What Are Managed IT Services?

Mar 20, 2018 Clare Louise Tech Comments Off on What Are Managed IT Services?

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From small, single-person businesses to Fortune 500 companies, countless businesses are investing in managed information technology (IT) services.

It’s a smart investment that saves time and money while allowing businesses to focus on other aspects of their operations. So, what are managed IT services exactly, and how can they benefit your business?

Overview of Managed IT Services

Managed IT services refers to IT-related services offered by a third-party vendor. Even if they don’t specialize in technology, most businesses today have some form of IT infrastructure.

This can range from a complex data center to a small network of desktop computers. With managed IT services, a third-party vendor will handle the upkeep, maintenance and security of the business’s IT infrastructure.

Managed IT services are sold under a service-level agreement (SLA). This document outlines the exact services the vendor will perform as well as the price charged to the business.

Cybersecurity

With managed IT services, you can rest assured knowing that your business’s IT infrastructure is protected from cyber attacks. According to Cyber Rights Clearinghouse, nearly 1 million sensitive records were compromised from January to March 2017.

Unfortunately, many businesses lack the skills and tools needed to create a secure IT infrastructure, thus making them a target for hackers. You can protect your business and its data from cyber threats, however, by investing in managed IT services.

Access to Skilled Talent

Managed IT services also provides you with access to skilled talent. Hiring talented IT professionals is a both difficult and time consuming. You may publish job listings on all the leading job websites, only to receive no inquires.

Thankfully, there’s an easier solution. By hiring a managed IT service provider, you’ll have access to some of the industry’s top talent.

Reduced Downtime

If your business relies on a healthy IT infrastructure to perform its daily operations, you should consider managed IT services. According to research, every hour a business’s network is offline costs that business roughly $100,000.

When your business’s IT infrastructure goes offline, you may be forced to spend additional time and resources to fix it. Managed IT services, however, will keep your IT infrastructure up and running.

And in the rare event that an outage occurs, the vendor will work around the clock to get it up and running again.

 

Lower Cost of Overhead

Finally, managed IT services can lower your business’s overhead costs. They’ll help you eliminate any unnecessary equipment or services while optimizing your IT infrastructure for maximum performance in the process.

If you have two high-performance servers sitting unused in your data center, for instance, the vendor may recommend removing them from your network. By lowering your business’s overhead, you’ll have more money to spend on other operations, such as marketing and sales.

These are just a few benefits of managed IT services. Whether you’re looking to save money on overhead, improve your IT infrastructure’s cybersecurity or protect against outages, you should consider a managed solution.

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