Many modern businesses integrate IT systems that help them optimize their product/service delivery. However, not all firms have dedicated personnel with adequate tools and knowledge to handle their unique IT requirements. In these cases, outsourcing to a managed IT service provider is the smart choice. An even better option is getting a vendor-neutral MSP to handle all custom IT needs, and this article will explain why.

What Is Vendor Neutrality?

A typical vendor-neutral approach aims to achieve optimal productivity by offering IT services inclusive of requisite tools, devices, and properly skilled personnel which are not compulsorily provided by one particular vendor. Vendor neutrality allows the clients and their advisors to change IT product and service vendors to keep up with the ever-evolving dynamics of the modern business space.  

This managed service provider approach eliminates bias and offers clients access to a wide variety of vendors and tech. The flexibility associated with vendor neutrality encourages maximal service efficiency as businesses can integrate different IT resources from various vendors that best suit their style.  

How Does Using a Vendor Neutral Managed IT Service Provider Benefit Your Business?

Insisting on vendor neutrality when choosing a managed IT service provider confers various advantages on the end client. Apart from enabling the business to acquire the IT resources best-suited to its needs, vendor neutrality also challenges the chosen MSP while keeping overall operating costs at an acceptable level. These and more benefits are discussed in detail in subsequent sections of this article.

Key Benefits of Vendor Neutrality

Best Fit between Unique Business Model and Available Technology

No two businesses are exactly alike even if they offer similar products or services. Each company has a different growth trajectory with corresponding short and long-term goals to match. A significant drawback of engaging a single-source vendor MSP is the tendency to try to fit every firm’s IT needs into that vendor’s predetermined offerings. This drastically limits the options available to business owners with many clients ending up with poorly fitting technological solutions. A vendor-neutral MSP will critically consider its client’s business model, identify the unique IT optimization needs, and suggest a vendor with the tech best suited to handle them.

A More Robust MSP Experience

Insisting on a vendor-neutral approach from your IT managed service provider will significantly benefit your business regardless of the size and nature of operations. Vendor neutrality mandates all engaged MSPs to offer their clients a wide pool of technologies to choose from to help grow their businesses. Due to the competitive nature of the IT vendor service community, MSPs that wish to remain relevant will need to keep up with ever-changing trends and innovations, by regularly updating their knowledge base on various vendor’s products and services including their advantages and limitations. Overall, a vendor-neutral MSP arrangement will ensure every client gets full value for all financial allocations on IT services.

Lower Cost Considerations

From a financial point of view, a single-source vendor for your IT needs is a bad idea in most cases. The lack of competition for IT service delivery grants the sole vendor an unhealthy monopoly which they may take advantage of by setting unfavourable rates and charges.

A vendor-neutral MSP will eliminate this undesirable situation by granting its clients access to diverse vendors with more leverage on rate negotiation. A great vendor-neutral MSP will conduct a proper market evaluation to select the best tools for its client by exposing them to a broad variety of vendors at favourable prices.

How to Decide the Best Vendor Neutral Managed IT Service Provider

Having an MSP that understands the pros and cons of several potential vendors for a given solution will ensure that you get the best advice.  You can be assured that the MSP is working towards the best technical and economic solution for you, not the vendors to whom they are most closely-aligned.

By contrast, sticking to a single IT vendor drastically limits your options. While you may enjoy more personalized technical support and faster response time in some cases, these benefits simply do not stack up well against the argument for engaging a vendor-neutral MSP.

The ideal vendor-neutral MSP is one that has an operation large enough to choose to be vendor-neutral, not have it forced on them due to the limited size of their operation.

About Computer One

Computer One is a multi-award-winning Managed IT Service Provider based in Australia. The company is a full-service provider, managing everything from an outsourced help desk to networks, cloud services, security and software development.