Understanding Managed Services for IT: Why it is important?
The popularity of managed business IT services is consistently rising around the globe and with a good reason too. But with the constant flow of benefits and new features offered by managed business IT support over the traditional approach of break-fix repair, most users are still in the dark on what managed services are, and how it can impact their business. The simplest definition for managed services is that a third-party service provider assumes complete responsibility for all aspects of your business and is often linked to business IT support Melbourne.
In today’s technology-driven world, businesses have the option of thriving or being pushed behind in the race. In today’s world of business, IT infrastructure is the heart and without a quality IT network, businesses will suffer immense losses. But, thankfully managed business IT support services offer an easy and affordable solution to safeguard businesses from sinking deeper into the pit. With in-house IT services, business always has to be concerned about data loss, computer problems, hacker attacks and so forth. Conversely, with business IT support Melbourne, all these problems are efficiently handled by the service provider and business owners have the ability to focus on what they do best.
Let us now examine why managed service for IT is important for your business.
The advent of managed services
These are times when the computer system keeps evolving by the week or is it by the day rather? But, the challenge is the tools needed to service the changes are not keeping pace. Service providers involved in helping small networks in the past are encountering this challenge of the absence of appropriate tools. The small systems designed to address largely just the break-fix provided by technicians most of whom were self-taught fell way short of today’s needs. With problems ballooning by the day, advanced business IT support people designed procedures for periodic on-site inspection of IT infrastructure owned by clients and attempted to understand problems before the problems grew in size. Even this effort had its loose ends and the technicians could only address current problems on a given day with no knowledge of what could happen in future. Further, human error was also rampant in this system.
Fortune 500 companies at the forefront of managed services
The IT network of large companies obviously has to be large and they were the early birds to encourage managed services. From those days managed IT services have made great strides and cloud computing has further helped these service providers to focus on two major goals.
- Every event on a monitored network that can trigger an issue or risk will activate a real-time alert to the managed business IT provider either before the event or as the event happens
- Every alert is important and receives immediate and close attention.
This reporting model allows potential issues to be known beforehand in most situations and helps in addressing them before they blow out into a huge problem. Consequently, the managed IT service providers and their personnel can move away from the ‘fire fighting’ model and manage the networks and ensure reduced risk with maximum uptime.
The relevance of managed IT services
Focus on technology is more important than ever for businesses to stay ahead of the competition and achieve optimal efficiency at all levels. This brings networks and IT functions into the core of every business. The cost of in-house IT infrastructure keeps spiralling with each passing week and small businesses, in particular, have to be very careful with their capital expenditure. Prudent businesses always try to save capital expenditure to improve their working capital resources. This is a major reason why small businesses particularly should harness the power of managed IT services for their business. Major advantages that can flow from managed IT services include:-
Communications
Network security
Network administration
IT support
Managed business IT support thus helps you to reduce a significant amount of pressure on in-house IT facilities and your employees will be able to focus on regular tasks with higher efficiency and focus.
Quick fixes vs. Managed services for IT
For several decades, quick-fixes have been the norm in the IT services market. Whenever a business experiences problems with their server, they simply call up IT experts on their panel and explain the issue to them. The ‘expert’ may find a solution quickly with some luck. But, if he fails, the business faces serious downtime until someone else can understand the issue and provide a solution. Apart from the inevitable downtime and its consequences, businesses will also have to shell out top dollars to get their IT facility back in working order.
Conversely, managed business IT support provides constant and consistent monitoring of dedicated systems of the customer focusing on prevention of failures. Through remote monitoring, the service provider can see all that is happening in real-time and apply necessary fixes if needed.
Consider the following to help comprehend managed IT services in greater detail:
Costs are predictably low
If you had thought that managed IT services are expensive, you should know that your IT expenditure is far more predictable when you choose managed IT services. You get multiple options like an annual cost paid across the year in instalments or monthly cost depending on an arrangement that works best for both parties. An in-house facility on the other hand has variable cost apart from unexpected events that can quickly add up to your overall cost. Multiple components of a decent network will need regular maintenance and even occasional replacement/repairs. This responsibility is factored into your contract with managed IT support, potentially saving you huge expenses on this count.
Scalability
Scalability is another important aspect of business IT support. During the early days of your business, your IT needs are often limited, but obviously, as the business grows your IT needs also grow in proportion. A managed business IT support provider can quickly cater to your expanding needs.
Conclusion
Managed IT services will help you focus more on the core of your business without worrying about potential bottlenecks with the IT function.
