Things can easily get out of control in a company without proper guidance on managing technology. You likely know this from past experience if a lot of your IT infrastructure either shut down or went awry due to no one being available to keep an eye on potential threats. This likely brought substantial unplanned downtime that crippled your business in the past, if not closing down.
If you Managed to rescue your business since (or opened a new company), consider yourself lucky. Many businesses never recover from major catastrophes. Forbes reports nearly 40% of them never re-open after disasters, with 29% closing within two years due to financial losses.
None of this has to happen with Managed IT services, which doesn’t even require having someone on-site. Remote management works well with cloud based monitoring and other connective technologies.
This isn’t to say you can’t get onsite IT support when it’s needed. The problem is IT management doesn’t always get well-defined, which only causes more confusion on how to acquire it.
Here’s the best definition and why Managed IT services saves your business life.
What Is Managed IT Services?
Let’s first consider how you may still define IT management at your company. In the earlier days of IT, it usually meant an on-site team a company kept on the payroll, whether needed or not. Much like a break-fix team, IT technicians would only go to work when something went wrong, though sometimes tying up every computer to repair the problem. Many still consider this the current definition at their company. This structure of IT management by itself often leads to system or individual downtime.
Downtime is something you simply can’t afford, and you’ve maybe given up having an in-house IT management team for this very reason. What you haven’t experienced is that IT management doesn’t have to work this way. Remote management is easily done now thanks to how easy it is to connect to your network through a fiber optic line.
With this in mind, you gain more clarity toward a Managed IT services definition by thinking about it in modern terms. Think of it now as strategic methods to improve company operations and helping you cut expenses.
Controlling Your Expenses
As mentioned above, Managed IT support services helps you scope out many expenses in your company you don’t always initially see. When technology permeates in multiple departments, it’s a challenge to find out where your biggest expenses are without an extensive audit. Doing the latter takes too much time that you don’t have. Managed IT services helps do this for you so you find what’s costing you too much and get rid of it.
At the same time, you’re streamlining all of your expenses for your business it support services into a flat monthly fee–and a single bill–with a dedicated IT management team that, if chosen correctly, will not only be experienced, but certified on many services and products. No more will you have unexpected fees because you didn’t realize your IT infrastructure had more liabilities than you thought thanks to the Managed services pricing model.
And what about the IT help desk? Most likely, you’ve experienced a slow response time with an internal IT resource desk. Managed IT support services can provide a faster, yet personalized resource by including it help desk outsourcing options. This alleviates the larger expense of an in-house team, as well as the loss of employee productivity due to the slow response times.
Centralizing IT Technicians
Hiring in-house technicians may mean multiple people working on your network at once, which brings different ideas and maybe inadequate communication. As a result, it costs more money hiring a large team of technicians who frequently have no accountability.
When they aren’t on the same page either, it only leads to errors and more downtime required to fix things. Outsourcing your IT management assures your team has experience working for many companies and a complete understanding of what you really need. Because they work together from one source, communication isn’t a problem.
A key concern for many businesses when considering Managed IT services is losing technicians on-site. A qualified and experience Managed services provider will offer on-site support without delay, and this can include on demand IT support. The right Managed IT services provider will provide a dedicated technician with the highest skill level and that always maintains a professional appearance.
Security on Your Network
It’s impossible to find in-house IT teams willing to monitor your network 24/7. Even if you do find such a team, the amount of money you’d have to pay them would become tremendous.
A quality Managed IT services provider doesn’t have to work like this and instead offers remote IT monitoring services. They’ll become a hawk’s eye to minor and major threats, including when they occur on weekends or holidays.
If something happens in the middle of the night, your team frequently has an issue handled before you even come to work in the morning. In today’s time when anything can happen in the online world, it’s invaluable to have a service like this, including management taking full network monitoring seriously.
Still seeking more information about Managed IT services and how it fits with your business? We put together a complimentary Guide to Managed IT Services that you can download today.
