What is Included in Managed IT Services

There are many different IT consulting services in that market to cover any organizations needs but what is included in managed IT services when considering it for your organization?

What Services Are Included in Managed IT Services?

Every year, organizations are increasing their IT budgets with over 90% of small to medium-sized businesses in Canada are using cloud-based business solutions.

Technology is a large role in the running of organizations of all sizes therefore more businesses are turning to companies that can offer managed IT services as they offer a wide variety of technical services experience.

What can you expect from your managed IT services provider?

There is a wide variety of services, but the most successful organizations use managed IT services providers to cover most of their IT needs as it is often included in managed IT solutions.

Here is a list of what to expect from a managed IT services provider:

• Security and Compliance – Is your industry regulated or do you take cyber security seriously? With more digital data, the need for data security has grown year over year at an incredible rate.  Good IT management services will keep your data secure and reduce the risk of a data breach, hacking, ransomware, and data theft.  There are many different intrusion prevention and detection methods that can be used.  Managed IT services take charge using industry best practices to ensure your organization is complying with regulations.
• Networking and Infrastructure – How is your network setup and how does your organization work with it? As organizations are more reliant on critical data, it is crucial that your network is robust enough for the task. Managed services will help your organization to proactively take care of your network to ensure that your uptime and security is maximized.  They will also ensure that your infrastructure will run your organization efficiently.
• Disaster Recovery (DR Recovery) – Everything can be replaced but not when it comes to your data. Data loss is devastating to a business and the impact is tremendous. For example, if your experience a disaster like server loss, or damage to your premises.  All organizations need the ability to get things back up and running as quickly as possible.  You need to have a business continuity plan in place that can help keep the downtime to a bare minimum including failover measures.
• Cloud Services – Almost every organization has a cloud service in their business in one way or another. It is not secret that cloud services reduce hardware costs and keep your data safe from loss. Industry leading IT managed services will offer Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions.  This can include Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Azure, AWS, and much more.  These services allows your organization to access software and infrastructure through the cloud and reduce upfront costs as well as storage costs and energy consumption.
• Remote Tech Support – With your team spread out working remotely, how are they support when technical support issues arise? Organizations need to ensure that when things go wrong for employees, they can contact a responsive managed IT services provider quickly.  Remote technical support is vital as it allows users to contact their remote managed services provider as soon as a technical support problem occurs.

What is meant by managed services?

The business concept of managed services is simple.  It is the business practice of outsourcing the responsibility for maintaining and managing IT infrastructure while anticipating the future needs and functions our business goals.  It is an alternative to unpredictable break fix model or on-demand IT outsourcing model.  This is when a managed IT services provider performs on-demand services and bills the customer only for the work done.  This goes against a business being proactive in nature towards IT management.

Using the managed IT services subscription model, an organization owns the IT infrastructure, and the system is being proactively managed by the Managed Services Provider (MSP).  The IT managed services provider delivers IT management and managed services under contract with a service-level agreement in place that states the performance and quality metrics of their relationship.

How Much Does Managed IT Services Cost?

Here is a loaded question as many managed IT services cost vary based on how the service is put together.  Most award-winning managed IT services providers take a simple approach with all in pricing.  Many businesses know that a managed IT services provider will save your businesses money as it will allow your organization to  outsource the daily IT management, monitoring, and functions to a team of technical support experts who are trained to different types of IT issues from the simple level 1 technical issues to the devastatingly complex level 3 issues.

The best way to get exact pricing for managed IT services may be a challenge for small and medium-sized businesses however you have to factor everything in including software they include, setting up new computers, and much more.  If you add all the costs, the cheapest option may be the most expensive over the long run.

Is SaaS a Managed service?

Correct, even if you are using an online cloud service such as Microsoft SharePoint, it still needs to manage for technical support issues and user technical support issues.  Even if you are taking preventative measures implemented by IT departments or managed IT services providers, there is always a chance of server downtime and network outages.  If an organization cannot prevent these technical support issues from occurring, the impact will be great, and this can be reduced through proactive server and network monitoring services using enterprise PSA (Professional Services Automation) and RMM (Remote Monitoring and Management) tools.

What exactly is proactive server and network monitoring?

Server monitoring proactively tracks many aspects of the health, performance, and security of the system.  This will track items such as memory, CPU, and disk usage.  It will also proactively monitor the performance and availability of business-critical systems to avoid bottlenecks.  This type of enterprise-class monitoring will efficiently determine where the issues lie as well as proactively address them through pre-configured automated scripts and system thresholds.

This gives organizations using managed IT services the ability to monitor their server details using SaaS software through server monitoring. When you partner with a managed IT service provider, they provide the software and license for each application they are required to run.  They are responsible for running proactive software that includes maintenance as well as upgrades.  Managed IT services put day-to-day operations with a MSP so they can use a strategic method for streamlined, efficient, and affordable IT operations.

With the use of managed IT services providers, they are in charge for the proactive configuration, proactive maintenance, proactive management, proactive support as well as seamless upgrades that is all included in a flat monthly price.  This will also include a more comprehensive and flexible operation of business functions such as security and network monitoring.

What are the types of managed services?

There are many definitions of when it comes to what are the types of managed services as it has changed over the years. There are complete managed services where they handle your entire It infrastructure to managed IT services supplementing your current internal IT department.   Not all organizations have the resources to build out their team of experts when it comes to small-to-mid-sized companies.

• Managed Networks – The managed services provider will proactively handle the entire network including LAN, WAPs, backup and disaster recovery storage options.
• Managed Security – The managed IT services provider will proactively manage your remote security infrastructure from Backup Disaster Recovery (BDR) as well as anti-malware and ransomware protection options to keep your system updated in real-time.
• Managed Support Services – This IT managed services provider will help to cover all services related to IT help including troubleshooting to dealing with advanced technical support issues.
• Managed Cloud Infrastructure – Managed IT services providers and managed cloud services providers are one in the same. They will offer a proactive view into your services as well as in-depth management of computing, storage, network, and IT management.  This can include other services such as virtualization services of apps, software, operating systems, and much more based on your business goals.

What is Managed IT Services?

Known by many different names, managed IT services is also referred to as outsourced IT, third-party IT support service, third party technical support and much more including MSP or managed service provider.

Leading Toronto managed IT services providers (MSP) offer a wide variety of IT services including from simple technical support, cybersecurity, VoIP, backup recovery, cybersecurity training, and more.  When organizations seek a long term outsourced IT support partner, they have strict budgets so they cannot hire an in-house IT team or they cannot hire the expertise and benefits a MSP will bring to the table.

Tech issues are not simple and can be challenging at times.  This is where a managed IT services provider can utilize their skill and experience by dealing with technology.

What are the benefits of Managed IT Support?

The biggest pro to using a managed IT support services allow organizations to fill the gap within their company.

A managed IT services provider offers a wide range of proven industry experience as well as knowledgeable technical support specialists and IT experts.  This broad range of expertise has the ability to deploy solutions and IT strategies that will allow your organization to elevate employee performance, security, and productivity across the board.

Managed IT support is also a cost-savings measure you do not need to hire and train internal staff as they can proactively address IT problems, network downtime, and performance issues all while ensuring your organization works as efficiently as possible.

If your organization is interested investing into a long-term business partnership with a managed provider, it is essential to establish criteria for what you need and ensure both organizations are in sync.  Your organizations need a clear understanding of what makes a third-party provider a trusted source is critical such as a managed services provider.

Here are some characteristics of top-performing managed providers in Toronto:

• Responsive – The MSP will provide critical support under a 24-hour time frame. The faster response, the better.
• Service Level Agreement – The MSP will offer flexible pricing models to meet your business needs.
• Cyber Security – The MSP will handle all information for robust cyber security measures to combat data loss.
• Backup Recovery – The MSP will ensure if you experience downtime, your information is safe.
• MSP Options – The MSP will cover a wide range of IT services to ensure the most control of your assets.
• Accessibility – The MSP will have secure access to your information from any secure point.

What are the benefits of managed IT services?

There are many benefits as a managed IT services provider is an important long-term investment for your business.  They will ensure that your organizations will use technology safety, use the full functionality, and use technology effectively.

An internal IT department may be able to support your business, however, outsourcing IT or using a managed IT services provider will bring long-term benefits.  A managed IT service provider will take the time to understand and work with you to accomplish your business goals using the following items listed below:

1. Business Return on Investment – A managed IT service provider (MSP) offers far more robust IT resources to your business than a small IT department. They offer a larger team of proven IT professionals as well as access to the most cutting-edge technology solutions to empower your organization therefore protecting your organization from active cyber threats.
2. Business Efficiency – By using outsourced IT or managed IT services provider, your business and employees can focus on your core offering rather than IT. Your MSP will ensure that your business is using industry best standards and regulations.  This will save you time, money, and resources as well as ensure that your technology is being properly proactively maintained resulting in less outages and increasing up-time.
3. Business Productivity – Your managed services provider helps free up your teammates that have IT experience however they were hired for other tasks. These employees can easily get sidetracked with miscellaneous requests from coworkers causing a loss in productivity.
4. Cyber Security Breaches – The MSP is aware that cybercrime is always evolving, and they will ensure they keep you as safe as possible by keeping everything up to date with the latest cyber security defenses.  The IT managed IT services provider will assist your staff in recognizing and avoiding the latest cyber security threats aimed at them and decrease the risk of a cyber security breach.
5. Technical Expertise – A managed IT service technical employees will have real world experience and knowledge from a variety of different industries that can easily help out your organization. MSP employees must continually update their education and earn new certifications so they can offer a level of expertise.
6. Cloud Services – The IT managed services provider is well aware of the fear of a cyber security and the possibility of a data breach. Cloud services are great, but it is imperative for employees who need to access websites and accounts via their mobile devices to understand the risk.
7. Proactive Network Management – It is no secret that all IT systems need to be updated regularly to increase efficiency, cyber security, and avoid unnecessary down-time. To maximize up-time, system updates typically will need to be done after hours and on the backend without the employees noticing a performance degradation. Using internal IT department, this may cause overtime expenses or performance issues during business hours. Using a managed IT services provider, the team of qualified technical support professionals will perform the upgrades remotely when it is least disruptive to your organization.  This will ensure everything is maintained and up to date with no additional overtime costs.
8. Business Leverage – Outsourcing IT allows your organization to focus on other aspects of your business so you can gain a competitive advantage. Cyber security is top-of-mind to your business, partners, employees, and clientele.  A safe and secure company who they can trust with their sensitive data is certainly more attractive than an untrustworthy one.  Your managed IT services provider can offer cyber security services, so you are able to gain access to the latest cyber security technology.

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