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3 Things an MSP Can Help Your SMB Do with Your Data

By David Stidham, Operations Manager at Cenetric

What business owner sits around thinking about their data? Not many. You’re probably thinking about your product or service, your customers, your employees, your events — and a whole lot more. (Although, your IT shouldn’t be on that list. We’ve got you covered there.)

But all those things are actually data — data you could be using to make your business stronger and more efficient. Too many growing businesses aren’t taking advantage of the data they have by getting it organized so they can work with it.

Why? Often it’s because you’re using a lot of different technologies and the data from them isn’t working well together.

• A 2024 Salesforce report shared that 53% of SMB owners they surveyed said data is often inconsistent across sources, and 46% felt overwhelmed by having too many business tools.
• Salesforce also found that 66% of growing companies (which they defined as companies with a year-over-year revenue increase of 5% or more) said they had “an integrated suite of technology solutions” versus the “many stand-alone applications” that SMBs with shrinking revenue reported.
• Slack found that SMB owners spend more than 1.5 hours a week on “unproductive tasks,” with 30% saying they waste time looking for documents and information in the wrong place.

On the other hand, SMBs that take a data-focused approach to their businesses fare quite well. According to 2024 AWS research: 

• Highly data-driven SMBs are nearly twice as likely to financially outperform businesses that use data for only some decisions.
• SMBs that make almost all of their decisions based on data see stronger outcomes in important areas like customer satisfaction, process efficiency, cost reduction and risk. 
• More than half (52%) of highly data-driven SMBs are more likely to use AI extensively for IT and cybersecurity. They’re using it for important measures like spotting security threats and managing uptime. 

A managed services provider like Cenetric can help you with data projects or manage your network for you to help you do more with your data. 

1) Get it all in one place

By adopting a comprehensive platform like Microsoft 365 to operate your growing business, you can centralize your data, rather than manually collecting it from disconnected, piecemeal technologies. Cenetric can help you make efficient, cost-saving decisions on the technologies you implement to make sure you’re keeping all your data together.

2) Protect it

Shadow data (data that’s stored in unmanaged places) is a real danger that many smaller companies overlook. When data is hiding in device hard drives, email attachments or an employee’s personal cloud storage, you’re not only not benefiting from it — you’ve lost the ability to keep it safe too. 

From setting up a reliable backup system to implementing the right IT policies to creating business continuity and disaster response plans, the Cenetric team can help your SMB develop and implement data best practices that will let you rest easy, knowing it’s protected.

3) Put it to good use with AI

When your data is collected and organized, you’re ready to really get going with AI. With AI, you can use your data to do a wide range of beneficial things like gain deeper insights into your customer’s needs, better understand your inventory, and make processes more efficient.

Clean, clear, usable data makes implementing AI easier and more effective. A 2026 study found that 84% of companies with more mature data practices saw measurable ROI from their AI investments, while only 48% of those whose data practices lag behind did. The report estimated that companies are wasting a cumulative $108 billion each year by investing in AI because those investments aren’t backed by strong data practices. 

Let Cenetric help you make your data a more powerful tool

Does all this sound like it’s too much fuss for your small Kansas City company? It’s not. A lot of SMB owners think their business is too small to need dedicated IT help with issues like this, but there are tremendous advantages to getting (and keeping) your technology ducks in a row. 

Looking for help with data strategies or other pressing IT issues right here in Kansas City? No tech trouble is too large or too small for our team. Cenetric has the experience and availability you need to keep running smoothly 24/7. Tell us about your organization and we’ll be in touch to get started right away.