When we talk about the benefits of hiring a Managed Services Provider–an MSP for businesses, the kind of businesses we think about are retail, shops, restaurants, etc. We often tend to overlook the healthcare industry and particularly, dental practices, when, in fact, there’s a lot of value that an MSP can add to a dental practice. This blog discusses how a dentist’s office can benefit from hiring an MSP.
Timely support
Having an MSP on board ensures you get timely IT support. It is like having an IT team at your beck and call. On the other hand, if you don’t have a service level agreement with an MSP, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get the IT help you need when you need it. MSPs tend to give preference to their SLA customers over one-off calls.
Reduced IT costs
Signing up with an MSP can help you cut your IT costs drastically. Here’s how it works.
Cheaper than the fire-fighting approach to fix your IT problems
An SLA with an MSP is always cheaper in the long run than adopting a fire-fighting approach to IT problems. When you rely on an IT technician to resolve your IT problem on-call, you are charged for the service on an hourly basis. Usually, the per hour rate is also quite high. If you sign up with an MSP, depending on your contract, you will be paying a fixed amount monthly or annually and they bound to fix your IT problems for you at no additional charge–irrespective of how long it takes.
Cheaper than getting full-time IT staff on board
Having an IT team in-house can be quite expensive and the cost is often not justified. For example, your in-house IT team may be working to its full capacity only in the event of an IT emergency or during certain times of the week or month when you require back ups, maintenance, etc., So,if you hire IT staff to fulfill these requirements, you may not be able to justify the costs related to them. Plus, having employees on payroll increases your liabilities from the legal angle, which is not the case when you sign up with an MSP.
Legal and regulatory requirements such as HIPAA and PCI
Being a dental practice, you will be governed by the HIPAA regulations. You also need to adhere to Payment Card Industry Standards (PCI). You need to ensure you comply with these regulations at all times. Failure to do so can attract severe legal penalties and fines. Partnering with an MSP who is well versed with the IT regulations related to your industry can be of immense value add.
Software/hardware installation
Technology is changing the landscape of medical practices, including dental. Your MSP can guide you when it comes to choosing hardware or software, procure it for you, and also provide assistance with its installation and repair, if need be.
Better focused in-house IT team
Even if you have an in-house IT team, having an MSP to manage your routine IT tasks such as data backups, antivirus upgrades, system updates, etc., allows your in-house IT personnel to focus on more strategic aspects of IT.
