In short
A managed service provider (MSP) is a company that manages your business's IT on an ongoing basis for a monthly fee — monitoring, maintaining and securing your systems proactively rather than waiting for things to break.
MSP in one sentence
An MSP is an outsourced IT department: a company you pay a fixed monthly fee to keep your technology running, secure and up to date, usually on a per-user or per-device basis.
How an MSP differs from a traditional IT company
A traditional IT company earns money when things break, so problems are its business model. An MSP earns the same fee whether or not things break, so it's incentivised to prevent problems. That single difference — proactive rather than reactive — is the heart of the managed services model.
What an MSP typically does
Help desk support, 24/7 monitoring and maintenance, patch management, backup management, cyber security, Microsoft 365 and cloud management, user onboarding and offboarding, and IT planning and budgeting advice.
Some MSPs, like Nexa SecureIT, also provide deeper security services such as a 24x7x365 Security Operations Centre (SOC), penetration testing and Cyber Essentials support — sometimes described as an MSSP (managed security service provider).
How to choose an MSP
Ask about response time commitments in writing, what's included and what's charged extra, their security credentials and accreditations, whether support is UK-based, and for references from businesses like yours. Check contract length and what happens to your data if you leave.
Talk to a Scottish MSP
Nexa SecureIT is a Glasgow-based managed service provider supporting businesses across Scotland's Central Belt with managed IT and managed CyberSecurity. Call 01355 201 093 or get in touch to find out how we'd look after your business.