{"id":1876,"date":"2018-12-11T20:26:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T20:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/1876\/it-its-not-that-hard-understanding-managed-it-services"},"modified":"2019-01-10T14:54:53","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T14:54:53","slug":"it-its-not-that-hard-understanding-managed-it-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/1876\/it-its-not-that-hard-understanding-managed-it-services\/","title":{"rendered":"IT: It&#8217;s Not That Hard! Understanding Managed IT Services"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Can&#8217;t manage the idea of managed services?<\/p>\n<p>The average company now spends over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.computereconomics.com\/page.cfm?name=Outsourcing\">10% of their budget<\/a> on IT outsourcing. As companies struggle against increasing operating burdens and try to do more with less, they look toward managed services.<\/p>\n<p>But what is a managed service? And how can it help your business?<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not that hard! Below is our guide to understanding managed IT services.<\/p>\n<h2>What Are Managed Services?<\/h2>\n<p>If you&#8217;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&#8217;re looking at the business model.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Managed services&#8221; is\u00a0a blanket term for formalized outsourced work.<\/p>\n<p>There are two main aims for using managed services:\u00a0streamlining operations and saving costs.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<h2>What Does Managed Service Cover?<\/h2>\n<p>If that sounds broad, then let&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>Managed services can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provide helpdesk services<\/li>\n<li>Research and deploy new infrastructure<\/li>\n<li>Maintain off-site servers and cloud services<\/li>\n<li>Implement and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/forbestechcouncil\/2018\/02\/16\/virtualizing-your-cybersecurity-team\/#2958329816dc\">monitor cybersecurity initiatives<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Conduct data security and compliance audits<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That&#8217;s the tip of the iceberg. The extent of managed services depends on how much you&#8217;re willing to spend. For a slightly higher fee, you can offload most of the worry that comes with information technology.<\/p>\n<h2>How Can Managed Services Help?<\/h2>\n<p>Information technology managed services offer a huge range of benefits to the modern business. Let&#8217;s tackle a few of the most prominent ones below.<\/p>\n<h3>Core Business Focus<\/h3>\n<p>Modern businesses face a crisis of distraction.<\/p>\n<p>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\u00a0take valuable time and money away from a company&#8217;s core focus.<\/p>\n<p>This can leave a company hamstrung, unable to deliver on its fundamental objectives.<\/p>\n<p>Managed IT services can offset some of this problem and help a small business <a href=\"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/863\/8-business-hacks-to-increase-productivity-for-a-small-business-owner\/\">get more<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Sizing Up<\/h3>\n<p>If a lack of core focus is holding your business back, then you&#8217;ll struggle to outmaneuver your competitors.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<h3>Expertise<\/h3>\n<p>Expensive hardware won&#8217;t do you much good if you don&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>Managed services offer expertise on tap. As IT is the core focus of a managed service provider, they know what&#8217;s what in the IT field. Their staff comes from an IT background and has the experience to match.<\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;ve recruited an experienced IT team, you might not have anything left over for the equipment!<\/p>\n<h3>Cost Savings<\/h3>\n<p>Keeping up with the IT arms race is one of the biggest financial challenges facing the average business today.<\/p>\n<p>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 <a href=\"https:\/\/smallbusiness.chron.com\/importance-cash-flow-business-57376.html\">cash-flow nightmare<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>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\u00a0&#8211; savings you&#8217;ll see reflected in your IT spend.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<h2>Where Do I Find a Managed Service?<\/h2>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>You can find managed service providers like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scarlettculture.com\/\">Scarlett Group<\/a> online. Thanks to the power of the internet, you can see the full range of their services in just a few short minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Shopping around can help you find the best fit for your business. Don&#8217;t be afraid to contact a few providers to find what suits you.<\/p>\n<h2>Are Managed Services Right for Me?<\/h2>\n<p>Managed services offer a huge range of advantages, but they aren&#8217;t a guaranteed fit for every business.<\/p>\n<p>Each company has its own unique situation. We can&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>Managed services may be right for your company if you&#8217;re struggling to control your operating costs. They may also ease rapid expansion or level the playing field with your competitors.<\/p>\n<p>If your business is losing its focus to sundry operational concerns, then managed services could bring you back on track.<\/p>\n<h2>Managed IT Services for the Modern Business<\/h2>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Looking for regular business hints and tips? Make sure to <a href=\"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/category\/business-posts\/\">follow our blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can&#8217;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&hellip; <span class=\"read-more-span\"><a href=\"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/1876\/it-its-not-that-hard-understanding-managed-it-services\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;IT: It&#8217;s Not That Hard! Understanding Managed IT Services&#8221;<\/span> <span class=\"genericon genericon-next\"><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1877,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1876"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1876"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1997,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1876\/revisions\/1997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}