Managed IT Services or IT Outsourcing has been on the rise, which doesn’t come as a big surprise to anyone as businesses are always looking to streamline operations, lower costs, and reduce complexity. Reports suggest that 34% of companies that are outsourcing at least some of their network operations, and over half of them have plans to spend more on outsourced security.
However, increasing marketing maturity and service availability bring a new challenge, making the search for an ideal outsourced solution necessary. Even with clear-cut advantages from the break-fix IT world, businesses will be better served to tackle the scope of IT problems with staffing augmentation, which targets the scale of solution complexity with managed IT services or adopting a mixture of both.
What Are Managed IT Services?
Managed IT services aren’t fixed in stone, but most companies prefer to outsource their IT services requests, but others want to help manage their transition to the cloud. Most are looking for adaptable security architecture beyond their current scope and skill, and most want help for managing the ever-rising volume and variety of applications that are required to retain their competitive advantage in these technologically advanced times we have been living in.
It is an extremely mature market, where several entrants with most companies offer both broad and boutique services. It has been predicted that a lot of uptick in managed service spending provides a similar perspective, which suggests ‘tremendous’ growth over the next five years.
Why Do You Need Managed IT Services?
The two main reasons for managed IT service adoption are peace of mind and cost-saving. Business owners want to ensure that they can sleep safely at night, which is getting increasingly difficult due to the surge in cyber-attacks, data breaches, and tech outages. According to CIO Dive, nearly 56% of CIOs and CTOs reported stress-related illnesses that were tied to the ongoing IT problems.
There has also been a growing ‘war for talent’ as the IT skills gap will continue to widen, and most organizations find themselves under-skilled and understaffed. When it comes to rapidly evolving technology like cloud computing or Big Data analytics, most businesses, especially small and mid-sized organizations, don’t have the time or budget for in-depth training.
The end result is that they must adopt new IT services to stay competitive but aren’t sure about the best approach, where Managed IT services are bridging the gap.
The Benefits of Managed IT Services
Deploying managed IT services provides multiple business benefits, which include the following:
· Streamlined Response
Managed service service-level agreements include specific response time guidelines, and with expectations on ticket escalation, there is a clear path from issue resolution and identification.
· Enhanced Scalability
The as-a-service nature of managed IT services makes it possible to scale up or down as business requirements evolve.
· Reduced Complexity
Problems like new service implementation and software integration are mostly handled by providers, which remove a critical layer of IT complexity.
· Increased Staff Availability
Local staff can easily tackle critical in-house problems, while managed IT providers tend to handle regular maintenance, upgrading, and performance monitoring.
· Improved Cost Management
Fixed monthly costs can help CIOs with managing budgetary allocations and clearly articulate the spending needs of C-suite executives.
Break-Fix IT Versus Managed IT Services
Break-Fix IT response is well-known, but it isn’t the most effective method. Waiting around for technology and services to fail before you create tickets and deploy IT resources, which will ensure specific problem resolution but tends to cost both time and money. Software and infrastructure left unmonitored until its next breakdown carries not only the costs of failure, but businesses will also need to deal with concerns regarding data breaches, regular system updating, and compliance obligations.
The problem managed framework offered by break-fix IT is nothing compared with managed IT services. With managed services, you get problem response and remediation, and they also include proactive systems monitoring to solve for potential problems before the critical services start to suffer. To put it into simple terms, managed IT services will offer support for technology breakdowns but puts the emphasis where it belongs, on the solution.
Staff Augmentation and Managed IT Services
Another option for businesses looking to enhance service delivery with limited talent, budget, and time is staff augmentation. Outsourcing staff instead of specific services offer a more generalized approach, where businesses can leverage skilled professionals to tackle too-priority tasks without overtaxing the internal staff.
There are clear benefits to both managed IT service and staff augmentation, and they don’t exist in isolation. Using a managed services contract on top of an Azure cloud deployment helps create a ‘line of demarcation’ between outsourced staff and services when you combine them with a professional services agreement.
The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Managed IT
One of the biggest critical factors in adopting managed IT services is the cost. However, when there is a level of IT maturity internally, managed services are going to be more cost-effective. Service contracts are like prenuptials in some ways as they must define the rights and responsibilities for both parties and articulate what happens if there are problems.
Reassuring the contract annually and ensuring that it always contains a way out that won’t break the bank is a good way to go about things. Failing to meet SLA requirements tends to form the basis of no-penalty termination, and there are clauses of convenience that permit an easy exit if things aren’t working out for you.
by Bobby J Davidson
We love our company and we love what we do. Check out the ‘Why Percento‘ page to learn more: Love of Technology and Business! As the President of Percento Technologies International, I provide day-to-day leadership to the company’s senior management and I am personally involved in the strategy, business development and sales activities of the firm.
The company was founded in 1999 with the purpose of providing a one call source for organizations in need of Enterprise IT Consulting and Management. We also provide a line of products in the boutique Cloud Server space with a touch of high-end website strategy consulting and design services. We personalizes the IT Service experience with a team approach, working with clients from diverse sectors of industry, including energy services, financial, legal, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, retail and general and/or corporate business. percentotech.com/contact