The ever increasing demand for efficient and cost-effective business processes has led many companies to seek third party providers that will assist them in running their business operations. These independent providers mostly specialise in managed IT services. Basically, these are IT support companies that offer a wide range of services to businesses of any size and in any industry.
While many large corporations have their internal IT systems and structures, small to medium enterprises typically don’t have enough resources to maintain their own. Hence, they recognise the need to offload certain IT functions to managed IT services providers to allow their in-house team to focus on their core business goals. These service providers offer packaged or tailored services to businesses that aim to simplify the latter’s business operations through their constant monitoring and management of the IT systems within the organisation.
What Managed IT Services Can Do for Your Business?
IT management services as a kind of service offering are a wide spectrum that includes a variety of IT support solutions. As the IT needs of today’s businesses are constantly changing, it may not always be possible to easily adapt to the latest trends in technology without the help of specialised IT service providers. Hence, with managed IT services you can fully maximise the benefits of information technology and the latest updates in the IT industry in running your day-to-day business operations.
There are many components and facets of IT management services. Given the fact that the field of information technology is quite broad, there are several IT functions that managed service providers can offer to their clients. Below are the basic examples:
Database administration. It refers to the IT function that involves the management and maintenance of database management systems software, such as Oracle and SQL server. Efficient business operations require proper management of data including employee records, payroll, accounting, inventory, and more, and managed IT services can assist you in that aspect.
This type of service requires the skills of specialised IT personnel called database engineers and database administrators who will install, configure and upgrade database servers, software and other related products.
Desktop support and maintenance. This IT function addresses the hardware and software needs of the company’s workstations in order to improve productivity and operational efficiency. While most companies have their in-house IT team to handle this task, IT support companies can offer this service remotely to businesses and organisations that do not have enough resources to maintain their internal IT infrastructure and staff. Managed IT services providers conduct occasional on-site visits to deliver prompt solutions to client companies’ hardware or infrastructure issues.
Disaster recovery. Natural disasters such as fire, earthquakes, flooding, etc. can happen to any individual, business and organisation. There are also other disastrous events that can significantly put your business operations at risk, including power loss, cyber attacks and equipment failures. In such cases, a disaster recovery plan is essential to mitigate potential losses that your business may experience.
Disaster recovery as part of managed IT services includes taking steps that aim to minimise the negative effects of a disaster, allowing your company to continue its core business functions during and after the disaster. These action steps may include restoring the company’s mainframes or servers with backups and provisioning local area networks to meet your business immediate needs.
Network monitoring. This is an essential IT function as this is the process of managing all network-related services, such as connection to servers, Internet, common printers, communication mediums, video and audio conferences, and the like. Managed IT services deal with issues related to these network-related services through network monitoring that is done 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Reasons for Seeking Managed IT Services
There are a variety of reasons why companies of any size seek managed IT services from an independent provider. Among the most common reasons include the company’s need to improve operations and cut costs. Not all companies can afford to maintain a high end IT facility and recruit highly skilled IT personnel, especially small and medium sized businesses. On the other hand, large corporations may find it more practical to outsource certain IT functions to a third party provider than to expand their in-house team to accommodate their constantly growing IT demands.
Managed IT services do not necessarily offer a one-for-all solution to your business IT requirements. Instead, they can offer tailored services that will suit your business size, needs and finances. To learn how tapping these managed IT services can help your organisation, it is advisable to talk to a reliable service provider near you.
