Managed IT Services for Manufacturing and Distribution can drive your business forward.
As manufacturers and distributors are increasingly focusing on their bottom line and core business, Managed IT Services have proven to be highly beneficial. Managed IT Service Providers assist organizations by taking on the IT burden and removing IT headaches. Managed Service Providers (MSPs) take over a business’s information technology systems and help drive the manufacturing IT strategy.
IT touches almost every part of a manufacturing or distribution business. Every business needs safe, secure, efficient IT systems, but manufacturing and distribution bring a unique set of needs. When you think about tightly controlled production work, maintaining machinery, logistics, supply chain, and even customer service, it’s easy to see why top-notch IT solutions for manufacturing are so critical.
Manufacturers often have multiple locations sharing data, applications, and processes, all managed from a centralized location. On top of possible geographical challenges, technology must guide business objectives forward, help maintain competitive advantages, and ensure data or intellectual property security. Consistency is one of the ways managed IT services can play a role in improving manufacturing IT processes.
Outsourcing IT functions to a Managed Services Provider is a great solution for manufacturing and distribution. Managed IT Services allows staff to focus on strategic business goals instead of routine maintenance, user support, or reactive cybersecurity measures. IT solutions providers can specifically help manufacturers in several ways to overcome these unique challenges.
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Predictability, consistency, and standardization
IT is closely linked to resource planning and strategy. For manufacturing and distribution, costs and profit are dependent on labor availability, training, and downtimes. Managed IT Services for manufacturing allows for greater consistency for all processes, especially when it comes to recovery from issues; this is especially true for manufacturing companies that don’t deploy and use the same technology across all locations. When using various CRM, ERP, or other software across sites, organizations can unnecessarily complicate communications and create an inconsistency that thwarts employees and the business in general. Partnering with a Managed IT Services provider will decentralize IT and ensure that all users will have the same experience regardless of their location.
Technology planning and implementation
Manufacturing and distribution organizations need to plan to implement future-proof solutions to remain competitive. Technology plays a huge part here. With multiple options for technology solutions, getting the right solutions implemented at the right time can be vital for your business. Internal IT staff may be able to help you do this. Still, it may not be able to keep up with the pace of upgrades, and technological advancements and scalability are huge in managing manufacturer IT needs.
Outsourcing technology planning and implementation to a Managed IT Services Provider is an ideal solution. Most platforms can quickly scale to the cloud with no downtime or delays. A Managed Services Provider can get you the right technology implementation, make sure you are up to date with the latest and greatest, and help you scale solutions as your business changes to meet current business demands.
Planned, predictable IT spend
Unlike an overworked internal IT team, MSPs are well aware of all prerequisites required for a successful IT implementation. They can predict costs and help execute IT in a planned, proactive way. With an outsourced IT model, a manufacturer can simplify budgeting with predictable monthly IT fees. Budgeting for a traditional IT model can be a nightmare. With Managed IT Services, business owners can budget for one flat rate once a month for an entire team of IT experts. The cost of Managed IT is often less than you would be spending for a single internal IT resource, without the hassle of benefits, PTO, or hidden fees.
Efficient, effective support
In many organizations, internal IT staff spends most of their time putting out fires rather than working proactively. When a company outsources to a Managed IT Services Provider, resources can be allocated so that constant emergencies don’t occur and internal staff can work more productively. Using a Managed IT Services Provider also reduces the risk of downtime by careful management of systems, storage, and network assets. Productivity road-blocks due to less connectivity downtime caused by network issues will also be minimized using Managed IT.
Downtime and risk reduction
Downtime is a serious issue for any business; manufacturing activities pose their own set of challenges arising out of downtime. Emerging technologies bring you many opportunities around IoT, cloud, intelligent solutions, communication, and more, but manufacturers or distributors should be aware of and plan for the security risks of technology. Improper implementation, weak system or data security, or lack of network maintenance can lead to huge losses. Because of the high-value data held in their records, manufacturing is a prime target for cybercriminals. Managed IT can help address these concerns because cybersecurity, troubleshooting, risk, and downtime management, are part of their core principles, and they have experts available who specialize in these fields.
