Overview
ITCrats Managed services are the practice of outsourcing on a proactive basis certain procedures and functions intended to improve operations and cut expenses. Managed services are an alternative to the break/fix or on-demand outsourcing model where the service provider does on-demand services and bills the customer only for the work done.
In the ITCrats subscription model, the customer is the entity that owns or has direct oversight of the organization or system being managed whereas the Managed Services Provider is the service provider delivering the managed services. The client and the managed service provider are bound by a contract, service-level agreement that states the performance and quality metrics of their relationship.
Accept managed service is intended to be a proper way to adopt the latest technology, have access to skills, and address issues related to cost, quality of service, and risk. As the IT infrastructure components of many organizations are migrating to the cloud, with managed services providers increasingly facing the challenge of cloud computing, several managed services providers are providing on-premises cloud services or acting as brokers with cloud services providers. A recent survey claims that a lack of knowledge and expertise in cloud computing rather than offerors' reluctance, appears to be the main obstacle to this transition.
Pros of Managed services
IT personnel command high pay due to the complexity and rarity of their skill set. For SMBs, the costs of retaining an IT staff can be forbidding. With outsourced IT, your company can avoid the costs of retaining an in-house IT staff and allocate more money toward expanding the business. Organizations that handle IT in-house are often saddled financially and time-wise by the tasks involved with computing. All that time & money spent on research and implementation in the computing area could instead be reserved for the main strengths of your company. Then, in turn, you can pass these savings to your customers in the form of lower-priced products and memberships.
Likewise, the amount of money that could be swallowed up in unforeseen computing problems is a troubling concern. Once you determine to outsource your company’s IT to manage service providers, you’ll always know what you will be paying month-to-month for maximum IT functionality and security. If your computing system is small, you can pay for the minimum requirement of IT and scale up as your system arsenal grows in proportion to your business. You can measure back and pay for what you need depending on seasonal trends and how they impact your computing needs.
Despite their wide-ranging skills, most IT staffers do have their limitations. Sometimes, an issue is liable to arise that could leave a given IT tech pro confounded. When you outsource your IT, your in-house computing maintenance needs are not restricted to the skills of whomever you may have on staff. With a managed service provider, your computing needs are covered in all ways.
The time it takes to train IT, applicants, on the details of your organizations computing infrastructure can drain your business of resources you could use in other areas. This can be especially draining if IT staff come and go, and the skills of those who do apply run the range. With a managed service provider, you don’t have to reserve time for in-house training or worry about changeovers in personnel and quality among an IT staff.
For most SMBs, IT issues are a secondary or tertiary area of knowledge. Unless your business is straight involved in the IT industry, how can you really gauge the skill-level of an IT applicant, let alone train that individual on the in and out of your in-house computing system? When you outsource IT tasks to manage service providers, you never have to be distracted by these confusing questions. Some of the world’s largest corporations keep their IT departments in-house simply because they have the money to hire the best talent in the field. The majority of SMBs, on the other hand, lack the resources to hire top-level IT talent. With IT outsourcing, the playing field is leveled because in manage service providers are staffed with the caliber of talent demanded by big companies. Best of all, manage service providers offer top-of-the-line expertise at rates affordable to SMBs.
In the world of computing, new issues and challenges emerge every day. An isolated IT employee who has spent years in the same office will typically have a knowledge-span limited to the problems known to that company. By contrast, the staff at a manage service provider will be experienced in a much wider range of computing issues, having serviced companies across the private and government sectors. Manage service providers take IT extremely seriously and are on-the-ball nonstop regarding all matters pertaining to the field. When you outsource to a managed service provider, your company receives IT service with the utmost discipline.
When IT responsibilities are outsourced to a managed service provider, your in-house staff can focus on the more pressing day-to-day concerns of business. Even if you have local IT personnel, and managed service provider can handle the heavy lifting and allow your computing staff to focus on more immediate concerns, free of maintenance troubles. In-house productivity becomes far more efficient and streamlined. With a manage service provider at your service, your team can focus on their core strengths and leave IT tasks to be qualified, off-site personnel whose own core strengths cover the full range of IT-related issues.
- Immediate Implementation.
- Whenever your company needs to have a program implemented, an MSB can perform the task instantly and have the whole thing up and running with network-wide compatibility. If you keep these tasks in-house, the steps that involve program implementation and network adaptability could leave your operations in limbo for weeks on end. With outsourced IT, you don’t have to pause your regular operations waiting for implementations.
- Improved Customer Service.
- A managed service provider works behind the scenes from an external location to serve you on an ongoing basis. As this is happening, your business could regularly witness improved customer satisfaction thanks to the virtual elimination of service interruptions and downtime. With outsourced IT, your company will rarely, if ever, be beset with problems such as downed customer-support lines and unresponsive online sales portals.
- Reduce Risk.
- When you have a managed service provider working behind the scenes on your side, you virtually eliminate the possibility of downtime or cyber-attacks. The problems that could set a company back and damage its reputation, such as long periods of website inoperability or breaches of credit card information, are taken off the table when you outsource IT to third-party specialists. Some of the more troubling aspects of computing technology involve compliance issues and changing laws and regulations at the national and international levels. Part of the job for a managed service provider is to keep on top of these developments to ensure that you are always in compliance.
Cons of Managed services
A huge downside to signing up with a Manage Service Provider is that many of these companies are not local to your business. When an issue like a printer malfunction comes up, you may need to get involved yourself to resolve it, as Manage Service Providers manage your technology remotely. With that said, if you choose a local Manage Service Provider (at least within your state), it may offer onsite support. However, you will usually have to pay extra for a physical visit to the office.
Make no mistake, having a reputable Manage Service Provider is expensive. You will likely pay upfront fees and at least a few hundred dollars a month, depending on the size of your business and your technical needs. Remember to factor in what a Manage Service Provider will save you in other areas, though – for instance, if it provides technology that you will never have to purchase yourself.
The scope of work that a Manage Service Provider provides almost never covers every single area of technology. A Manage Service Provider will typically provide you with a list of applications it supports (Microsoft Office, Google Chrome, etc.). When you call about an issue with third-party software that's not on its supported list or in the contract, you are likely out of luck.
ITCrats Managed Services Model
ITCrats managed services model is a distinct kind of outsourcing that covers all IT functions. This is also known as the fully outsourced model. In the ITCrats managed services model, the provider takes over all the technology decisions. However, these decisions must be within the parameters that the business has set. The only significant role the business has in the managed services model is to review the processes.
The managed IT service provider is a company that works remotely to manage its customer’s IT infrastructure and/or end-user systems. This is a proactive approach and part of a subscription model.
What are the Benefits of the ITCrats Managed Services Model?
There are various benefits of the ITCrats managed services model, including the following four below:
- Risk Reduction – In the ITCrats managed services model, the provider takes all the risks. If something harms the technology in any way, the provider is the one who is responsible to repair it.
- Fixed Cost – It indicates a month-on-month payment that will never vary. This way your company will know precisely how much it will need to budget for its IT.
- Knowledge Retention – Since an outsourced vendor runs the company’s IT department, there is no employee turnover. The managed IT services provider will keep the information about your company on file. They will also bring expertise from previous clients to your company.
- Focus on Core Business – The ITCrats managed services model will free up the rest of your employees from any IT concerns. It will also scale out any processes that are not helping the company reach its goals.
The managed services model is one that ITCrats knows extremely well. As a managed IT service provider, we help to streamline IT departments and increase overall efficiency for numerous companies.