Before anything else, let’s initially discuss what managed IT services really are. When a company subscribes to a managed service, a service provider manages the network equipment and applications on the customer premises according to the terms of a service-level agreement (SLA) established to meet the company’s unique business needs. Some managed services are also hosted, meaning that the service provider hosts the equipment in its facility instead of the customer’s, and delivers services to company employees over the wide-area network (WAN).
With the IT services environment constantly changing with upgrades and expansions, it gradually becomes too complex for an organization to manage it on its own. Considering your business responsibilities, you need highly available IT & non-IT infrastructure to power your business without any gaps in operations along with an uninterrupted flow of real-time information within your organization. For this, your IT strategy needs to be directly aligned to your business strategy and this is just what managed IT services are going to help you out with.
Managed IT services allow a business to offload IT operations to a service provider, known as a managed services provider. The managed service provider assumes an on-going responsibility for 24-hour monitoring, managing and/or problem resolution for the IT systems within a business.
Today, most of IT companies promote managed services, because it puts the IT support company on the same page as the business they are serving. For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), managed services provide enterprise-class capabilities for a predictable monthly fee without requiring a large, initial capital investment. Companies that outsource their IT functionalities enjoy high levels of network support and availability; enable internal IT staff to focus on strategic activities instead of network support, and pay only for the networking services that they need.
The managed service is also responsible for discovering and fixing problems before they can negatively affect your business. A well-maintained, proactively serviced computer network will always run better than the alternate. With proactive network monitoring, patch management, and desktop optimization performed on a regular basis, your business will notice a tremendous difference in operations and you will be able to reap the benefits of preventing long term issues, rather than fighting them.
Businesses are also able to control and reduce their overall operating costs with the flat-fee billing model. Cost-effective access to enterprise-level support is a reality with managed IT support services. The managed services provider also manages all of your vendor relationships, issues with internet slowness/outages, printers, phones, cell phones, and websites are dealt with directly with the vendor by the managed service provider. As a result of this “always-eyes-on” network monitoring 24 hours per day, businesses experience an additional level of comfort and security.
More benefits of managed IT services are:
- Increased operational efficiency
- Reduced operating costs
- Cost-effective access to enterprise-level support
- Minimized downtime
- Allows the focus to be on running the business, and not the technology
- Peace of mind from knowing that the network is being monitored 24x7x365
Contact your local managed service provider for more information.
