What are Managed IT Services?
In the era we find ourselves in, it’s no longer practical to eschew new technology in favor of old-fashioned business practices. Regardless of what kind of business you run or what sector you’re in, the fact of the matter is that all companies must also be technology companies in today’s digital economy.
But technology infrastructure and personnel are expensive and difficult to maintain. That’s where Managed IT services from specialized firms come in. They allow a business to offload its technology operations to a company that specializes in technology so that the company can focus on its core business.
By making your specialized technology needs the responsibility of a company that focuses on the discipline of Managed IT services, you free your business up to focus on what it’s good at.
Key Services Offered By a Managed Service Provider (MSP)
24/7 Monitoring
Sophisticated technology requires sophisticated monitoring. This is why Managed IT services are so important. The technology that your business uses to operate doesn’t work in a vacuum, and it seldom fails on a whim.
Instead, there are tell-tale signs before failures that can be observed and accounted for by monitoring your systems on a day-to-day, minute-to-minute basis. That way, failures can be caught before they impact your operations.
And it’s not just about failures—good monitoring can alert you to security attacks before they happen, giving a managed service provider (MSP) the ability to respond before any of your data is accessed. A good MSP makes use of these monitoring systems 24/7 so that you don’t have to worry about whether or not your technology is going to be functioning properly the next morning.
Cybersecurity
In the age of information, security is paramount. Many companies start to look for managed IT services due to concerns about security and data protection as they start to grow.
Data breaches and loss of private business or customer information can bring a business to its knees. By hiring a company for managed IT services, you receive peace of mind by offloading the rapidly evolving and nuanced nature of your technology security to an entity that understands the risks involved.
And the more knowledge a provider has of your infrastructure, the more secure your data and information.
Disaster Recovery
Disasters happen, small and large. One of the most crippling business events is failing to be prepared when one does.
Disaster recovery from a managed service provider gives your business the proper insurance to recover from things like natural disasters, fires or even hardware failure by providing redundancy for your data at various locations and with various methods. While this managed IT service is rarely used, you still want it to be available to you just in case.
That way, your business impact is minimal should one of these events occur.
Network Design
A well-designed network is one of the most important managed IT services a specialized information technology company can provide for you. Your network is the foundation for which your most important asset—your data—flows between you, your employees and your customers.
Having a network that’s designed to be efficient, flexible, secure and scalable is critical to a business’s success, both now and in the future.
Application Development
Whether it’s a desktop app, a mobile app or a website, apps solve business problems by providing functionality and integrations with current and future business systems and making those integrations accessible and easily understandable to your customers, employees and stakeholders.
Creating a functional, scalable and flexible app requires expert knowledge of your entire business ecosystem that only a MSP can provide. While this may not be the first service you think of when it comes to Managed IT services, knowing that your outsourced IT team can handle application development is something important to know.
HelpDesk Support Plans
For a business that doesn’t focus on technology, the infrastructure and manpower required for a support team is a sizable investment. Yet technology remains necessary to be competitive in any sector.
By partnering with a firm that offers Managed IT services, they can provide your business with a dedicated support team that handles your customer requests or employee needs at a fraction of the cost.
Server Solutions
A modern workplace requires a lot in terms of back-end computing power. The files you access, your email, company messaging and more all depend on servers. Moreover, how these servers are set up depends on industry specifications and requirements.
A good managed service provider helps come up with the appropriate server solutions that meet the needs of your business and industry.
The Benefits of Hiring a Managed IT Service Provider
The benefits of a managed service provider can’t be overstated. Better security, better technology solutions and preventing downtime for your business are just a few of the major conveniences provided.
Security and Peace of Mind
Technology is extremely complicated and it only becomes more so, day after day, year after year. By turning your technology needs over to a managed service provider, you give your business an added level of security, knowing that people dedicated to their craft are watching over your technology and security needs to make sure you benefit from the most advanced security and uptime available at any given moment.
Increased Employee Efficiency and Productivity
Technology works best when it gets out of the way and allows you and your employees to do the job.
A managed service provider provides this for your business. Not only do you save time and resources by leaving the technology to people who are best at it, but you give your employees access to well-designed tools and tech that your company would need an enormous IT budget to implement.
Avoid IT Downtime
Whether it’s hardware failure, a natural disaster or a cybersecurity attack, occurrences that result in downtime are very real and impossible to avoid.
That said, downtime for your business doesn’t have to be inevitable.
A good managed service provider plans for outages and occurrences so that when they do happen, your business can continue with its operations while the experts handle the rest.
How to Find the Right Managed IT Service Provider For Your Company
Finding the right managed service provider requires some shopping around. A good provider for your business will be one that shows knowledge and insight into your operations and can give you real-world solutions to your technology needs.
At Coban Computers, we pride ourselves in building feature-rich, secure and flexible managed solutions that go far beyond the needs of our clients. Get in touch for a meeting with one of our professionals today.
