The nonprofit sector is growing up, and fast.
When we started our respective nonprofit organizations, things seemed so much simpler. Based on radical ideas for social change and the possibility of it actually realizing those ideas is how most of us started our organizations. Things were simpler then, with no one able to tell us no we charged headlong into the future.
However, things invariably began to distract us, and we know that if any one little thing distracts us, even for a minute, the chances of us completing our missions is lowered. Just like with any business, as our nonprofits mature and grow, our needs change. In order to meet these growing and maturing needs of our organizations, we need to realize that keeping excel spreadsheets of our expenses isn’t sustainable, and that the server we’ve barely kept running in the back closet needs to be unplugged.
Outsourcing IT services to a managed service provider (MSP) is one of the best way to take the unpredictability our of our IT and puts it back in our control. Here’s why nonprofits benefit from managed IT services.
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Flat-rate IT costs
Whether a scheduled upgrade or one brought about by failure of equipment, our IT budgets can seemingly fluctuate with the wind. With some months needing very little monetary or time investment to be made, while others can require our undivided attention and can crop up with some pretty nasty, unpredictable price tags. With most nonprofits working on tight budgets, the peace of mind that comes with knowing exactly what you’re going to pay for your IT budget that month is priceless. This makes budgeting, forecasting, and reporting the fiscal health of your nonprofit that much easier. -
Disasters aren’t really disasters
Every nonprofit and for-profit business a like needs to have some kind of a contingency plan in place in-case of a disaster. Whether it’s losing all of your data because of a fire in the office, an earthquake in the city, or simply a negligent employee downloading a virus, there’s a very real and seemingly imminent thread of our nonprofit losing all of our data. With a managed IT provider a recover plan is in place so that should a disaster strike your nonprofit, recovery form that disaster is faster and more efficient than ever. -
Proactive monitoring and support
Being able to catch problems before they evolve into enterprise wide problems is essential to the long term scalability and success of our organizations. And with our increasing dependance on technology to perform our jobs increasing, there’s almost no room for downtime. Most MSPs offer 24/7/365 IT support so your nonprofit can rest assured it has eyes in the sky regardless of the time or problem.
