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What is a Managed Service Provider And What Do They Do?

The way to do this is by hiring a Managed Service Provider (or MSP) – in this article, we’ll explain what they do, what they can provide

Published

2 years ago

April 8, 2021

TwinzTech

4 Benefits of Hiring an IT Consultant Update Your Team, Help You Implement New Processes, Cost-Effective, More Safety

Although you might tend to consider business growth in terms of opening new locations or creating new products, you may not have considered how your IT can grow along with these things – it’s fair to say that most businesses in 2021 would struggle without a solid IT infrastructure.

But IT improvements don’t come cheap, so you’ll want to find an IT solution that doesn’t leave you bankrupt. The way to do this is by hiring a Managed Service Provider (or MSP) – in this article, we’ll explain what they do, what they can provide for your company, and how you should choose the best one.

When you’ve finished reading, you’ll have a better idea of whether or not you’d like to explore working with an MSP – or look instead at building your in-house IT knowledge.

Table of Contents

1. What is an MSP?

An MSP is an existing IT team that you can hire who works outside your regular office and isn’t on your payroll. Although they aren’t quite as present in your daily work environment as a dedicated in-house team would be, they can still provide comprehensive support and cover all of your IT needs.

While they might seem like a more complicated option than keeping everything in-house, an MSP can be a more simple option than bringing on your own IT team – you could even have one working for you in a week or so if you were to start; talks now! Because they have a diverse staff of professionals who work with a broad range of businesses, an MSP can easily add you on.

For your monthly payment, you are provided with the MSP’s IT team’s expertise at a lower cost than you might anticipate for their level of experience. This is because they aren’t just working for you – as they charge lots of companies a low price, they can spread staffing costs across all of the businesses who hire them, and this saving comes straight back to you.

2. Can An MSP Save You Money?

You probably have some awareness of how your business budgets every month, and if so, you’ll know just how fast costs can become astronomically high – especially when you include the recruitment drives required when you’re hiring new members of staff!

Putting aside the huge cost of wages each month, you can lose thousands to expenses that come from staffing, lost resources and more, and these costs grow exponentially if you’re looking to bring on more people. And this is all without the training costs that come when new employees are on the payroll!

One of the more immediate benefits of working with an MSP is that you can completely avoid extra costs like these. The extensive hiring process has already been handled entirely by the provider.

But the benefits don’t just come in the short term – without these initial costs, think about what you could invest the extra thousands you now have into! You could invest in new product development, create a new and exciting marketing campaign, recruit more people in sales – the options are endless with the money you’ve saved on the monotony of the hiring process!

3. Can An MSP Help With Business Expansion?

Now that we’ve established how you can put back the money saved from working with an MSP into wider business growth tactics, you can start to consider how you might grow your business by investing in IT innovations. Although it’s easy to see an MSP as just a group of people who keep your IT systems running, they can provide so much more for your business – that is, if you choose the right provider.

Technological Transition of Your Business

MSPs become an important part of a business’s daily operations, and this means that they’ll witness much of your growth over the time you work with them. In addition to this, they’ll have a cutting edge awareness of all of the latest IT developments, having implemented these technologies into the infrastructures of other companies they work with. Whether you want to utilise an SD-WAN system for your network or install MPLS to improve the performance of cloud-based applications performance, the right MSP can drastically improve your IT systems for the better.

While you may not be easy with these technologies, your chosen MSP will, and their knowledge of these innovations, could be instrumental to making sure your business can maintain the pace of growth you desire. This consultancy service might not be part of the most basic package that an MSP offers, but for just a fee, you can have access to their combined decades of IT experience and knowledge – an investment that will certainly pay off in the long term.

4. How Do You Find The Best MSP?

While there’s a myriad of ways to grow your business, it all essentially comes down to expanding two areas: knowledge and money. If you decide to start working with an MSP, you’ll both gain access to their huge bank of knowledge and be able to start putting your money elsewhere.

However, this growth is only possible with a good provider. It would help if you looked further than the first few Google results that appear for ‘MSP in my area’; good knowledge of SEO doesn’t necessarily translate to IT’s good knowledge.

While you’re scouting out potential providers, it’s useful to ask if they’ve ever worked with companies that resemble your own, whether that’s in terms of their size or the industry that they operate in. You should also ask about their plans for future growth – after all, they need to be able to keep up with your ambitions!

To make the most of your relationship with an MSP, you need to make sure that they have a thorough understanding of your business. If you can form a solid and mutually beneficial working relationship, you can grow together to dizzying heights.

Business

How Music Can Impact Your Customers’ Experiences Grocery Stores

As people are heavily influenced by music, it is important that, as a grocery store owner, you get the type of music right in your store. Why? Read on to find out!

Published

5 days ago

September 19, 2023

TwinzTech

How Music Can Impact Your Customers Experiences Grocery Stores

There’s a lot that goes into sales in any store. The people in the store, the store’s layout, the lighting, the color scheme, and, of course, the music.

If you were to walk into a grocery store and there was no music playing, it would be unnerving, to say the least, and there is a reason why. When most people think of music playing in a store, they think of the general type of music and link it to the products in the store.

As people are heavily influenced by music, it is important that, as a grocery store owner, you get the type of music right in your store. Why? Read on to find out!

Table of Contents

1. Increase Sales

Research has found that the right kind of music will boost sales. It is true!

The most successful grocery stores use familiar-sounding background music to promote sales, and there is a reason why- it works! Music for business is not a new area, and having a set playlist is better than simply putting it on the radio. When customers hear music that is familiar, they will feel relaxed, and when they feel relaxed, they are more likely to purchase items.

2. Reduction In Complaints

Nobody likes complaints, especially in retail. It has once again been found that those familiar tunes which you can play in your supermarket have been linked to a reduction in complaints being made.

The tempo of the music can impact the behavior of the buyers in your grocery store

It has also been shown to impact how customers assess their time in the store. For instance, one study found that customers who were waiting and were surrounded by unfamiliar music described the store as being dirtier, the staff being ruder, and the waiting times being longer. In the same market setting, a set of customers who had familiar music being played reported, well, the opposite!

3. Impulse Purchases

The tempo of the music can impact the behavior of the buyers in your grocery store.

Ever wonder why faster-paced music is played around the holidays? This is why! Studies have found that when it comes to playing faster-paced music, shoppers were more likely to make more impulsive buys, upping sales in the store.

4. Brand Promotion

There is a reason why when you go into a higher-end grocery store, they are playing more classically themed music. Or, when you go into a grocery store that is full of health-based products, there is a reason why they usually play more relaxed music.

They are trying to build an association with their brand. So, if you are looking for the right kind of music to play in your grocery store, think about what it is that you sell. For generic grocery stores, something like easy listening or happy music will usually work to help get customers feeling good and relaxed enough to buy produce.

5. Atmosphere

You want to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere in your supermarket. One of the easiest ways to do that is with music, as even if the customers aren’t aware of the type of music that is playing consciously, they will still hear it and be impacted by it. In short, softer, happier music prompts relaxation and helps up general purchases, and, as before, faster music prompts impulse buys.