Choosing a good IT Managed Services Provider (MSP) is not just a technology decision, it’s a business risk decision. This guide is written for business owners, executives, and operations leaders at growing organizations who rely on technology daily but don’t want to manage IT risk themselves. 

Your MSP controls access to your systems, protects your data, responds to security incidents, and keeps your operations running. When that relationship works well, most businesses don’t think about IT at all. When it doesn’t, the impact can be disruptive, expensive, and stressful. 

At Ferrara IT, we often meet new clients after something has already gone wrong. Whether an outage, a security incident, or a growing sense that their current IT provider isn’t keeping up. This guide is designed to help business owners understand what to look for in a good IT MSP before they reach that point. 

1. A Good IT MSP Goes Beyond “Fixing Issues”

If an MSP primarily talks about help desk tickets and response times, that’s only part of the picture. 

A strong MSP should be responsible for: 

• • Proactively monitoring systems
  • Preventing downtime and security incidents
  • Managing cloud platforms like Microsoft 365
  • Maintaining secure access to systems and data
  • Aligning IT decisions with business goals

This is the foundation of true managed IT services, not reactive break-fix support.  Learn more about what this looks like in practice on our Managed IT Services page. 

2. Cybersecurity Should Be Built In, Not Optional

Cybersecurity is no longer a separate service that can be “added later.” According to IBM, The average cost of a security breach in 2025 was $4.4M. Today’s threats are automated, persistent, and increasingly sophisticated and they target people, identities, and systems simultaneously.  

A good IT MSP treats cybersecurity as core infrastructure, not an upsell. You should expect your MSP to provide: 

• • 24/7 security monitoring
  • Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR)
  • Managed Detection & Response (MDR)
  • Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) to correlate activity across endpoints, identities, email, and cloud systems
  • Employee security awareness training to reduce phishing, credential theft, and social engineering risk
  • Identity and email security
  • Clearly defined incident response procedures

Technology alone is not enough. Many security incidents begin with a single employee clicking a convincing email or approving an unexpected login prompt. A good MSP combines technical controls with ongoing employee training to reduce human risk not just respond after the fact. If security monitoring is limited, training is optional, or incident response is improvised, the MSP is not built for modern business risk. 

At Ferrara IT, cybersecurity is integrated into everything we do. You can see how we approach this on our Managed Cybersecurity page. 

3. Proactive Management Means Planning for Downtime, Not Just Preventing It

Fast response times matter, but preventing downtime and minimizing its impact when it does occur is far more important. 

No system is immune to failure. Hardware fails, cloud services have outages, and human error happens. A good IT MSP plans for these realities instead of assuming everything will always work. 

Critical Systems Identification 

At Ferrara IT, proactive management starts with a critical systems discussion with each client. This is a structured process where we work together to: 

• • Identify all core business systems and applications
  • Understand what data each system contains
  • Assess what happens if that data is lost
  • Determine what happens if the system is unavailable
  • Define acceptable downtime and recovery expectations for each system

Not every system requires the same level of protection or recovery speed. A good MSP helps prioritize resources based on business impact, not guesswork. 

From there, proactive management includes: 

• • Monitoring system health and performance
  • Designing backup and recovery strategies aligned to each system’s importance
  • Testing recovery processes regularly
  • Reducing single points of failure
  • Documenting response plans so action is clear during an incident

The goal is not just to keep systems running, but to ensure that when something goes wrong, the business can continue operating with minimal disruption. 

An MSP that only reacts after users report problems is not managing IT proactively, they are managing crises. 

4. Transparency, Access, and Secure Privilege Management Are Non-Negotiable

A good IT MSP balances transparency with strong access controls. Your business should always have visibility into its environment without exposing itself to unnecessary risk. 

A trustworthy MSP provides: 

• • Clear and current documentation
  • Defined administrative access and ownership
  • Visibility into security controls and configurations
  • Clear escalation paths and points of accountability

At the same time, a good MSP follows least-privilege access principles. This means: 

• • End users are not local administrators on their computers
  • Access is granted based on job role and business need
  • Privileged accounts are tightly controlled and monitored
  • Administrative access is separated from day-to-day user accounts

In well-designed environments, even internal IT liaisons typically do not have Microsoft 365 Global Administrator access. Global admin rights are powerful and should be limited to a small number of secured, monitored accounts, not broadly distributed for convenience. 

If an MSP freely hands out administrative access, avoids documenting who has what permissions, or relies on shared admin credentials, they are increasing risk rather than managing it. 

Strong access controls protect the business, reduce the impact of compromised accounts, and support compliance and cyber insurance requirements. 

5. Strategic IT Leadership Is a Key Differentiator

Technology decisions should never happen in a vacuum. Without clear leadership, IT becomes reactive, fragmented, and increasingly misaligned with the business. 

If an IT MSP does not include virtual CTO (vector) leadership as part of its ongoing services, there is often no one actively responsible for IT strategy. In those situations: 

• • IT spending becomes reactive rather than intentional
  • Technology decisions are made ad hoc
  • Short-term fixes accumulate into long-term technical debt
  • Systems become harder to manage, secure, and scale
  • Business inefficiencies increase over time

A good IT MSP leads IT strategy development, not just operational support. 

At Ferrara IT, we believe IT should directly support business objectives. Through our CTO Services, we help clients: 

• • Align technology investments with business goals
  • Plan budgets and refresh cycles intentionally
  • Reduce technical debt over time
  • Improve efficiency, security, and scalability
  • Make informed decisions as the business grows or changes

Without this level of leadership, businesses often spend more on IT while getting less value in return. 

Strong IT strategy ensures that technology enables growth instead of quietly becoming a bottleneck. 

6. Ask How They Handle Security Incidents, Before One Happens

Every business should assume that incidents will happen. The real question is how prepared your MSP is when they do. Ask prospective MSPs: 

• • Who responds to incidents?
  • How quickly are threats contained?
  • How is communication handled?
  • Do they assist with insurance, legal, or compliance requirements?

A defined response plan is critical.  At Ferrara IT, we provide 24×7 incident response and have significant expertise in containing and remediating cyber threats. Learn more about our approach to containment and recovery on our Cyber Incident Response page. 

7. Help Desk Support Still Matters

End-user support is often the most visible part of an MSP relationship, and it directly impacts employee productivity and satisfaction. However, help desk should be one component of a broader, well-managed IT strategy, not the entire service offering. 

A good IT MSP provides: 

• • Clear support processes and escalation paths
  • Consistent communication with end users
  • Root-cause resolution to prevent repeat issues

At Ferrara IT, we take end-user experience seriously. Across our client base, we maintain: 

• • An average response time of approximately one minute
  • A 92% first-call resolution rate, meaning most issues are resolved on the first interaction without repeat tickets or escalations

These outcomes are the result of strong documentation, proactive system management, and experienced and credentialed technicians, not just speed for speed’s sake.  You can learn more about how we structure and staff user support on our End-User Help Desk page. 

8. Identity, Cloud, and Modern Workplace Management Are Core IT Functions

Most businesses today rely heavily on cloud platforms, remote access, and identity-based security. Poor configuration in these areas is one of the most common sources of downtime, security incidents, and operational inefficiency we see. 

A good IT MSP actively manages: 

• • Microsoft 365 security and configuration
  • Device and endpoint management
  • Identity and access controls
  • Conditional Access and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Cloud-based security baselines and policies

In addition to ongoing management, a modern MSP should be able to lead and support cloud transformation initiatives, not just maintain the status quo. 

At Ferrara IT, we help clients: 

• • Migrate identities and access management to Microsoft Entra ID
  • Plan and execute cloud migrations from legacy on-premises environments
  • Migrate, optimize, and secure SharePoint and Microsoft 365 collaboration tools
  • Reduce reliance on aging servers and legacy infrastructure
  • Improve security, scalability, and user experience through cloud-first design
  • Provider user training so employees feel comfortable adopting and using the new technology

These projects are approached thoughtfully, with an emphasis on minimizing disruption and aligning technology with how the business actually operates. 

Our approach to securing and modernizing cloud environments is outlined on our Microsoft 365, Intune & Entra ID services page. 

Final Thoughts: IT Is the Foundation of the Modern Business 

IT is the backbone of modern businesses, and cutting corners on it almost always costs more in the long run. Inefficient systems slow employees down, downtime disrupts operations, cyber incidents create reputational damage, and poor security controls can drive up cyber insurance costs or limit coverage altogether. 

Just like building a house on a weak foundation or leaving the doors unlocked, short-term savings in IT lead to long-term risk, higher expenses, and unnecessary stress. 

The right IT MSP does more than reduce risk, they empower growing businesses. With a secure, well-designed IT foundation in place, leaders can operate with confidence, improve productivity, and focus on scaling the business instead of reacting to technology problems. 

If you’re evaluating your current IT provider and unsure whether these fundamentals are in place, we offer structured environment reviews to help leaders understand their risk exposure before something goes wrong. Schedule a free consultation now.