For Help During the COVID-19 Emergency, Turn to Your MSP

According to the Pandemic Preparedness team at Gartner, “A pandemic can result in a possible staff absenteeism exceeding 40% for extended and sequential periods.” 

As an I&O leader, how would your team handle that level of absenteeism?

It’s likely that, at this point, your I&O team is overwhelmed with Work From Home (WFH) support requests, as well as surprising tech issues resulting from the increased demands of WFH operations. You’re scrambling to put out fires and keep networks and systems running smoothly – and that means your team has less time than ever to focus on critical IT processes and procedures. 

Can you handle that load if absenteeism spikes? 

We’re here to tell you: Yes, you can. 

Here’s how.

Consider Adding Flexibility with MSPs

Though smaller businesses often work with Managed Services Providers (MSPs) to handle critical IT tasks, enterprise CIOs, CTOs, and I&O leaders often choose to rely solely on their extensive in-house teams to handle their tech. 

Of course, in a world filled with convenient managed IT services on the cloud, this trend is starting to dissolve as enterprise leaders flex management tasks across a broader IT team. These days, it’s not surprising to find CIOs trusting outside expertise to handle mundane administrative tasks while focusing their in-house dollars on hiring experts who are well-versed in strategic, forward-planning initiatives for the business. 

For increasing numbers of I&O leaders, it’s easy to see how MSP flexibility would support your IT operations right now during the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting WFH workload. 

Choose the Right MSP for COVID-19

Flexibility is great – but there are lots of MSPs out there. Very few of them have the necessary expertise to seamlessly support your complex operations. So, what’s the best way to find the right MSP for you?  

Expertise

Start off by looking for an MSP that specializes in your specific solution setup:

• • If you’re running Oracle solutions, such as Oracle Database, to underpin your critical operations, you’ll want to look for an Oracle MSP. 
  • If you’re running a Microsoft setup on Azure, you’ll want an MSP with expertise in Azure and Microsoft solutions. 
  • Working with a more complicated setup, such as running Oracle workloads on AWS? You’ll want to look for an MSP with expertise in supporting Oracle on AWS specifically. 

The key is to make sure that any MSP you’re considering will know how to support your system without hand-holding from you – because, if you need an emergency MSP, you don’t have time to get them up to speed. 

Flexibility

Next, after you’ve found an MSP with the precise expertise and experience your systems and solutions demand, you’ll want to make sure the MSPs you’re considering are able (and willing) to work hand-in-hand with your in-house team. 

Many MSPs want only to control the entire IT setup, as it simplifies their operations and contracts. Working with an MSP that wants to manage every aspect of your IT might be a great choice for you… or it might not. 

If you’re looking for a more flexible arrangement, such as having a trained team of experts you can trust to step in exactly when you need them, you’ll want to make sure the MSP you’re considering is willing to do that. You’ll also only want to select from the MSPs that have extensive experience serving enterprises like yours in that capacity. 

Meets your exact needs

Either arrangement — an MSP that handles everything for you, or an MSP that assists your team when needed, such as with day-to-day IT admin or increased support requests — are both great choices during a protracted emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic. Both arrangements can reduce the stress on your internal team while ensuring that your systems run at peak performance around the clock. 

It’s up to you to decide which solution will work best for your needs and to find the MSP that best fits your requirements, specific solutions, and expectations. 

You may also want to consider working with an MSP that can seamlessly flow back and forth between managing all your IT tasks and stepping in as needed, so you know your enterprise is covered in all situations as your needs and this pandemic evolve. 

Start Learning About Your MSP Options from Centroid

As one of the first certified Oracle MSPs on the planet, as well as one of the few MSPs certified across all of today’s top cloud solutions, Centroid’s expert team is the one to trust when you need additional support for complex, multicloud solutions that include Oracle solutions as a critical component. 

For more than 20 years, Centroid has been helping enterprise I&O leaders achieve their business goals and objectives by advising on and implementing world-class business tech solutions. Unlike other consultancy teams, we haven’t stopped there. 

We additionally offer MSP support, with the flexible arrangements our global clients prefer. 

Whether it’s stepping in to help solve a perplexing problem for Amway, filling in as needed for Canon Medical Systems, or delivering tailored support and MSP assistance for a wide range of global enterprise leaders – our clients know that Centroid is the team to trust at all times, including during a global pandemic. 

Learn more about emergency MSPs services from Centroid.