IT: It’s Not That Hard! Understanding Managed IT Services
Can’t manage the idea of managed services?
The average company now spends over 10% of their budget on IT outsourcing. As companies struggle against increasing operating burdens and try to do more with less, they look toward managed services.
But what is a managed service? And how can it help your business?
It’s not that hard! Below is our guide to understanding managed IT services.
What Are Managed Services?
If you’ve ever had your groceries delivered or taken a car to the shop for repair, then you understand the basics of a managed service. Expand those same principles to a company level and you’re looking at the business model.
“Managed services” is a blanket term for formalized outsourced work.
There are two main aims for using managed services: streamlining operations and saving costs.
So what are managed IT services? The same explanation applies. Managed IT service providers are third-party companies offering IT support, from basic helpdesk through to installation and set-up.
What Does Managed Service Cover?
If that sounds broad, then let’s take a closer look at what managed IT services can do. Each managed service provider will have different levels of service, so not all these will apply to every service provider.
Managed services can:
- Provide helpdesk services
- Research and deploy new infrastructure
- Maintain off-site servers and cloud services
- Implement and monitor cybersecurity initiatives
- Conduct data security and compliance audits
That’s the tip of the iceberg. The extent of managed services depends on how much you’re willing to spend. For a slightly higher fee, you can offload most of the worry that comes with information technology.
How Can Managed Services Help?
Information technology managed services offer a huge range of benefits to the modern business. Let’s tackle a few of the most prominent ones below.
Core Business Focus
Modern businesses face a crisis of distraction.
The administrative and functional overheads of doing business in the 21st century are enormous. Non-core functions like IT support, financial services, and compliance all take valuable time and money away from a company’s core focus.
This can leave a company hamstrung, unable to deliver on its fundamental objectives.
Managed IT services can offset some of this problem and help a small business get more out of its resources. By outsourcing the intense demands of your IT services, your business can focus on what it does best and relegate IT to a single recurring payment on the books.
Sizing Up
If a lack of core focus is holding your business back, then you’ll struggle to outmaneuver your competitors.
With managed services, you can maintain that core focus and tap into the resources of an IT-focused company. That allows you to outmuscle your peers of a similar size and even take on larger organizations.
Managed services can also help a business undergoing rapid expansion. By switching over to a managed service, your company can bring in extra equipment or expand its cloud services without breaking the bank. That can help a business ignore some of its growing pains, leading to successful expansion.
Expertise
Expensive hardware won’t do you much good if you don’t know how to deploy and use it. Worse still, you might buy expensive but useless equipment without the knowledge you need to shop smart.
Managed services offer expertise on tap. As IT is the core focus of a managed service provider, they know what’s what in the IT field. Their staff comes from an IT background and has the experience to match.
To have equal knowledge in your company, you would need to hire IT experts. That comes with its own financial burden, as experience usually comes with a higher salary and often better benefits. By the time you’ve recruited an experienced IT team, you might not have anything left over for the equipment!
Cost Savings
Keeping up with the IT arms race is one of the biggest financial challenges facing the average business today.
IT equipment and know-how are already expensive. Add to that the unpredictable financial nature of IT (failed equipment, downtime etc.) and you have a cash-flow nightmare.
Managed services take on much of this burden and replace it with a recurring cost. On top of that, they can make use of economies of scale and strong supplier relationships to reduce their own overheads – savings you’ll see reflected in your IT spend.
Outsourcing your IT can also help you save on other running costs. For instance, storing IT equipment on-site or running local servers can demand more real estate.
IT comes with a wealth of hidden costs, so it literally pays to distill those down into a manageable fee and cut the extra waste.
Where Do I Find a Managed Service?
Outsourcing has become a fact of life for a huge number of organizations. The managed service market is huge, so there are a wealth of options available to you.
You can find managed service providers like Scarlett Group online. Thanks to the power of the internet, you can see the full range of their services in just a few short minutes.
Shopping around can help you find the best fit for your business. Don’t be afraid to contact a few providers to find what suits you.
Are Managed Services Right for Me?
Managed services offer a huge range of advantages, but they aren’t a guaranteed fit for every business.
Each company has its own unique situation. We can’t say for sure whether managed IT services are right for you. But with a deeper understanding of the topic, you can make an educated decision.
Managed services may be right for your company if you’re struggling to control your operating costs. They may also ease rapid expansion or level the playing field with your competitors.
If your business is losing its focus to sundry operational concerns, then managed services could bring you back on track.
Managed IT Services for the Modern Business
It should be clear that managed IT services represent a huge potential advantage for the modern business. A small business using managed services can increase its punching weight, outmuscling competitors and taking on the big fish.
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