How CTI Technology’s Managed IT Can Help Your Business Grow

Managed IT Services For Chicago Businesses By CTI Technology

Key Points in This Article:

• If you’re struggling between the demands of running a business and getting a handle on its IT, working with a Managed Service Provider (MSP) may be the solution you need.
• MSPs help provide businesses with various services, including managed IT, where they will handle all your IT needs.

When running a business, there are a million things to consider. You’ve got to stay on top of sales, inventory, and finances. Advertising and marketing your business are critical. You’ve got to keep one eye on changing trends to anticipate emerging demands and avoid being outflanked by your rivals. Depending on the nature of your business, there may be compliance and regulatory issues. And, of course, you must keep your employees engaged, motivated, and productive.

These are all considerations you have on a quiet day. Not a day when a supplier informs you that a key shipment will be three weeks late. Or when your top three salespeople quit. Nor when an anchor client announces publicly they are jumping ship and buying from a direct competitor.

On good days and bad, it’s safe to say there’s always a lot going on. And so, it’s not hard to understand why you (and other business leaders across industries) haven’t fully gotten a handle on information technology.

Sure, your employees have many PCs, MacBooks, and Internet access. But you know that’s not enough. You have requests from employees and in-house IT staff for additional equipment and software you can’t decipher. You keep seeing headlines about emerging technologies that sound like they could be game changers for your business, but you have no idea to get started. And all the other headlines about ransomware and cyberattacks leave you unsettled, as you have no idea whether you’re vulnerable.

Working With a Managed Service Provider

If some (or all) of this sounds like your situation, you need to work with a Managed Service Provider (MSP). An MSP vendor provides a range of IT services for other companies. Some companies specialize in certain areas. For example, Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) offer sophisticated cybersecurity support that would be exceedingly difficult for most businesses to match independently. Other MSPs specialize in offering IT support services in a specific set of industries, often those with unique regulatory demands.

However, many MSPs offer a broad range of IT services to companies in their surrounding communities. One of the most popular services is known as managed IT. And if you want to do more with IT but can barely keep track of it in your business, managed IT is likely what you’re looking for.

What Is Managed IT?

When an MSP offers you managed IT services, they manage your company’s information technology needs from top to bottom. They manage your network environment, software licensing and deployment, equipment procurement, maintenance, repair, replacement, helpdesk, cybersecurity, and more. They also will help you with systems integration: ensuring that all your applications and devices are operating optimally together and that there are no redundancies.

Of course, when you first discuss managed IT with an MSP, you’ll sit down and discuss the exact scope of services you’re seeking. Some elements of your IT may be operating perfectly from a technical and operational standpoint. You’ll determine what you want an MSP to manage and the level of support you’d like to receive, which you’ll codify in a service-level agreement. And once you agree to the terms, they’ll offer the managed IT services you require.

You may wonder whether managed IT service means replacing your in-house IT staff with an outside vendor. Typically, businesses leverage managed IT services to manage the most time-consuming routine aspects of IT, like helpdesk management. By providing a baseline of support in core IT functions, you can free your staff’s time up to engage in more strategic and revenue-generating activities. Because your IT employees are so busy answering employee inquiries, replacing devices, and applying security patches, they don’t have much time to think about how they could automate routine tasks to enhance employee productivity or where AI advancements like ChatGPT fit into your business model. Managed IT services help you stay on top of the basics so you can focus on what will grow your business.

MSPs allow you to leverage multiple IT professionals’ and your staff’s skills and expertise. They stay on top of new best practices, updates, upgrades, and regulations, so you don’t have to. This is especially crucial regarding cybersecurity, as the threat landscape constantly evolves. Keeping your business safe nowadays requires experienced cybersecurity professionals, 24/7 monitoring, and robust security measures. In addition to expertise, MSPs can leverage their advanced (and expensive) threat detection and response tools, economies of scale, follow-the-sun scheduling, and more to keep your business safe.

Finally, MSPs offer businesses like yours the benefit of an outside perspective. They can provide unbiased insight into your IT environment and what you need to improve to operate optimally. But great MSPs don’t just consider whether you’re meeting certain technical standards. They look at what your business needs are

Why CTI Technology?

If managed IT from an MSP sounds like what you need, which provider do you choose? And if you’re in the Chicagoland provider, CTI Technology is a clear choice. Not only does CTI Technology bring two decades of experience providing managed IT services to Chicago businesses in various industries. But we also support Microsoft and Apple devices, which few providers do. Each platform is its ecosystem, and most MSPs support one or the other. But with CTI Technology, you’ll have experts ensuring your existing hardware and software run smoothly to support your essential business processes.

We pride ourselves in helping transform information technology into solutions to the challenges Chicago’s businesses face. Our company is HIPAA-certified, and our staff is trained in handling Protected Health Information (PHI) and Electronic Protected Health Information (EPHI). We work with every business and budget, providing the support you need 24/7/365. And we work tirelessly to stay on top of emerging trends, opportunities, and threats so that we can take care of all of your current and future needs.

Today, IT can make or break a business. But if you don’t have a handle on it, we’re here to help you. Contact us today. Let’s discuss what you need to manage your IT and grow your business. And let’s talk about how we can make that happen.