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What to Look for When Selecting a Managed Service Provider

This post follows on from last week's entitled: "In-House vs Outsourced IT: A Strategic Choice for Midsize Businesses"

In-House vs Outsourcing IT: A Strategic Choice for Midsize Businesses

As mid-sized companies grow, one question inevitably lands on the boardroom table: should IT stay in-house, or is it time to outsource? It’s a decision that goes far beyond technology. The choice affects costs, operational efficiency, security, and the company’s ability to adapt to changing demands.

Business Process Audit: Unlocking Efficiency in Multi-Site Operations

For UK multi-site businesses—whether in retail, hospitality, logistics, or services—the business process audit is a strategic lever for profit improvement, compliance assurance, and sustainable scalability. Done right, it is not a “tick-box” exercise, but a deep, forensic look at how your organisation actually runs compared to how you think it runs. In this guide, we’ll cover what a business process audit involves, the level of depth possible, and the efficiencies and savings it can unlock for multi-site leaders in the UK. What is a Business Process Audit? A business process audit is a structured review of an organisation’s core and supporting processes to evaluate their effectiveness, efficiency, and compliance with internal standards, legal requirements, and industry best practice. Unlike a financial audit (which focuses on numbers), a process audit looks at workflows, decision points, technology use, and human interactions—mapping them against strategic objectives. For multi-site companies, the objective is twofold: Standardise best practice across all locations. Identify bottlenecks, duplication, and waste that erode profitability. What Does It Cover? A well-designed business process audit will be tailored to your sector and scale but typically includes: Operational Workflows – From procurement to delivery, mapping every step for time, cost, and value contribution. Compliance & Risk Controls – Ensuring processes meet UK regulatory requirements (GDPR, Health & Safety, employment law) and internal governance. Technology Integration – How ERP, CRM, EPOS, and other systems interact; identifying manual workarounds and shadow IT. People & Role Efficiency – Analysing role clarity, task duplication, and alignment with skill sets. Customer Experience Impact – Evaluating how processes affect speed, service quality, and satisfaction scores. Data & Reporting Flows – Verifying accuracy, timeliness, and usefulness of management information. For C-Suite leaders, the audit’s scope can range from broad diagnostic to deep dive in a single function (e.g., supply chain optimisation or finance process automation). How In-Depth Can a Business Process Audit Go? Depth depends on objectives and appetite for disruption: Level 1: Light-Touch Diagnostic – Interviews, site visits, and process maps for top-line issues. Useful for identifying “quick wins” with minimal disruption. Level 2: Functional Deep Dive – Time-and-motion studies, data analytics, and system log reviews. Suited to functions with known underperformance. Level 3: Full End-to-End Audit – Enterprise-wide mapping of all core processes with quantitative KPIs, benchmarking against best-in-class peers. This is transformational in scope, often preceding a reorganisation or major tech investment. For multi-site firms, Level 3 audits frequently uncover inconsistencies between locations—a top cause of uneven customer experience and margin leakage. Efficiencies a Business Process Audit Can Uncover Process Standardisation – Aligning procedures across all sites to ensure consistency and scale benefits. Elimination of Redundancy – Removing duplicated steps, paperwork, or reporting loops. Time Savings – Automating routine tasks, reducing hand-offs, and speeding up approvals. Cost Reductions – Lowering operational expenses via smarter procurement, leaner staffing models, or reduced wastage. Improved Compliance – Reducing risk of fines, reputational damage, and operational disruption. Better Use of Technology – Replacing manual interventions with ERP/CRM integrations; cutting reliance on spreadsheets. Data-Driven Decision-Making – Streamlined reporting gives executives real-time insight for faster, better decisions. One UK retail chain, after a six-week business process audit, found 22% of finance team time was spent on duplicate data entry due to poor system integration—automation delivered an annual saving of over £350,000 without headcount loss. Why It Matters for Multi-Site Businesses Multi-site organisations carry complexity by design—geographic spread, varied local management, and legacy systems make process drift inevitable. A business process audit identifies these drifts early, stopping inefficiencies before they harden into culture. For the C-Suite, this is about more than cost-cutting. It’s about: Strategic agility – Processes that can flex to market change without chaos. Consistent customer experience – Every site delivering the same brand promise. Investment readiness – Clean, standardised processes make tech roll-outs and M&A integrations smoother. Implementation and Next Steps Step 1: Define scope and objectives – Align on whether you’re looking for targeted fixes or transformational change. Step 2: Choose an independent auditor – Internal teams often miss embedded inefficiencies due to familiarity bias. Step 3: Act on findings – The audit is worthless without rapid implementation of recommendations. Step 4: Make it cyclical – Re-audit every 18–24 months to keep process discipline sharp. entrustIT's vCIO services can help entrustIT's Digital Transformation service provides you with our board-level consultancy in every corner of your business. Our consultants cover your processes among finance, HR, sales, distribution and more. Read more about our digital transformation services here

entrustIT at the South Coast Tech & Innovation Awards 2025

entrustIT Shortlisted in the South Coast Tech & Innovation Awards 2025

entrustIT, a leading South Coast MSP, is proud to announce that we have been shortlisted in three categories at the South Coast Tech & Innovation Awards 2025, hosted by The Business Magazine.

The Dark Truth of IoT: Internet of Things

A staggering statistic reveals by 2025 there will be over 75 billion connected IoT devices worldwide! The Internet of Things (IoT) has ushered in an era of unprecedented connectivity, where countless devices are seamlessly integrated into our lives. However, as this vast network expands, so does the dark side of this interconnected world. With each new device connected to the internet, the risks and challenges associated with IoT intensify.

Respected Builders Merchant Sydenhams choose entrust IT Group

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

What Makes a Good IT Manager

In today's face-paced and ever-changing business environment, having someone that looks after your IT is crucial. For many businesses, this task falls onto the shoulders of an IT manager, but with a drastic increase in employment costs and revolutions in cloud technology, is this still the case?

Outsourced IT Support in 2023

Outsourced IT support is a critical service for businesses of all sizes. According to a recent survey, 64% of SMBs are outsourcing at least one IT function, with 36% outsourcing their entire IT infrastructure. This comes as no surprise, as IT problems can cause significant disruptions, slow productivity, and cost organizations time and money.

Looking to Reduce Your IT Expenditure? Here's How...

Energy costs have increased, reliable staff have become harder to find and hardware is more expensive, because of this, budgeting has become a top priority for businesses this year. Whilst saving money is a priority, any serious business understands the importance of technology in their organisation. Finding the perfect balance between costs and technological effectiveness is an intimidating task. Using our 16+ years of IT management experience we've put together these ways your business can reduce its IT expenditure without sacrificing effectiveness.

In-House VS Outsourced IT, Which is Better For You

These days it's unlikely that any business can survive and succeed without technology. When companies look to expand technologically, they will have two choices, do they take on the burden of implementing, heavily investing and managing their IT in-house, or do they choose to outsource this task to a trusted Managed Service Provider? Whilst both can be viable options the needs and size of your business will play a big part in which option would be best for you.