Lone-Wolf or Managed IT Services Provider?

Every stage that your business progresses through as it experiences growth and success is important. The strife of starting small and grinding away in the midnight hour to be at the whim of your consumers can be draining, and this likely means that all your attention needs to remain focused on the tasks at hand. Times like this demand smooth, reliable functionality in regard to all technological needs throughout the office, especially if you’re working on that same laptop 7 days a week.

As your organization encounters each level of Operational Maturity, you’ll find early on that you need to decide whether or not a lone technician or a Managed IT Service Provider are supporting you appropriately.

According to Auvik’s technology blog writer, Jennifer Tribe, there are 5 levels of Operational Maturity:

“Operational Maturity Level© 1 – Beginning

Operational Maturity Level 2 – Emerging

Operational Maturity Level 3 – Scaling

Operational Maturity Level 4 – Optimizing

Operational Maturity Level 5 – Innovating”

Read the rest of Jennifer’s blog here! https://www.auvik.com/franklyit/blog/msp-operational-maturity/

At Level 1 an organization is in the early stages and working toward building up their financials as well as structuring their business to run effectively. This is a starting point, not to remain stagnant or anticipate longevity in low production and operation status. If you’re at Level 1, you may be able to utilize a lone-wolf technician, or in other words, a technician not belonging to a larger organization and not supported by a team.

At Level 2, the organization may have more financials in order, as well as basic standardization of procedures which will set the bar going forward. Understanding that you’ve reached this stage means you realize that growth is happening and your need for greater support is increasing. Not only will you find yourself focusing more energy on keeping up with the standardization you’ve created, but you will be exhausting efforts in all areas of your business.

The last thing you should have to worry about is internal IT management, and your lone-wolf technician may not be the right fit for larger operations.

You’ve finally hit Level 3! What does this mean for your organization? It means that you have strategy and that uniformity is much more achievable than it was before. The late nights and countless employee efforts are paying off and you are growing the business into levels of maturity you had been dreaming about, however, there is still much work to be done! You’re staying afloat, but the technological needs have increased to a point where you should be considering a small business IT services like a Managed Services Provider for your technology management.

You aren’t here to just stay afloat anymore, you are established and ready to tackle bigger fish, which means trusting a single technician to handle password management, technology upgrades, hardware replacement, software updates, and more could easily overwhelm them. The last thing you want is to experience a lapse in security when you’ve come so far.

Now, Level 4 and 5 we can speak about collectively. These higher stages of operational maturity demand both focus and competitive edge. You’re no longer a guppy in the business world, but a seasoned shark in busy waters. From day-to-day operations and concentrating on turning out the best product and services that you can on a consistent basis, you need a reliable and equally mature Managed IT Services team to support your organization.

This means if you are in need of stability, reliability, proactive monitoring (if you’re not there to catch a server crash, an IT professional is already taking care of it for you), and fortified security that goes beyond the basic levels of protection, it is time for outsourced IT management.

At this point, an organization of such maturity and magnitude should be wary of trusting a single person to manage their entire environment. Not only could something get overlooked, but if the technician is out sick, off their game that day, or just not as well-trained as their resume seemed, your organization is at risk.

A team of trained engineers who double as information technology strategists for businesses looking to plan for future growth is who you should be seeking out to support you.