In our previous article we outlined the tech-specific benefits a Managed Service Provider (MSP) provides to banks and other financial institutions. MSPs also provide financial institutions some broader-based, “bottom line” benefits.
Additional benefits of an MSP include the following:
- Your IT staff will be free to work on other things. Today’s IT departments and even IT Security teams have far exceeded their breaking points, especially now that the Remote Workforce is a permanent fixture in American society. By hiring an MSP, your staff will be augmented with other skilled IT professionals, thus allowing them to focus on what is most important for your bank.
- Greater levels of scalability are possible. When your bank hires an MSP, you do not have to hire the entire staff that they offer to you. In other words, you have the complete freedom of scalability here. This simply means that you can hire as many additional people as you need and ramp up or down according to your future IT requirements. This eliminates the time you would otherwise spend recruiting your own staff (job postings, interviews, and background checks).
- It’s very affordable. One of the biggest benefits of MSPs is that they are affordable. You pay a fixed price for an engagement, and when you don’t need them anymore, you simply terminate the contract. If you need their services later, you can always renew the contract. As a result, your bank has no extra expenditures such as salaries, benefits, perks, or bonuses.
- You have greater access to other areas of expertise. If your bank is not multinational, you may not have a full-time CIO or CISO to direct and guide your IT initiatives. Hiring such an individual can be cost-prohibitive, and the turnover rate is quite high, at about 1.5 – 2 years. When you hire an MSP, you will gain similar access to other areas of expertise where you need advice. A typical example of this is the Virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO). You can also hire a vCISO for fixed price and contract. They can provide advice on how to refine and optimize your current IT processes, as well as even help to oversee the maintenance of the new and further enhanced controls that you have put into place.
Conclusion
Overall, this article series has examined some of the strategic advantages by hiring an MSP. However, you should proceed with caution. For example, you will need to have a through vetting process in place. You will also want your MSP to have a solid track record, and be qualified to meet your particular IT, security, and compliance needs. Finally, an MSP should be well-established and be able to provide references when request
Ravi Das is a Cybersecurity Consultant and Business Development Specialist. He also does Cybersecurity Consulting through his private practice, RaviDas Tech, Inc. He also possesses the Certified in Cybersecurity (CC) cert from the ISC2.
Visit his website at mltechnologies.io
