What Are The Most Important Managed Services Offerings
What Do Managed Services Providers Offer?
First, let’s define managed services offerings. Managed services are IT functions and process functions that a company outsources to a provider focused on managing these services. Thus, Managed Services Providers or MSPs for short provide managed IT functions and process services.
Evolution to Managed Services Providers or “MSPs”
IT Support evolved into the MSP model. Originally IT support was exactly that. IT Support functioned under a break-fix model. If a server crashed, or a router was not forwarding packets, an IT support firm came into the customer premises to fix the “broken” function. Therefore, you can also think of the break-fix model as IT support on-demand.
Under the MSP model, your company’s IT functions transfer to the MSP of your choosing. Now, the MSP is responsible for improving your IT operations and cutting expenses. Further, through your MSP’s valuable services, they’ll keep you caught up with technology according to a plan and on a cost-effective basis. Finally, your MSP can assist with a cyber-security and a disaster recovery plan.
What are Managed Services Offerings
Your MSP offers a wide array of services including help desk, technical support, and an outsourced network operations center (NOC). Thus, your MSP can also assist you with IT budgeting and vendor management. Vendor management frees your company from having to deal directly with software and hardware vendors. This list is just a sample of all of the service that your MSP can offer you.
The Most Important Managed Services Offerings for Your Company
Now that you have an idea of the multitude of services MSPs offer, let’s focus on some of the most valuable managed services offerings.
Managed Help Desk Services
An MSP like ExterNetworks will provide different levels of support to ensure a smooth escalation process, ensuring an effective support solution. Further, a fully-managed tiered support service provides you with services including triaging incidents, managing support requests from opening to closing, and notification of known issues. Lastly, a tiered support service provides a complete support solution for your business. Select an MSP with 7x24x365 availability and fast response time.
Free Download – Essential IT Help Desk Features Checklist
Managed Security Services
This suite of services includes remote security testing and monitoring for hacking and intrusions. However, security is more than just defending from an attack. Today, the best security solution has robust backup and restore of the client company’s data as fast as possible. Further, a good MSP backs up your firm’s data in multiple locations. Finally, the best MSP’s will protect your business before potential threats can get to you!
Managed Network Services
Managed Network Services include remote management and monitoring of network infrastructure including your on-premise:
- Servers
- Routers and Switches
- Access Points (Wi-Fi Routers)
- Cloud Infrastructure
Your MSP will ensure that all equipment is configured for optimal performance and updated with stable firmware. Further, your MSP takes care of vendor issues. No more juggling multiple vendors to resolve an issue. Plus, as with Help Desk Service above, your MSP monitors your network 24x7x365.
Remote Proactive Maintenance
A good MSP will manage your infrastructure and endpoints laptops, desktops, tablets, phones, printers, etc. by installing a small piece of software called a “management agent” on each device. The management agent is part of the software and processes to monitor, manage, and deploy support/fixes directly to client devices. Thus, the goal of Remote Proactive Maintenance is to keep end-points up to date and to prevent issues before they appear.
Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
Your SLA is the heart of your service contract between you and your chosen MSPs. The SLA specifies what percent of annual uptime your MSP is obligated to maintain for your network, etc. If your MSP drops below the SLA, predetermined agreements for cost-recovery are due to your firm. The cost recovery is typically provided back to you as billing credits. Note: this is an oversimplification as the actual contract will likely have multiple percentage network up-times and a schedule of financial penalties. Also, note your SLA may contain “time-to-respond” and “time-to-repair” clauses for different types of outages and/or service degradation. Bottom line: a true MSP support partner will tailor your SLA to the needs of your specific business.
Managed Software as a Service (SaaS)
Think of all of the software licenses your company has to manage for various subscription-based products including:
- Windows or another OS license
- Anti-Virus/Malware software
- Office 365
Now answer:
- How many employees/contractors do I have at each location (including remote workers) now and into the next year?
- When does each license expire?
- How many licenses for each product do I have in “inventory”?
- How do I manage upgrades for all of the end-user devices in the company?
Now think about how much time and cost it takes to manage these subscriptions. Imagine if someone else did all of the management for you. Further, is there value if an MSP did the management for you and made recommendations as your strategic partner?
Cloud Services
As this platform grows in popularity, MSPs offer more cloud-based services for their clients. The best MSP’s make it easy to either scale resources up or down as you require. Thus, keeping your costs flexible and individualized to your needs.
Regulatory Compliance
Compliance is closely related or even a part of security. If your firm handles credit card transactions or other financial data, your firm needs to maintain PCI compliance. The right MSP has the systems and processes to handle and protect your financial and/or healthcare data. Regulatory compliance is a mandatory component of IT services in several industries.
Future-Proofing
Well, this one is not exactly a service on its own but think about the future. An in-house IT department will always have challenges including funding, security, and determining when to adopt new technologies without causing major service disruptions. Good managed services offerings will help you plan your technology roadmap and implement new technology for your firm. With an MSP, your firm does not have to worry about operational challenges and potentially getting locked into a new technology platform for a multi-year period.
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