as well as managed services for cybersecurity; disaster recovery; detection and response; and infrastructure.
Dataprise also offers both on-site support and a 24/7 help desk based on what its clients need in the moment to keep their organization operating efficiently. Interested customers can pick between individual and bundled services based on their organization’s specific requirements.
Dataprise is recommended for small businesses looking to outsource a variety of managed IT services to save on cost without losing much of the care and attention that in-house IT staff can provide.
NexusTek
As more businesses transition to allowing hybrid and remote work models, service providers like NexusTek are seizing the momentum through Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS), Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS), cloud hosting, and other online services to help transitioning businesses make the changes necessary to facilitate large-scale remote and hybrid work scenarios.
NexusTek provides full management of their cloud hosting services to make sure client companies’ data is efficiently managed and protected. With nearly 20 years of experience as an MSP, NexusTek also provides a number of Microsoft Online services if interested companies are in need of support in that area.
Though based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, NexusTek’s cloud and IT services can be fully managed virtually across the country, much like the remote work these services help make happen.
Overall, NexusTek is recommended to organizations looking to grow their hybrid and remote work options and want an MSP who offers many of the services needed to make that expansion go smoothly.
Read More At: The Best Tools to Successfully Train Remote Employees
Electric
Also known as Electric AI, Electric focuses on offering excellent IT services to small businesses to ensure small business employees are better able to do the job they are paid to do.
Notable services and support on-offer include IT infrastructure development, IT process standardization, and real-time IT support. The company claims this real-time support is deliverable within 10 minutes or less.
On top of its managed services, Electric provides an IT management platform which allows clients to streamline processes like employee onboarding.
While based in New York City, Electric’s network of specialists hit most major American cities including Seattle, Boston, Dallas, Cincinnati, Denver, and Los Angeles. Their services are also provided virtually.
Electric is recommended for small businesses looking to free up company resources by outsourcing IT services.
All Covered
With locations across the US, Mexico, the Caribbean, and more, All Covered offers a diverse suite of managed IT services and solutions. These services include IT helpdesk, application development, IT strategy, cybersecurity, cloud services, infrastructure management, and server backup.
When they sign up, organizations get a service plan customized for their specific needs which allows them to supplement existing IT staff for either long-term use or on specific projects.
The firm supplies customers with 24/7 phone and live chat support and an easy-to-use client portal through which clients can check the status of support tickets or schedule maintenance visits.
Part of Konica Minolta, All Covered’s solutions are recommended for businesses of any size looking for top-flight bundled services with which to outsource their IT support, software, and hardware duties.
CyberDuo
CyberDuo offers a myriad of managed IT, cloud, and security solutions to businesses around the world. It offers 24/7 support helpdesk for clients in any time zone and, according to their website, guarantees a server request response time of 5 minutes. From its two California offices and one Boston office, CyberDuo offers virtual managed services and solutions all over the country.
CyberDuo’s managed cloud services work especially well for teams looking to transition to Microsoft’s suite of products like Azure, Teams, and Microsoft 365. Managed security services include EDR, endpoint protection, security awareness training, cloud security, and email security.
Overall, CyberDuo is recommended for organizations looking for a technically-skilled MSP who can help them migrate their data to the cloud safely and efficiently.
Read More At: Strategies for Successful Data Migration
1Path
Despite the name, 1Path has two headquarters in the Eastern United States, one in Kennesaw, GA and one in North Andover, MA. From these hubs, the firm provides IT services virtually across the nation. Thanks to its 20 years of experience, 1Path customers can find a whole suite of end-to-end managed solutions custom-fitted to their goals and expectations.
Interested businesses with limited or no IT staff will find a host of fully managed and co-managed solutions able to support them. Key features include process automation, disaster recovery, application development, cloud services, and procurement services.
1Path is recommended for small businesses looking for co-managed or fully managed IT support that can synergize with their current and future goals.
Choosing the Right MSP for Your Organization
When looking for the MSP that’s best for your organization, the best advice we can offer is “research, research, research.” Make sure you understand both what services and use cases your business needs and what services and use cases an MSP is best at providing.
We recommend checking for MSPs in your area first. On top of both you and your MSP operating in the same time zone, local MSPs can provide in-person support and services that can be difficult to provide otherwise.
That said, many MSPs offer quality virtual services as well, and it might even be cheaper than an in-person solution. Regardless, it’s best to read customer reviews and insights to see how people with hands-on experience with these MSPs are describing their services.
If you have other business owners within your network, it can also be good to connect with them to learn about any MSPs they might have used.
At the end of the day however, managed service providers are still service providers, and there’s no replacement for scheduling a meeting with an MSP and seeing if you’re both comfortable working together for the foreseeable future. If you’ve managed to narrow down your list to a few MSPs, be sure to schedule an initial consultation with each to see if they’re the right fit for your organization.
Read More At: Best MSP Software 2022: Managed Service Provider Tools
