Companies are increasingly employing the services of managed service providers because those companies provide a variety of benefits that businesses are beginning to realize. And the market is growing rapidly, with Eric Goodness, of Gartner, predicting that by 2014, 90 percent of companies in North America will utilize the services of a managed service provider.

Businesses wishing to remain relevant—and competitive—need to stay modern by employing these kinds of services for their IT needs. Knowing that your competition is opting to go down this route, it goes without saying you’ll be left in the dust should you decide to delay your business’ inevitable transfer of IT responsibilities.

Here are five reasons why managed service providers are becoming more and more popular:

1. Costs: Companies enjoy substantially lessened IT bills when they make the decision to outsource their IT infrastructure management needs.
2. More time: With your IT needs being managed by a team of professionals, your employees are freed up to invest their focus in other business-pertinent projects and priorities.
3. Less worry: You don’t have to worry about your systems going down because trained professionals will keep their eyes focus on your infrastructure. Should a problem arise, they’ll fix it.
4. Expertise: The job of these IT professionals is to stay on top of all things technology. By employing the services of a managed service provider, you have access to all that knowledge.
5. Less risk: Since you’re contracting the services of a third-party vendor, you’re able to unload some of the risk that traditionally would land entirely on your shoulders. This makes your business more versatile, a trait necessary in today’s fast-paced business environment.