What is a Managed IT Services Provider?
Learn how Managed Services Providers Work
A managed IT services provider elevates your IT, you get to partner with an entire company that specializes in IT. Instead of managing and monitoring your tech and networks in-house, you can contract a company to handle these tasks each month. You’ll be able to relax off the clock knowing you have cyber security experts on your side at all times.
Your managed IT services provider (MSP) will offer proactive and responsive services. When something goes wrong, many MSPs have some kind of service or help desk for you to call into when you’re experiencing issues.
The best part of working with an MSP is that you’ll rarely have to worry about things going wrong. With an entire company full of experts working to keep your business’s IT secure and operational, you’ll find that far less issues come up.
For instance, you can work with an MSP that offers data backup and recovery. That means data and storage loss concerns can become a thing of the past.
In this part of the digital age, the most important thing you can do for your business is ensure your data and networks are secure. With the right managed services provider, your contract will include cyber security services to keep you protected from cyber criminals. Your MSP can monitor for vulnerabilities, quickly respond to issues, install firewalls and provide you with layered IT security.
Your managed services provider will handle other things like making all of your software updates and keeping track of your mobile devices.
You’d be amazed at how much time your employees could get back when they’re not spending their time troubleshooting or waiting on their devices to work again.
What are the Benefits of Managed Service Providers?
Many companies hire an MSP for the same reason people like to go out for lunch. Making your lunch every day can be time-consuming and repetitive. Monitoring your IT and staying on top of updates can often feel the same way.
On top of the mundane tasks, the food you make at home never seems to compare to your favorite restaurant. Just like you don’t know the recipe for the food you get out on the town, you probably don’t know how all of your IT works.
When you opt for managed services you’re bringing in a large group of experts that will collaborate on all of your most complicated tasks.
Lastly, sometimes you weren’t planning on eating out but you left your lunch at home or bit into a piece of moldy bread. Next thing you know you’re rushing to a restaurant. When something goes wrong with your IT, your MSP is the one you’re rushing to. They’ll help quickly restore your network and resolve any tech emergencies.
Keep Productivity High and Overhead Low with an MSP
Hiring an IT team that can cover shifts 24x7x365 and work on a wide array of tech solutions is a costly undertaking.
The average rates for IT specialists start at around $45,000 a year and reach above $200,000 a year. A large IT team can run up a big bill. Not to mention that portions of this bill won’t be directly for IT support but instead for overhead costs.
When you work with an MSP you’re only paying for the IT support you need. You can get hardware and software management, mobile device support, network and systems monitoring and more without ever paying for extra expenses like someone’s vacation time, inactivity or benefits.
MSPs also allow your in-house IT employees to focus on more important and strategic tasks. Your staff will be less likely to feel bored, overworked or under appreciated. Meaning you can avoid other unforeseen costs caused by high turnover rates.
Once you start looking into MSPs you’ll find that there are a range of bundles, services and prices depending on what company you work with.
Different Types of Managed IT Services Providers
Depending on who you ask, there are multiple ways to categorize MSPs. Of the two main groupings, one focuses on who the provider serves and the other focuses on what they offer.
Depending on the size of the businesses an MSP works with, they would fall into one of these three categories:
- Pure-play: Smaller MSPs that mainly provide clients with reports and alerts about their network and applications.
- Staffing legacy: MSPs equipped to work with companies ranging from mid-level to Fortune 500s. These companies have the ability to provide services such as network and system monitoring, reporting, software management and tech upgrades.
- High-level: These MSPs offer the most in-depth and comprehensive IT services. They more than likely specialize in managed IT services and give clients of all sizes the ability to outsource as much of their IT as they need.
Some managed services providers might not consider themselves to be a standard MSP. Depending on what a company offers or doesn’t offer they could be listed as any of the following:
- Managed Services Provider: These providers will offer a wide array of IT support services. They offer a full spectrum instead of focusing on one kind of support.
- Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP): These providers offer extensive cyber security support as well as other kinds of IT solutions. Oftentimes their other services will have a security forward approach as well.
- Specialty MSP: If you opt for a specialty MSP it is most likely because you particularly need help with a type of hardware in your workplace. These providers specialize in areas such as wireless connectivity, VoIP and printing.
What You Get Out of a Managed IT Services Plan
IT is not simple and that’s why MSPs often offer you a variety of services in order to let you focus on growing your business.
One of the main things a managed IT services provider can offer is system and network monitoring. It’s hard to be proactive when your resources are stretched thin. That is why MSPs prevent issues from escalating by consistently searching for IT vulnerabilities and needed updates.
On top of monitoring, your provider can take on the management of your business’s system and network. That means they’ll step in when things shut down or need fixing.
Many MSPs also help out their clients by keeping all of their data backed up. That way, if something crashes or is hacked you’ll be able to recover any lost information.
Your IT infrastructure is going to include a variety of software and hardware that can be hard to keep up with on your own. Your MSP will usually handle the nitty gritty daily tasks while your team focuses on the big picture.
Depending on the MSP you partner with, your company can request services like email hosting, anti-virus protection and firewall configuration.
The Proactive IT Difference
When your company chooses an MSP the number one thing you should be looking for is a provider that will take initiative and provide active monitoring services. Without this kind of take-charge attitude, your MSP is really just operating on a break-fix model. This is when your IT company responds to issues instead of trying to prevent them.
NTS, based in Richmond, VA is proud to have built our IT support around a proactive security-based approach. That means you get technicians who are working to protect your IT from run-of-the-mill issues in addition to serious cyber attacks.
As a high-level MSSP, NTS understands how much is at stake for large enterprises and small businesses alike. You can’t wait for a security breach or software failure to start taking your IT seriously.
Take the next steps towards a more productive and efficient workplace today, learn more about the Managed IT Services bundles provided by NTS.