We Outgrew Our MSP—Here’s What Happened Next.

We Outgrew Our MSP—Here’s What Happened Next.

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As a former Chief Information Officer in the healthcare industry, I’ve lived through the trials of scaling a critical enterprise application that simply wasn’t built for the level of load we were putting on it. One of the biggest takeaways from that experience? Our existing managed service provider couldn’t keep up – and when the cracks started to show we knew we had to make a change. Why we switched managed service providers had nothing to do with contracts or costs - it had everything to do with capability, trust, and partnership.

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This post explores what happens when your infrastructure outgrows your team’s capacity, and how the right managed service provider can become a powerful extension of your internal technical team. If you’re navigating growing pains, resource gaps, or a mission-critical system that’s on the brink, this is your playbook.

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The Breaking Point in Healthcare IT

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We worked in a high-stakes healthcare environment, where hundreds of clinicians relied on our systems to function smoothly. As our user base and data volume expanded, we started facing serious operational pain points:

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• Lagging performance during peak usage

• Inconsistent data across systems

• Clinicians losing important notes

• Office staff dealing with frozen screens and missing appointment data

• Constant fire drills that left our internal team exhausted

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While our IT staff was talented and dedicated, we lacked two essential ingredients: deep MySQL scalability expertise and enough capacity to rebuild the system while keeping it running. We brought in a managed service provider to help.

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Unfortunately, it quickly became clear that they didn’t have the technical depth or strategic understanding needed for our environment. That’s when we began our journey of finding a new provider. We didn't just want to solve a technical issue, but we needed to find a real partner.

A Strategic Shift in Thinking: MSP as a Force Multiplier

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When most executives think about hiring an MSP, the first thing that comes to mind is cost containment or outsourcing basic tasks. But in enterprise environments, the true value of a managed service provider is far greater.

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For us, switching MSPs was a strategic decision to:

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• Close skill gaps we couldn’t hire for fast enough

• Get after-hours and weekend coverage without burning out our team

• Tap into deep technical expertise that we didn’t have in-house

• Offload the operational burden so our staff could focus on transformation initiatives

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Why we switched managed service providers boiled down to this: we didn’t need a vendor—we needed a partner that could extend our team, not just support it.

What Makes a Great MSP Partner?

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After switching providers and achieving the scalability we needed, I developed a clear framework for evaluating MSPs, especially when managing large, data-intensive systems.

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1. They Bring Specialized Expertise You Don’t Have In-House

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No internal team can master every piece of legacy, open-source, and cloud-native technology. A strong MSP brings senior-level expertise in areas like:

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• Relational and non-relational databases

• Performance optimization and distributed systems

• DevOps practices and CI/CD automation

• Public cloud platforms including AWS, Azure, and Oracle

• High-availability architectures and failover designs

For us, their ability to provide deep MySQL performance tuning changed everything.

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2. They Integrate Into Your Workflow

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The best MSPs don’t try to take control, they plug into your existing processes. They respect your internal culture, follow your escalation protocols, use your tools, and offer thoughtful improvements that enhance how you already work. Rather than just reacting to tickets, they proactively surface risks and opportunities that you may not see coming.

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3. They Scale When You Can’t

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Growth doesn’t wait. Whether you’re migrating systems, launching a product, or reworking your infrastructure, a good MSP gives you capacity on demand. There’s no need for long hiring cycles or slow onboarding. Our new provider brought in experienced engineers who delivered results from day one.

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4. They Provide True 24/7 Support Without Increasing Headcount

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In healthcare, uptime isn’t optional. Nights, weekends, holidays, our systems had to run flawlessly. A real 24/7 operations center staffed with infrastructure and database specialists gave us the peace of mind we needed. It wasn’t just about alerts. It was about smart, timely action.

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5. They Make Your Team Better

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The right MSP doesn’t just do the work, they invest in your team’s growth. They help write your internal playbooks, train your engineers, and strengthen your in-house capabilities. This kind of relationship builds trust. Trust speeds up progress.

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How DataStrike Delivers as a Modern MSP

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At DataStrike, we’ve structured our services specifically around these values.

We understand firsthand why companies switch managed service providers—because I was that customer. Now, I help clients avoid the mistakes I once made.

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We work as a true extension of your internal delivery team—not just another vendor:

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• Need deep expertise in MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL, MongoDB, or cloud-native DBs? We’ve got it.

• Need help re-architecting for scale, high availability, or compliance? We’re hands-on.

• Short on cycles but big on ambition? We’ll handle the backend so your team can focus on moving the business forward.
  

Whether it’s daily operations, burst capacity, or embedded database engineers, we meet you where you are.

Internal Collaboration Wins

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Here are a few of the most powerful things our clients tell us:

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• “Your team feels like an extension of our team.”

• “Our time-to-resolution dropped by 70%.”

• “We didn’t have to wait three months to hire that one expert we needed - you already had them.”

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That’s the kind of value that explains why we switched managed service providers, and why I’ve never looked back.

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When Should You Rethink Your MSP?

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If any of these resonate, it might be time to explore other options:

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• You have not spoken to a technical lead or anyone in the MSP for some time

• You’ve outgrown your MSP’s technical capabilities

• You're still doing too much heavy lifting internally

• You're burning out your engineers with round-the-clock demands

• Your MSP feels like a cost center, not a growth enabler

• You’re missing SLAs, product milestones, or suffering from outages

• You are lost in ticket limbo and have no relationship with your partner

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Switching MSPs isn’t just about frustration. It’s about unlocking your organization's potential by finding a value driven partner who helps unlock your team's full potential.

Want to Learn More?

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If you're currently running MySQL, PostgreSQL, or MongoDB and want to explore your scaling options, check out our open-source database services page. Many of the same principles apply across modern open-source technologies, and our team is equipped to support, optimize, and scale them for enterprise environments.

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And for a broader perspective on how MSPs are transforming the enterprise landscape, I recommend reading this article from Forbes that talks about why to align with a managed service provider to solve an organization's pain points.

Final Thoughts from a Former CIO

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Scaling a healthcare system taught me some hard but valuable lessons. That the right managed service provider is not a luxury it’s a necessity when the stakes are high. If your internal teams are stretched thin, or if you’re facing challenges you don’t have the expertise to solve alone, a high-performing MSP isn’t a crutch, it's a catalyst. Why we switched managed service providers had everything to do with our future. And at DataStrike, we help clients realize theirs.

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Click here to let us know how we can support you because your next level of performance shouldn’t be limited by internal bandwidth.

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Carlo Finotti
Former CIO, now Partner & Client Advocate at DataStrike
Your ally in delivering scalable, resilient, and expertly managed data infrastructure.

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