The Top Cloud-Based Service MSPs Should Offer

By David Phillips, President, St. Louis IT Solutions, ASCII Group Member since 2014

There are four little words that strike terror in my heart; four words that even years of seasoning as an IT professional can't calm away. Even as I type them, I find myself unconsciously recoiling. They are: “Bring Your Own Device.”  

As a Managed Service Provider (MSP), I find it ethically difficult to regulate where someone can or can’t go on the web when they are surfing from home on their own device. Of course, this exposes their company to a myriad of risks — especially when a company doesn't have a strong policy around personal device usage for company business. With company-owned computers, it is simple to block a website; but with a user-owned device, who is responsible for what that user does when not on company time?

With the proliferation of ransomware, new and changing regulations, and a renewed focus on security, the question we have been hearing from small businesses more and more frequently is, “How do we protect our systems and data?” I suggest that the question should actually be, “Why do we need our own systems?”

Just a few years ago, businesses needed their own systems because the cloud wasn't fully developed, ISPs weren't able to offer high-speed connections at affordable rates, and businesses didn't trust the cloud. The cloud has since changed — and importantly people’s view of the cloud has changed.