Managed IT Services Explained
Companies are increasingly turning to managed IT services providers as invaluable outsourcing partners to partially deliver or fully manage their IT requirements.
Managed service providers have around-the-clock access to specialized talent and critical infrastructure that many organizations can’t find due to skill shortages. Once they finally source the talent, they quickly realize that they simply cannot afford to hire them.
What is a managed service provider?
A managed IT service provider is an outsource service that contracts with businesses to remotely manage and deliver specific IT services.
These benefits most often include network, application, infrastructure, and cybersecurity management to the client. Other key services entail data center management, mobility management, and backup and recovery.
The service provider assumes complete responsibility for rendering the specified services along with supplying any required technology to fulfill the customer’s IT requirements.
Services delivered by a managed IT service company as carried out by employees of the provider sited at the client’s facilities or another specified location. Managed service providers also offer bundled hardware, software, and cloud services as part of a given package.
How do managed IT services work?
Managed service providers operate on the premise that their business can supply technology services at a lower expense to companies than the costs to keep these same services in-house.
Moreover, because the service provider and its associated staff are so specialized in their training, they can deliver a higher quality of IT services with more scalability than the company itself.
The managed IT business model operates on an economy of scale. Smaller to medium-sized businesses that can’t afford robust in-house IT services.
This is not to mention complex emergent technology like automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence- find significant cost-savings after partnering with managed providers because their costs are reduced while their efficiency increases.
Managed IT services are distinct from traditional human resource agencies because they’re more flexible and scalable while they bill on a subscription basis. When a company decides to outsource, oftentimes it’s for the purposes of completing a project with a specific end date.
When that project completes, those employees move on, or the service provider replaces them with the same number of employees with a different specialty elsewhere in the organization to fulfill a different function.
When you work with a managed IT firm, the resources provided to your company are allocated there to achieve a specific outcome. If, for example, support calls are a particular stress point among your in-house IT staff, you may consider using a managed service to help meet the company’s established metrics for a time.
A managed service may deploy a number of strategies and tools to improve performance statistics. The managed service might assign additional staff for support or implement automated solutions for answering phone calls.
In either case, it’s completely in their hands to improve efficiency. Once the team’s client satisfaction, response time, and general performance levels improve and the department, those resources can go on to assist in areas where they’re needed.
No two managed service providers are alike and you’ll not infrequently discover an overlap between traditional staffing companies and managed IT services.
However, many companies that once offered temporary or business process outsourcing on a project basis are not operating as what most would consider managed IT service providers.
Traditional IT consulting services differ from managed IT services, as well. While they both offer a similar degree of flexibility, IT service providers bill clients on a subscription basis.
Traditional IT consultancies work project to project and their services complete after achieving the specified outcome.
Managed service providers and strategic development
Managed IT service providers recently started catering to businesses seeking strategic support for longer-term business planning, including digital transformation consulting, technology acquisition projections, compliance audits, and business needs assessments.
As companies have become increasingly reliant on internet of things (IoT) devices, managed service providers began supplying IoT services.
How managed IT service providers benefit your company
The benefits of partnering with a trusted and proven managed IT service provider are as numerous as they are and diverse.
In addition to improved security, you’ll find more scalability and flexibility with your IT. Reduced operating costs and access to leading industry experts and specialists are other top reasons companies partner with managed IT services.
Managed IT offers several variable billing options based on your business needs. Companies benefit from service providers because they’ve already invested in expensive technologies and expertise that small to medium-sized businesses can’t recruit or afford to hire.
Managed services providers also help staff and train for legacy skills, like obsolete coding languages and technologies.
Managed IT Services Near Me
Curious to learn more about how managed IT services providers can help your company improve efficiency while cutting costs? Call PCH Technologies today at (856) 754-7500.