Outsourcing your MSP’s NOC operations is no small feat; it’s a decision that carries profound strategic consequences for your organization. While the right partner can minimize downtime by improving network, infrastructure and application performance, a poorly managed NOC partner can jeopardize your MSP’s technology investments and customer satisfaction.
As you contemplate this transformative step, it’s crucial to understand what it entails and how you can choose a long-term NOC support partner. This blog lists the key aspects you must consider before even looking for outsourcing partners, the benefits of outsourcing your NOC and the questions you must ask before taking the final decision.
Things You Must Consider Before Outsourcing Your NOC
In essence, navigating the decision to outsource your NOC requires a comprehensive understanding of your MSP’s current state, future aspirations and the intricate dynamics of the outsourcing landscape. By acknowledging the multifaceted nature of this strategic move, you pave the way for a well-informed decision that aligns with your organizational goals and positions you for long-term success. Here are a few key aspects you must consider before going into the market for outsourcing partners:
- Recognizing the complexity: Outsourcing your NOC is not merely a transactional move; it’s an intricate process that involves aligning your organizational goals with the capabilities of external service providers. Before delving into the specifics, acknowledging the complexity of this decision sets the stage for a thoughtful and informed approach.
- Identifying the pain points: Understanding the unique challenges your organization faces is paramount. Are you grappling with increasing operational costs, resource limitations or a need for specialized expertise? By identifying the pain points that lead you to consider outsourcing, you can tailor your approach to addressing these specific issues, ensuring a more precise and effective outsourcing strategy.
- Assessing organizational readiness: Every organization is unique and the readiness for outsourcing varies. Evaluate your internal processes, workforce capabilities and cultural dynamics. Assess whether your organization is prepared for the changes that come with outsourcing and identify areas that may require additional attention or adjustment.
- Defining strategic objectives: What do you aim to achieve through outsourcing your NOC? Whether it’s enhancing operational efficiency, focusing on core competencies or accessing specialized skills, defining your strategic objectives provides a clear roadmap. This clarity not only guides the outsourcing process but also serves as a benchmark for evaluating its success.
- Considering long-term implications: Outsourcing is not a short-term fix but a strategic partnership with long-term implications. Anticipate how outsourcing your NOC aligns with your organization’s future trajectory. Consider scalability, adaptability and the potential for evolving your outsourcing strategy to meet changing business dynamics.
- Building stakeholder alignment: Effective communication is key when undergoing transformative changes. Ensure that key stakeholders, including leadership, employees and clients, are aligned with the decision to outsource. Establishing a shared understanding fosters a collaborative environment, mitigating potential resistance and ensuring a smoother transition.
Benefits of Outsourcing Your NOC
Outsourcing your NOC can bring your MSP immediate benefits in terms of scalability, cost and employee morale. In-house hardware and software maintenance is expensive. Needless to say, mandating your technicians to be available after regular hours and during the weekends can significantly impact their morale and efficiency. You wouldn’t want them to suffer burnout and feel frustrated, would you? Mostly, in-house NOC teams often struggle in keeping up with the evolving technology and service needs of the customers.
The right NOC services partner can help your MSP reap immediate key benefits such as:
- Substantially reduced network downtime as experts identify anomalies before they escalate into major outages.
- Immediate and continuous resolution of outages when they do occur.
- Lower and predictable operational costs in terms of personnel, time and resources.
- Liberation of your IT support and network staff to focus on mission-critical tasks essential for meeting project, business efficiency and growth objectives.
- A proficient NOC team that minimizes distracting nuisance alerts faced by your staff.
- 24×7 monitoring expertise and experience to observe your systems in ways that may not have been considered internally due to lack of time or resources.
Questions You Must Ask Yourself Before Outsourcing Your NOC
In addition to the key considerations listed above, given below is the list of a few other important questions you must ask yourself, as the business leader, before making the strategic move:
If I outsource my NOC, will my customers notice?
When considering outsourcing your NOC, the impact of communication, accents and listening skills of the outsourced NOC engineers on customer experience is a crucial aspect. Explore how seamless communication with an outsourced NOC can be maintained, ensuring that your customers experience a consistent and high-quality level of service. Select a partner with communication practices that align with your customer service standards.
What parts of my helpdesk should I outsource?
Deciding which components of your helpdesk to outsource is a pivotal step in the outsourcing journey. Assess your helpdesk comprehensively to identify tasks suitable for outsourcing and those best kept in-house. By strategically evaluating the functions of your helpdesk, you can optimize efficiency, enhance service quality and achieve a balanced approach that aligns with your organizational goals.
How will outsourcing my helpdesk impact my MSP?
Outsourcing your helpdesk is not merely a tactical move but a strategic decision with far-reaching implications for your MSP business. This Think strategically about the transformative possibilities. Explore how outsourcing can unlock new avenues, allowing your MSP to pursue larger clients, expand service offerings and achieve operational scalability. Consider the broader strategic landscape and envision the amazing opportunities that outsourcing can bring to your MSP business.
How will outsourcing affect cybersecurity?
The intersection of outsourcing and cybersecurity is a critical concern for organizations—and it must be for your business too. Select a NOC provider with robust security measures, preferably one that is compliant with SOC 2 and holds deep security expertise. Your outsourced NOC partner must be fully equipped to safeguard your network and data. In short, explore how outsourcing can enhance cybersecurity measures and contribute to a proactive defense against evolving threats.
What is the ROI of outsourcing my NOC?
Beyond cost savings, the return on investment (ROI) of outsourcing your NOC extends to various strategic and financial benefits. Think beyond the immediate financial impact, exploring the opportunity cost of not outsourcing. Imagine the possibilities of reallocating saved resources, both in terms of time and money, toward initiatives that drive growth, innovation and overall business success. Get a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted ROI that accompanies a well-executed NOC outsourcing strategy.
Talk to us about how our SOC 2 compliant NOC services give your business the edge it needs by helping you reduce costs, grow revenue and provide better security to your clients.
