Business owners know that time is money – and no business can afford to be days behind the competition.

It’s one thing to buy the latest phone, netbook and tablet – but what about the work that goes behind your business mobile technology. How do you protect data stored on and accessed from the cloud? What kind of virtual networking options can you give employees who work remotely? How do you regulate policies involving employees using your company’s data or equipment?

Larger companies can afford to staff highly trained IT teams, with CIOs and CTOs keeping their organizations’ technology at a high standard.  But what about the small business – you know you can’t afford to fall behind, but how can smaller organizations afford to optimize their mobile technology?

If staffing an IT department solely for assessing and managing mobile technologies is out of the budget – which is most likely the case – hiring an outsourced Technology as a Service provider could be the right answer.

The highly trained (and certified) staff at MNS Group, a business IT support solution, can provide you with the mobile support and IT service to stay ahead of the pack. Your company can hire enterprise level service on the budget of small business.

MNS group is the premier Managed Network Services provider in the greater Maryland area. Let us show you what a TRUE IT Service Solution looks like and we’ll put all of your IT worries to rest.

But when you’re in a bind, who do you turn to? How do you know you’re getting the most out of your IT service provider? How do you know your ticket is being handled by professional – and not just somebody trying to Google the answers to your problems? Here’s our checklist of what to expect of a great Technology as a Service (TaaS) provider:

Communication – Having a closed-loop ticket system allows you peace of mind. When you receive regular emails from your IT support service outlining exactly what they’re doing it and when it will be completed – you know your deliverables are being met by the service provider. On top of that, you, the client, have the ability to reply with any questions, comments or concerns with the progress of your ticket. In the end, a regular stream of correspondents allows you a written record and history of communication from the initial problem all the way to its final resolution.

Willingness to Help – Sometimes your issues are deep and complex. Sometimes you need help with the smaller things. If you’re a small business owner, your time and energy are pulled in so many directions and you have to wear many hats. But with so much on your plate, you may not be able to do the technical stuff on top of your expertise. You may need help formatting a document, or messing with multimedia. – you may even need to talk through something troubling you saw on the news. If your TaaS provider is able and (more importantly) willing to handle your smallest questions, than you know they’ll put all of their efforts into handling your larger issues as well.

Expertise – Sure, you could bug your coworkers, complain to your boss or ask your genius nephew to Google the answers to your broken computer. But if you REALLY want to solve the issue at hand rather than being trapped in a cycle of “break-fix,” you need an evolving group of experts to help handle your issues. You can really tell you’re in the hands of industry experts when they have a state of the art management system – that means they’re experience with providing business IT support is so extensive they’ve learned more about problem solving than most other companies have forgotten.

MNS group is the premier Managed Network Services provider in the greater Maryland area. Let us show you what a TRUE IT Service Solution looks like and we’ll put all of your IT worries to rest.

The launch of a new client services portal signifies a notable expansion in MNS Group’s customer benefits, enhancing the services provided through the previous portal system. The purpose of the updated portal was to provide an overall greater transparency into the service experience, allowing customers to view the value and quality of the services they receive.

The original client portal was in place for two years and allowed customers to view tickets, review devices being managed, and included technician notes. It served as a basic system for clients to gain insight into the IT services process.

The new client portal improves upon these services, allowing clients to view and analyze historical trends, as well as reporting on the amount of time employees dedicate to IT. Additionally, the new portal provides access to financial records, invoices, and other applicable reports. One of the most significant aspects of this new portal is the self-serving knowledge base, allowing clients to independently seek answers to IT related issues and questions. Clients have found the transparency into their technology support to be highly beneficial, and have positively responded to the new look and functionality of the portal system.

Toby Musser, president and founder of MNS Group, emphasized the value of this new portal launch. “The launch of this portal allows us to notably advance in terms of transparency and service by allowing clients to visibly interpret the value of the services they receive.”

MNS Group prides itself on the range on their diverse range of IT service offerings, as well as unparalleled service guarantees. MNS Group ensures prompt responses to all IT inquiries, as well as guarantees a human response to all reported issues. A professional and informed technician will address any IT concern within a maximum of four hours, two in an emergency. MNS Group has developed a strong reputation in the IT services market through delivering utmost quality and service to their valued business partners. The launch of this new client services portal only serves to augment the outstanding quality of service experience already received when partnering with MNS Group.

Frank Aud brings 26 years of extensive sales and industry experience to his new position with MNS Group. In his role, Aud will work to strengthen relationships with key clients and personnel, while successfully identifying new opportunities to serve those in need of Maryland IT Services.

“We are proud to welcome Frank onboard,” stated Toby Musser, President and Founder of MNS Group. “We look forward to Frank’s future contributions and are excited about the unique perspective he will bring to MNS Group.”

Frank comes to MNS Group from Ziplocal, where he worked as the Digital Marketing Manager to oversee training and development for 30 regional sales personnel. In this position he also worked to develop innovative marketing solutions that integrated digital trends with traditional marketing initiatives. Prior to his work at ZipLocal, Frank held a Senior National Account Management position with The Washington Times. Frank’s work at The Washington Times built on his extensive foundation of knowledge and experience in advertising sales, marketing, and management in the print media industry.

Aud looks forward to the potential at MNS Group. “The IT support and staffing market has been churning through temp workers, and charging companies high premiums to “buy” staff they want to keep. The MNS Group model allows companies to staff up and down without the front-end cost of retraining temps every time there is a ramp up. The model assures continuity of service and quality by using teams that are familiar with each client.  Clients do not pay for talent when they do not need it, and have a deep bench to draw upon at a moment’s notice. I am excited to be part of a system that saves our clients’ money, and improves the predictability of expense,” said Aud.

In his free time, Aud enjoys playing golf and spending time with family at the beach. Aud holds a bachelor of science in Mass Communications and Marketing from Towson University in Towson, Maryland.

There’s no doubt about it – the economy is rough on many areas of the business in the corporate world. Small enterprise owners seem to be hit the hardest when the economy takes a turn for the worse. While the big corporations are also struggling, small companies are always hit the hardest. Managing cash flow, hiring the right employees, and marketing the product are just some of the challenges that a small business faces – in good or bad economic times.

One area where a small business can really cut back on expenses and help alleviate the cash flow issue is with IT support. An IT department is a very important part of any business, but it’s also a very expensive department to maintain, especially if you want your network running smoothly and efficiently. Thankfully, it is possible to have a qualified IT support team without paying extraordinary salaries for professionals every month. The answer: IT outsourcing to Technology as a Service providers.

Why Use IT Outsourcing?

There are many reasons for IT outsourcing, but one of the most common, and beneficial, answers for outsourcing IT: the cost of IT services. It is less expensive to outsource your IT services than it does to keep an in-house team.

Think about it.

If you are to keep an in-house team for a small to medium sized business, you would likely hire 2-3 employees. Factor in the cost for salary, health benefits, insurance, and office space and the expenses add up really quickly. IT professionals, especially the most qualified employees, are usually on the higher end of salary as well. Sure, you can hire a “cheap” IT employee, but remember the old saying, “You get what you pay for.”

With outsourcing, you can get all of the personalized attention that you need, without paying the high cost to keep a team of employees. This is an especially attractive option for small business owners who need to save on cash, but still need to have their computers, and employees, supported.

On average the typical company suffers from 10 hours of IT downtime annually, translating in up to $160,000 in lost revenue. Collectively, businesses across North America lose $26.5 billion in potential revenue each year. Once a system is restored, businesses can continue to lose an additional 7.5 hours in compromised operations during crucial recovery time. One of the most surprising findings was that most companies experienced the most significant revenue loss during data recovery – not necessarily the period of IT outage.

The survey highlighted that small businesses are most significantly affected by IT outages, as it reduces their capacity to generate revenue by a staggering 40%. In comparison, medium to large businesses were only hindered 29% in their ability to generate revenue during an outage.

One of the main issues identified in the survey results was that over half of the companies surveyed were lacking an effective Disaster Recovery plan. This was noted as a primary reason that companies struggled to recover in the wake of an outage, and in turn suffered such considerable loses. Many companies don’t recognize the significant cost that can result from lack of preparation, and therefore don’t want to spend additional funds to prepare for an event that may or may not occur. Smaller businesses in particular lacked insight into the technology that may be utilized to prevent future outages and system downtimes.

However, this emphasizes a significant opportunity for businesses to become cognizant of various measures which can prevent future IT outages and system issues. Better hardware, new enterprise cloud solutions and managed network services, and IT outsourcing are all effective ways to reduce the cost of IT and effectively prepare for potential system outages.  It’s important that companies, especially small businesses, are evaluating ROI for data protection and recovery, a consideration that may have been initially overlooked.

Many companies rely significantly on IT to support daily operations and sales, meaning that IT outages have a damaging impact on productivity and potential revenue, as well as staff morale, company reputation, and customer loyalty.  The main takeaway from these statistics is that businesses need to be cognizant of IT reliability, as it continues to be a pressing issue for many, specifically smaller companies and organizations.

Since the traditional office is changing so much, why not the IT department? Long gone are the days of a dark overheated server room sharing the office of the techie guy in the company.

IT Support for Your Business
In today’s office, IT groups are multi-talented experts tasked with hundreds of duties including keeping up on the latest infrastructures, providing a help desk, running cables through the office, resetting passwords, and programming every employee’s cellphone, while keeping track of the servers and foiling random viruses and security threats. With only a limited amount of IT experts in house attending to so much going on, eventually, something will get overlooked, and your business will soon suffer. This is where IT outsourcing services can help.

IT outsourcing is not meant to take over and replace existing IT staff. It enhances them and frees them to focus on vital tasks. This competitive service provides everything including:

• Desktop support
• IT employee management
• IT expense planning
• Business network support
• Business software development
• Cloud computing
• Virtual CIO and CTO services
• and IT Staffing.

MNS Group, an IT company in Maryland that provides Technology as a Service, could be your solution to support overburdened workers or offer expert advice and information when employees don’t have the experience in certain fields.

Your Data, Your Security.
Your data is sacred, and MNS Group understands that. IT Outsourcing does not mean your data is shipped overseas to people you’ll never see.

MNS Group provides all support and keeps all your documents and data on your own in-house servers. If you choose to let them host your work, rest assured all administrative powers and passwords are your property. If needed, they can quickly return all data to your servers or wherever you require.

The trend to outsource is almost an overwhelming force that most small business owners are forced to grapple with. As such, before acceding to this current business trend it is important to weigh the advantages and disadvantages you might expect from outsourcing your business IT needs.

PROS OF OUTSOURCING “IT” SERVICES

There are many benefits that can occur from outsourcing IT services. Consider the services offered by IT companies: Desktop Support, Employee Management, Expense planning, Network Support, Software Development, Cloud Computing as well as Process Consulting, Business Network Management and Workflow Development. The following are just some of the benefits outsourcing these IT services might provide:

1. The Reduction in Operating Costs: Outsourcing a job eliminates the expenses of hiring an employee, paying for benefits, training, and employment taxes.

2. Superior, Exceptionally Trained Professionals: IT Support c will provide you with access to highly-trained professionals that are certified by Microsoft, Cisco and Novell and have in-depth experience in banking, healthcare, accounting, education, security, legal services, communications and government.

3. Avoid Costly Technology Mistakes: Instead of worrying about keeping pace with advances in both software and hardware support necessary in an IT department, IT service solutions can save you from the risks involved since they are constantly on the cutting edge of business technology.

CONS OF OUTSOURCING “IT” SERVICES

When you own a business it’s natural to want to control most if not all aspects of it. Trusting others can be a challenge regardless of the potential benefits they might guarantee. Also, the unique aspect of your business might make it difficult to believe there are companies that can actually manage the particular needs your business requires. The concerns most entrepreneurs are concerned with include:

1. Qualifications of an Outsourced Vendor: IT is integral to all aspects of an organization, from the simple to the complex. You’ll require services that only reputable IT professionals can provide, otherwise outsourcing can prove to be too risky.

2. Confidentiality and Control: There is a concern that control won’t be the same if the IT department isn’t under the same management as the rest of your business; and what about confidentiality? You might only be comfortable with your own IT supervisor, unless you are confident in your network services provider which will allow you to keep all your data on your own servers.

3. No Escape Clause: You might feel like once you outsource your IT department you can’t get free because of either signing a year-to-year contract or because no one else will be able to run the proprietary software you had to purchase. Your business IT solution should be flexible and offers several negotiable options that allow you to call the shots.

The current trend seems to indicate that the pros outweigh the concerns of the cons. In most cases the risks are avoided when you ask the right questions and contact the right vendor to handle all your business IT needs.

Resource article:

http://www.corpcomputerservices.com/articles/outsourcing-reasons

CEO Tobias Musser stated “The hallmark of service in this digital age is human interaction. Real people helping real people get the job done – day in and day out. We strive to provide rapid and  excellent service through our world class staff and service systems. Our new web site ensures that you are never more than a click or so from the information you want, and the people you need.”