Regardless of their size, more and more organizations depend on technology to streamline operations and facilitate growth. Yet, keeping up with rapidly changing technology while managing information technology (IT) systems can be tricky.

If you are dealing with the burden of managing your business’s or organization’s IT, hiring a managed services provider (MSP) can be a strategic move. To help ensure you select an MSP that aligns with your company’s needs and objectives, you need to know what to look for in a provider.

The Benefits of Partnering With an MSP

Managed services providers (MSPs) are indispensable in IT management, providing key offerings ranging from cybersecurity to network monitoring.

You might not have the resources to hire a full-time team with the same capabilities as an MSP. However, by relying on outsourced IT services from a company like Morefield, you have more affordable access to highly skilled professionals with a wealth of IT knowledge.

Beyond responding rapidly to technical issues, managed service providers can help prevent issues from occurring entirely and keep downtime to an absolute minimum. Downtime can cost large organizations up to $9,000 a minute. The 24/7 support and monitoring offered by most MSPs are vital to remaining competitive and maintaining continuity in the digitally driven landscape in which your business operates.

When working with an MSP, companies can also prioritize strategic goals and initiatives as they no longer have to deal with time-consuming IT tasks each day. Working with a MSP allows you to boost productivity and efficiency for your employees and equipment, allowing you to serve more customers and reduce operating expenses.

6 Things to Look for in an MSP

MSPs play a crucial role in the success and growth of businesses, so selecting the right company is essential. To help you identify a suitable partner, here are six things to consider:

1. In-depth Expertise and Industry Experience

An MSP with expert skills and significant experience in your industry is nonnegotiable.

Although there may be many providers, only some will have worked in certain industries. Whether you work for a health care, educational or governmental organization or are a business owner, MSPs with experience in your vertical are better equipped to grasp your unique needs and challenges. Plus, they’ll have the necessary knowledge of any relevant regulations to help you stay compliant.

Along with evaluating a provider’s industry experience, you should check:

• Years in business: Seasoned companies with many years under their belt are likely to be reliable problem-solvers.
• Past and present clients: An MSP’s client base can give you insight into the types of businesses and organizations they work with. While big names can indicate the provider’s level of proficiency, clients operating in industries similar to yours are also a green light.
• Reviews and references: Contact both past and existing clients to learn about their experiences and how satisfied they were with the services they received. Reviews and testimonials are also valuable resources for gaining insight into the MSP’s reliability and performance.

2. Comprehensive IT Services and Scalable Infrastructure

If you are looking for one partner to provide end-to-end support, a versatile MSP with extensive service offerings is a must. Various services are crucial when selecting a provider, such as:

• Network management: Your network is paramount for keeping your information safe. You need a dedicated team to maintain your network’s security, connection and peak performance.
• Cloud solutions: Few businesses function without cloud services. Look for an MSP that can manage and secure your cloud environment.
• Cybersecurity: Security solutions are vital for securing your systems and data. Look for services such as employee education, vulnerability assessments, endpoint detection and response programs, and data backup strategies to protect your business from possible threats.
• Data backup: To safeguard files and folders from natural disasters and other losses, backup as a service (BaaS) is becoming increasingly common for businesses spanning many industries.

In addition to reviewing an MSP’s services portfolio to ensure your business’s or organization’s current needs are met, you must keep the future in mind. You need a provider that offers flexible services and can scale its infrastructure according to your company’s growth and technological advances.

3. Security and Data Protection Best Practices

In 2023, more than 3,200 data breaches were reported. Also known as data leakages, breaches typically result from intrusions from external attackers who gain unauthorized access to bank account information, credit card numbers, financial records or social security numbers.

Data is the lifeblood of many modern organizations, so security should be a top priority for your chosen MSP. Security measures such as data encryption to prevent unauthorized access and an effective system for identifying potential intrusions are critical. The right provider can help shield your organization or business from cyber threats and data leakages, mitigating the risk of operational downtime, loss of customer trust and other ramifications.

4. Reliable Disaster Recovery Solutions

Vandalism, weather disasters or other outages can happen without notice. An IT disaster recovery plan can save the day and ensure your operations continue in an emergency. As their name suggests, these plans contain detailed steps to manage disasters that are either natural or caused by humans, allowing businesses to make a speedy recovery.

A suitable MSP will be able to help you prepare for future emergencies, secure your data, and offer you peace of mind that your business can recover from an otherwise catastrophic event. Your provider’s disaster recovery solutions should include:

• Regular data backups: Backups help ensure your data is available should the recovery plan need to be implemented.
• Frequent testing: These plans must be tested frequently and updated as needed. Doing so allows you to make the appropriate changes ahead of time rather than becoming aware of faults while dealing with a disruption.
• Off-site storage: Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) is a cloud-based protection solution. With DRaaS, your company can use an off-site server to back up and store its data. This way, you can avoid the loss of important data if the disaster is on-site, such as computer theft or hurricanes.

5. 24/7 Customer Service and Support

Due to the nature of IT management, time-critical concerns or questions are expected. Before selecting an MSP, ensure they will be available when needed. While your business or organization isn’t operational 24/7, your network and security are — and so should your MSP.

In addition to evaluating a provider’s availability, you should consider the level of customer support they offer:

• Responsiveness: Timely responses can solve minor issues before they escalate. Determine how quickly an MSP resolves general inquiries and more severe problems or emergencies.
• Communication channels: The channels you use to report an issue must be accessible and easy to use. For example, your provider could use a ticketing system or require you to phone them.
• On-site support: Although many services can be offered remotely, partnering with a local MSP can be hugely beneficial as they can provide hands-on assistance. If you are based in Pennsylvania or Northern Maryland and are looking for managed IT services, Morefield is happy to help.

6. Transparent Contracts and Pricing

Understanding the Service Level Agreement (SLA) is vital — these contracts generally outline specifics such as uptime guarantees, response times, problem resolution procedures and more. SLAs should state whether there are any penalties or termination clauses, building the foundation for a dispute-free partnership.

MSPs should also be transparent about their pricing model, whether a flat fee, billed per device or user or a tiered plan. Be sure to ask if there are any extra costs for specific features or services.

Although cost can be a deciding factor when choosing a partner, remember to consider the total value your chosen provider offers. This can include their level of expertise and the quality of services you will receive as well as how they will help you reduce downtime and boost the efficiency of your organization’s IT processes. As these outcomes may increase profitability, the services from an MSP are a worthy investment.

Partner With a Top MSP

If you want to streamline your business’s or organization’s IT, Morefield is here to be your trusted partner. With  years of experience, we are a top MSP in Pennsylvania. We work with companies to integrate and optimize their technology, including manufacturing businesses, legal and financial services, health care facilities and nonprofit community organizations.

When you partner with us, you will gain access to highly qualified engineers and technicians and experience who provide consistently good service with industry-leading response times. We also have remote offerings that can resolve various issues, from fixing faults to upgrading software. To learn more about our managed services, contact us online.

Thank you The Manufacturers’​ Association for another fantastic expo! Our team of Michael Velasco, Dan Hall, Briana Carr, and Andrew Steffen had an amazing time connecting with everyone who stopped by our booth and were thrilled to catch up with so many of our valued clients. We truly appreciate all the effort you put into making this event a success!

Dan Hall and Michael Velasco had an awesome time at The Manufacturers’​ Association 1st exhibitor happy hour. Thanks for stopping by to say hi! It was great to talk technology, manufacturing, integration and automation!

It was wonderful to see so many familiar and new faces at our booth! Thank you for stopping by!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by our table!

We had a wonderful time talking technology solutions and seeing so many familiar faces.

Be sure to reach out if you have any other questions – 717-761-6170 or contact us.

Information technology (IT) has changed dramatically over the past few years, with advances in virtually every aspect of the industry. Cybersecurity, specifically, has evolved from its previous form.

Our list of cybersecurity predictions for the coming year can help you understand what you might face in 2025.

1. The Evolution of Ransomware

First on our cybersecurity 2025 forecast is the increasing frequency of ransomware attacks. These attacks are becoming more sophisticated and more common, demonstrated by an 81% year-over-year increase from 2023 to 2024.

Ransomware locks users out of individual computers — or even entire networks — until the ransom is paid. Even then, there’s no guarantee you’ll recover everything hit by the attack. 

Encryption-only ransomware is becoming significantly less common. Attackers primarily use double extortion tactics to manipulate targets into paying the ransom. Double extortion is an advanced tactic where attackers combine data encryption with data theft to increase pressure on victims to pay the ransom. 

2. Internet of Things Expansion

Another of the most important 2025 cybersecurity threats is the rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT refers to a network of internet-connected devices other than smartphones, tablets and computers, such as:

• Smartwatches.
• Wearable fitness trackers.
• Smart home appliances.
• Voice assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home.
• Car infotainment systems.
• Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags.

Projections show that by 2030, the number of IoT devices in use will exceed 32 billion worldwide. 

The more devices connected to your network, the larger your attack surface becomes. Cybercriminals can take advantage of all the new endpoints your expansion has opened to enter your system unnoticed.

3. Artificial Intelligence Empowering Cybercriminals

The widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) was a significant turning point in 2023 and 2024. While it helped companies boost their efficiency, it also gave malicious actors new opportunities.

Some examples include:

• Optimized attacks: Generative AI and machine learning (ML) technologies can help even inexperienced attackers create more sophisticated malware, eliminate the typical indicators from a phishing email or scale their attacks to affect more targets.
• Data poisoning: A hacker can inject false, biased or corrupted data into an AI’s training datasets, causing the AI to produce inaccurate results and reduce performance.
• Automated malware: While AI programs like ChatGPT and Google Gemini have some protections in place to discourage malicious coding, determined hackers can bypass them and use the program to automatically produce malicious code.
• Model stealing: Attackers can replicate an AI model by querying it and observing outputs — effectively stealing the model without direct access to the original code or training data.
• Bias exploitation: AI models may inadvertently acquire biases from training data, and attackers can exploit them to manipulate outcomes in their favor.
• AI in deepfakes: Artificial intelligence can create realistic fake videos or audio recordings that can be used to impersonate individuals or spread misinformation.
• Autonomous decision-making risks: Attackers could target or manipulate AI systems that make autonomous decisions, especially regarding critical infrastructure or defense. 

4. Public Cloud Growth

While most businesses have fully resumed in-person operations, many still give remote-capable employees the option to work remotely. 

This rapid expansion of the remote workforce has led to organizations relying on resources and services from public cloud data centers, such as collaborative software platforms and infrastructure components. 

While cloud service providers typically put many security measures in place to protect data from attackers, some risks are difficult to address:

• Misconfigured cloud settings: Failing to properly configure your cloud settings to comply with industry regulations can accidentally create exploitable vulnerabilities.
• Insider threats: Whether a remote worker intentionally leaks data or accidentally leaves their account open for attackers, cybercriminals can access the public cloud more easily than private clouds or on-premises networks. 
• Sniffing or snooping: Migrating data to the cloud via unsecured network connections can give attackers an opening to hijack it in transit.
• Insecure APIs: Public cloud services are often accessed via application programming interfaces (APIs). If these APIs are not properly secured, attackers can exploit them and gain unauthorized access. 
• Denial of service (DoS) attacks: Attackers can target cloud services, overwhelming resources and making services unavailable. 

5. Extended Reality Vulnerabilities

While extended reality (XR) technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), are becoming more popular in personal and professional applications, they still lack many of the cybersecurity protections of the other tools in your IT stack. 

Some of the potential risks this gap creates include:

• Social engineering: Many XR programs come from third-party developers, which increases the risk of unreliable content manipulating your users to perform specific actions. Vetting your software vendors is key. 
• Ransomware: Hackers could plant malicious code or links into a VR or AR program to lure unsuspecting users into activating a computer virus. 
• Lack of privacy: VR headsets and AR technologies collect user biometric data, such as retina scans, eye movements and typical behavior patterns. Hackers can use this data to recreate user actions and gain unauthorized access to your system.
• Man-in-the-middle attack: XR applications often rely on real-time data transmission between devices and servers. Attackers could intercept this data, altering its content or injecting malicious data. 

Developing Solutions for the Future of Cybersecurity

As technology advances, the IT market gains opportunities to enhance security protections against external and internal threats. Here are promising developments in the future of cybersecurity.

Immersive Cybersecurity Training

A nonmalicious human element is a key factor in 68% of all data breaches, according to Verizon’s most recent Data Breach Investigations Report. An engaging security awareness training program is one of the most effective ways to mitigate human risk.

VR opens new, immersive security training opportunities for employees in various industries. By gamifying learning in an engaging virtual world, organizations can motivate employees to continue improving. 

Virtualized Security Operations Centers

Although security operations centers (SOCs) are a must for any cybersecurity provider, physical centers are increasingly expensive to build and maintain. XR technologies could present a cost-effective solution.

VR and AR can enable companies to create fully virtual, interactive SOCs using infinite office platforms, which could allow security professionals to work remotely while providing the same level of service. 

Virtualization could also enable SOC employees to automate time-consuming and tedious tasks, streamlining workflows and giving them the ability to focus on more complex projects.

AI-Enhanced Tools

AI-powered cybersecurity tools can help your organization enhance its security posture with capabilities like:

• Predictive analytics: AI technologies enable your organization to adopt a more proactive stance by predicting potential cybersecurity risks and their outcomes.
• Advanced threat detection: AI algorithms can also identify abnormal behavior faster than a human cybersecurity professional, enabling you to stay on top of insider threats and compromised accounts.
• ML capabilities: ML enables a software program to learn from previous cycles, creating a security system that can continuously update its knowledge of threats and adapt appropriate responses.

Why Trust Us?

Knowledge is power — especially in the cybersecurity and IT industries. At Morefield, our expert team is passionate about providing our readers with the information they need to make decisions about their security requirements. 

Our decades of experience in the technology field have given us valuable insight into the most common risks small to medium-sized businesses across various industries face daily. 

We strive to thoroughly understand how cybersecurity risks affect businesses so that we can lead the industry in creating the most effective solutions. Providing high-quality resources like this blog post is a key component of that mission.

Prepare for 2025 With Cybersecurity Services From Morefield

When it comes to preparing for the future of cybersecurity, proactivity is critical. Many companies find that their best chance of avoiding serious consequences is by obtaining outside help. 

Working with a managed cybersecurity company can make the process easier. At Morefield, we offer various scalable security solutions, including but not limited to:

• Vulnerability assessments.
• vCISO services.
• Next-generation firewalls.
• Security awareness training.
• Mobile device management.

Whatever your organization needs, we can help you find the best solution to meet those requirements.

Connect with us online for more information about our cybersecurity solutions and services. An expert will answer any questions you may have.