Managed Services

IT managed services are services provided to a company on a contract basis. Depending on the contract with the provider who is sometimes known as an MSP or managed services provider, the provider might provide services as needed, or they might provide services as maintenance to proactively prevent problems.

IT managed services are usually billed on a fixed fee schedule for a particular set of services, which makes this service easy to budget and more affordable for small- and medium-sized businesses. It’s more affordable to purchase IT managed services today than ever before because of the reduced cost necessary when the services are provided over the Internet. Unlike when you need to call an appliance repairman to come to your home and you’re billed for traveling time and every minute the person is on your property in addition to the cost of the repairs, IT managed services can often be provided remotely, cutting costs substantially.
Some of the more common IT managed services that are provided are things like security monitoring, data back ups, general technical assistance and things like managing the company’s network.

Some IT managed services are considered part of the core services and are included for a set monthly fee, like infrastructure monitoring and security monitoring. If problems arise and the IT provider needs to do things beyond those items considered part of their core plan, the cost would be added on. Still, for companies that can’t afford their own IT department, these managed services are a cost-effective way to make sure their networks remain problem-free.
IT managed services originally began much like the idea of appliance repair. When something went wrong, an MSP was called to come and fix the situation. This could prove costly for a company, when a regular charge for monitoring could have caught the problem early and seen it fixed quickly before much damage was done. So IT managed services have become proactive in preventing “breaks” that need fixes. This still occurs, but if an MSP is already in place monitoring, the added cost of fixing problems is still less than it would have been had no monitoring occurred.

Depending on the company and its requirements, IT managed services may still be performed on site. If this could be common, then the estimated cost for this could be part of the monthly IT managed services fee.

A large benefit of IT managed services is that it’s much like outsourcing your IT needs to one provider, rather than needing IT work done from this software company or needing IT work done on a piece of hardware from another company. All your IT needs are handled from one provider, and your network is monitored continually to minimize problems.