Managed IT Services 101
Managed IT Services Topics
Managed IT services have grown in popularity, with a market cap of $161.37 billion in 2021 alone. But there are often questions surrounding exactly what managed IT services involve and whether their benefits are worth the investment. Read on for a straight-forward breakdown of what you get with managed IT services, as well as their costs and benefits.
What Are Managed IT Services?
Any IT task completed by a third party is referred to as a managed IT service, which typically refers to commercial IT services. In order to cut expenses, enhance service quality, or free up internal teams to work on duties unique to your company, managed services provide a way to delegate general chores to a specialist.
There’s no tangible difference between a managed IT service provider and a managed service provider. One term is shorter than the other, but they perform the same duties.
Managed services include, but are not limited to:
Why You Need Managed IT Services
In many ways, IT managed services companies provide a plug-and-play solution. You get a team of experienced professionals as well as all the technology needed to implement your system and protect it. Any organization that requires any of the following needs managed IT services:
- Off-the-shelf, functional architecture
- A customized IT solution that fits your exact business model
- 24/7/365 availability
- Monitoring of your IT infrastructure, including automatic alerts and customized reporting
- Access to a service portal and efficient processing of support requests
- Management of your data center and network
- An information security system guided by best practices
- Someone to negotiate and consult with solutions providers and vendors for you
- A reliable emergency data restoration and business continuity solution
Recommended Reading
Learn How Managed Services Can Fuel Your IT Strategy in this blog article.
What Are the Benefits of Using Managed IT Services?
What advantages come with utilizing managed IT services? Both large enterprises and small businesses, as well as startups and established organizations, can benefit from managed services. Using managed services has some distinct advantages, such as:
Cost reductions
You can spend less on staff and training with services. Some managed services have a set monthly fee associated with them. Instead of developing the capability internally, using a managed service may be more affordable, and the expenditures can be more predictable, which helps plan your budget and make financial predictions.
Addressing the skills shortage
Teams that don’t have the time, expertise, or experience to handle specific business processes internally or who want to concentrate their efforts elsewhere may benefit from managed services. Your employees can focus on innovation without getting bogged down by everyday activities because you can rely on an experienced professional to handle your IT.
Reliability
Because the managed IT service provider ensures that the service is always available, you don’t need to worry as much about outages. You know what to anticipate and when to expect it because the service and managed IT support is offered in accordance with a service level agreement (SLA). An in-house team frequently juggles several tasks, whereas an MSP may concentrate on perfecting the delivery of their particular service. Also, patches and upgrades can be implemented as required by focusing on the service’s safety and security.
Learn More
Check out our blog for Nine Ways Managed IT Services Can Help Your Business.
What Is Included in IT Management Services?
Why invest in managed IT services? Managed IT services typically include the following:
An IT help desk
With guaranteed response times, you can consistently get on-call remote assistance. Remote assistance ensures that problems can be resolved swiftly, with little to no impact on production.
Proactive support
This provides you with routine hardware evaluation. This makes it clear which systems need to be replaced before they break down or force unneeded downtime. In order to ensure that vulnerabilities are corrected before thieves get an opportunity, network weaknesses can also be regularly examined. Thanks to proactive support, disasters can be avoided by identifying problems early.
Maintenance and monitoring
To guarantee consistent availability, a good MSP has monitoring tools. This ensures that you significantly reduce the chances of financial loss as a result of a system failure while maximizing business productivity.
User management
This involves operations like adding new users, deleting existing ones, changing permissions, and managing passwords.
Compliance and security
Data security is more crucial than ever. Therefore, you must be certain that your data is protected from hacking, data theft, and ransomware. Firewalls also need to be in place to find and stop network intrusion. In addition, an MSP’s role also includes adhering to any applicable legislation.
Disaster recovery and backups
Data loss can be disastrous for any organization; therefore, you need to know that, in the event of a catastrophe like property damage or a system meltdown, your systems will be back up and running as soon as possible. Disaster recovery procedures should be a part of every managed IT service to keep downtime to a minimum and protect all data.
Asset management
This ensures that you have access to the most recent data regarding the age, specs, installed programs, user information, and branch location of all devices.
Account management
You can have the best technology implemented and managed by experts on your side who can help you achieve your business goals. A competent MSP will help you with business direction, connect technology with company operations, provide regular updates on new products, and identify process and system enhancements possibilities.
Better response times
Your service level agreement can establish and guarantee response times.
Documentation
Systems, network configurations, passwords, license requirements, and instructions for particular setups are all detailed in notes and diagrams. As a result, continuous support and maintenance will run smoothly, and updates or enhancements will be simple to implement when necessary.
Reporting
Complete visibility of the condition and health of your IT systems, with thorough reporting every month.
Managed IT Solutions for Different Industries
Managed IT solutions can make a big impact on several different industries, regardless of the vertical you’re in or area of the world. However, it’s especially helpful for healthcare and small businesses.
Managed IT Solutions for Healthcare
To give patients and healthcare staff the best possible experience, healthcare IT teams are adjusting to new and enhanced technology, from telemedicine to artificial intelligence. With managed IT services for healthcare, you can maintain the functionality of the underlying mechanism as novel methods replace conventional medical practices. In the healthcare field, managed IT enables you to:
- Improve both the patient and employee experience
- Ensure important applications and resources are accessible around the clock
- Grant all users secure access and control the rights and access restrictions for a growing workforce
- Protect patient electronic protected health information (ePHI) from theft or any other breach of confidentiality, integrity, or privacy
- Put contemporary network architecture and streamlining IT processes in place that can function effectively in remote and hybrid contexts
- Provide updates, security patches, and other upkeep for aging systems
- Enhance cybersecurity by safeguarding the network, IT resources, and data of the firm against unappreciated external threats
- Ensure adherence to complicated laws like HIPAA
Managed IT Solutions for Small Businesses
Similarly, small businesses experience distinct benefits when they enlist the assistance of managed IT services, particularly due to the individualized service the provider delivers. As a result, a managed IT solutions for small businesses provide:
Predictable and scalable spending
Reduced overhead costs are one way that managed IT services are intended to benefit enterprises. They are predictable and scalable, which means that they expand to meet the needs of the business. They can take care of all your needs for a set monthly charge, with no surprises.
Accelerated response time
Before customers transfer their business elsewhere, you should respond to their questions and concerns right away. By doing this, you’ll attract more devoted customers and maintain a stronger internet presence. Many businesses have previously used managed IT services to boost customer service levels, guarantee that critical systems are operating as effectively as possible, and decrease downtime.
Assistance with cybersecurity
Cybersecurity can be supported in a variety of ways by a skilled managed IT solution. They can handle patching and updates, provide security from malware and other exploits, and offer full backup services for all of your data. Utilizing a managed IT solution for your company has additional security advantages, such as tracking credit card usage and the protection of client data.
Managed IT Solutions for Government and Public Sector
Often, government and public sector agencies have limited resources and staffing to operate their IT infrastructure. An IT Managed Services Provider can help alleviate the burden and free up government staff to work on other projects. These services can also contribute to the security of the organization while easing administrative burden and allowing time for other crucial activities. By providing you with a team of specialists in your sector, managed IT solutions for government can offer more effective IT assistance.
Why Invest in Managed IT Services
How much do managed IT services cost? For many organizations, the benefits of investing in managed IT services far outweigh the costs. Depending on the provider you’ve hired, the rate can vary from around $150 to about $250 per hour. The plan you receive from a managed IT services provider may also come with an option to add service time. Plans can cost $50 to $150 per user/month, with additional costs based on your IT infrastructure’s requirements.
Get Managed IT Services With TPx
With TPx, you get all of the benefits of managed IT services, custom-designed to suit the needs of your business. To see the possibilities for your company, fill out the form below to speak with a rep at TPx today.
Interested in managed IT services for your business?
We can help! Get in touch with us below for a free consultation with one of our experts.
"*" indicates required fields