What is IT Managed Services: Definition & Benefits

What is Managed Services Provider

Managed Services Provider (MSP) is a company that specializes in IT operations, where it offer to businesses directly (clients) or as a third party. MSP is responsible for the entirety or portions of a business’ IT systems, as agreed upon in a Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Most MSP’s bill an upfront setup or transition fee and an ongoing flat or near-fixed monthly fee, which benefits clients by providing them with predictable IT support costs. The SLA defines exactly what services will be furnished and the degree they will be offered, as well as metrics for measuring the success of these services. Managed Service Providers tend to prove most useful from small to big businesses with a limited IT budget.

Managed services are a way to outsource maintenance and repairs to experts. A managed services provider (MSP) could perform multiple functions for your company, such as:

System Integration
Network Administration
Network Security
Communication
IT Support & Maintenance
IT Staffing (Manpower, Outsourcing, Augmenting)
IT Logistics & Distribution, etc.

By handing IT operations over to a reliable MSP, the provider is responsible for managing, monitoring, or resolving problems for selected IT systems and functions on the client’s behalf. These services take the pressure off the client’s internal IT team, freeing them up to assist business employees and perform daily tasks with better efficiency and focus.

Why Your Business Should Use a Managed Services Provider

Through managed services, businesses or organizations are able to reap the benefits of receiving IT support at a significantly reduced cost in comparison to creating a comparable team in-house. MSPs can also offer Single Point of Contact to manage multiple client accounts & all incoming communications.

Another benefit to managed IT services is a greater opportunity for security expertise and successfully enacted security policies. MSPs can mitigate risk in this way while assuring that the experts in charge of your IT operations are always up to date on the latest information, technologies, and processes that will keep your infrastructure working efficiently and successfully into the future.

Managed IT Services Benefits & Advantages

Turning to a trusted provider brings you additional benefits, such as:

Control & Forecast IT spending

Investing in IT systems and infrastructure can be costly. When investing in IT needs upfront, predicting operating expenses can be hard as your business grows. With outsourced IT services, businesses are able to forecast their monthly, quarterly, and yearly expenditure on IT, and are freed from having to focus on this area of operational readiness. These expenses are consolidated into a single, fixed set of OPEX costs, allows businesses to focus on growing their business without worrying about day-to-day IT issues or requirements

Reduce Labor & Operational Costs

Running an in-house team means you have significant sunk costs such as monthly salaries, benefits, insurance, and office upkeep. It takes both time and money to train staff members to become familiar with your existing systems and processes.

By outsourcing your IT initiatives to the professionals, you reduce large capital expenditures that come with managing systems in-house. In addition to lowering your capital expenditures, managed IT services also help reduce your IT costs.

You also benefit from reduced labor rates when you sign the managed service level agreement, saving time as well.

24/7/365 Support

Managed IT services use remote monitoring technology to keep an eye on your systems day and night. Because nowadays, employees can’t be slowed down by downtime or any type of technical difficulties. Having a 24/7/365 support is necessary to ensure that your team can always be productive.

Expertise and Experience

One of the biggest managed IT services advantages is hiring. Hiring an IT team is expensive and time-consuming, and you can’t know for sure how good they are until they’re faced with a serious network issue. The most common issue is that even the most well-trained employees don’t have the knowledge and experience of an MSP’s large team.

When partnered with an IT support company, MSP’s can gives you access to top-notch IT administrators with specific skill sets, negating the need to find and hire them yourself. Additionally, your business also has access to the newest technology on the market and the tech can be implemented quickly and smoothly.

Preventive Approach & Proactive Monitoring

Apart from accessing experts and their skills, you also get proactive solutions when you work with managed services. Monitoring and managing your IT helps catch issues before they escalate into serious problems. They monitor your systems for problems and can resolve issues before they transform into serious issue. The cost savings associated with this approach are one of the top reasons to use managed services.

Data Compliance Support

Many businesses are obligated to meet strict standards and requirements for integration with their IT initiatives. Some of these are the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

These standards spell out specific rules in regards to privacy, financial services, retail establishments, and reporting and security in healthcare, which managed providers are well-versed with.

A managed services provider handles the complexities of compliance and auditing, so you don’t have to worry about violating data security regulations. They can also run reports and conduct audits that prove your organization is meeting all requirements. This can save your in-house team thousands of hours in the long run.

One Point of Contact to Vendors

Maintaining a list of vendors for every IT-related equipment is a tall order for many businesses. Fortunately, managed solutions providers handle hardware and software vendors, so you never have to engage in complicated, technical conversations and can also get the best rate for equipment on the market.

Things To Consider When Your Business Decide To Move To a Managed IT services

There are a number of decisions that your organization needs to make when moving to a managed services IT contract. Here are a few things to consider:

Complete the total cost of IT to determine the real cost of IT for your organization.
Identify potential providers; request an audit of your current systems.
Choose a managed services provider and complete the onboarding process with the provider.

Complete the total cost of IT to determine the real cost of IT for your organization.

The first step in moving to managed services is to perform a total cost of IT analysis.
This is a calculation of what you are currently paying for IT support, combined with accounting for the cost of lost productivity and downtime that you may be experiencing.

A simple way to quantify this is to look at the total cost of your staff salaries within the organization; then factor in how much your inefficiency is costing the organization every day. It might be as simple as 20 minutes every day due to inefficient systems, but those minutes add up quickly.

You should also calculate downtime. Are you down for three hours every month?

Identify potential companies; request an audit of your current systems

Once you’ve completed the total cost of IT analysis, it’s time to shortlist some managed IT service providers. This process is generally about finding a company with which you feel comfortable working, and which has a track record of success and is familiar with your industry and the requirements that go along with it.

You should request an IT audit. This is generally pretty intrusive and will involve an IT professional giving your entire IT infrastructure, software, and systems a full review. It can usually be done on-site or remotely.

Choose a managed services provider and complete the on-boarding process.

When selecting a provider, make sure they meet your requirements. Often, if you are evaluating based purely on cost, you may not find the right partner. Remember that IT plays a significant role in your entire organization now. It’s important to work with someone that has your best interests in mind and can provide a proactive service that delivers outcomes.

Will they be able to help you improve IT efficiency?

Will that increase productivity and minimize downtime?

These are the questions you need to be asking when evaluating providers.

The on-boarding process is the final step. This is about making security changes to ensure that the incumbent IT company no longer has access to your systems. There may be some remediation work that’s required to bring your site up to best practice level. Then ultimately, it’s about collecting and consolidating documentation, checklists, network diagrams and whatnot to be able to effectively manage your IT environment.

Are you thinking of moving to a managed services contract?

We have experience helping organizations make the transition, and help them to see the benefits of increased efficiencies, improved productivity, and minimized downtime.

Contact us today