What Are Managed IT Services?

What Are Managed IT Services?

Managed IT services can be described as the external IT department for businesses. Information Technology (IT) operations are an essential part of most businesses; however, managing IT operations requires a level of skill that is outside the specialization of most businesses. That is where Managed IT Services comes to the rescue as it can save your business both time and money.

Managed IT services are the Information Technology operations of a business, outsourced to a third-party organization that specializes in information technology. These third-party service providers are referred to as Managed Service Providers (MSPs). MSPs provide a spectrum of services for businesses, depending on what is needed by each business.

Outsourcing IT operations enables businesses to focus on their core operations, thereby improving efficiency and maximizing profit.

Every business, ranging from small scale businesses (SMBs) to large scale businesses, are leveraging information technology to grow their businesses.

However, having a full-blown IT department is not usually cost-effective for SMBs. As a result, SMBs are typical MSP customers. Larger enterprises may also hire MSPs; for instance, government agencies facing budget pressure and hiring limitations may partner with an MSP to supplement their in-house IT staff.

 

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In the 1990s, the use of IT was minor and could easily be managed by in-house IT personnel; they only solicited the help of an external specialist whenever there was a complication. But as technology progressed and became an integral part of business operations, IT operations became more complicated for most in-house IT personnel.

The emergence of Managed Services providers eases the IT task of companies and businesses.

In a managed service arrangement, the managed service provider assumes the responsibility for the functionality of the IT service and equipment as agreed upon in a Service Level Agreement (SLA), and the customer typically pays a monthly fee for receipt of the service.

There are many different types of managed IT service offerings. Still, the idea behind all of them is to transfer the burden of maintaining IT from the business to a service provider.

A Managed Service provider may provide 24/7/360 monitoring, proactive measures, upgrading, fixing of issues before they break etc.

How did managed IT services come to be? Why don't businesses just hire in-house IT personnel or hire a technician whenever something breaks? What prompted this unique style of service? Let's take a quick look at how it originated by answering these questions.

History of Managed IT Providers

At the inception of enterprise computing in the 90s, information technology services and management were on a break-fix basis; that is, computer systems were only managed by an expert when they stopped working and required a technician to fix.

This technician also may have been the person who built or installed the computer system, due to the proliferation of small IT shops that specialized in these small-scale client services at the time.

However, as time progressed, computer manufacturing grew to a large scale, leaving the small IT dealer to focus less on manufacturing and more on break-fix. This system was time-consuming, labor-intensive, costly, and reactive. It did not allow the technician room to grow their business or take on new clients without massive investments in labor and infrastructure.

As computing devices increased yearly, the divide between break-fix technicians and the number of computers they could reasonably service under the break/fix model grew wider and wider. Managed IT services emerged in the early 2000s to meet this need, shifting far from the break/fix model.

Managed IT service providers heralded a proactive approach to IT, attempting to conduct maintenance, upgrades, system monitoring, and issue resolution on a routine basis, to prevent problems before they started.

Automation increased Internet capabilities, and cloud computing allowed for monitoring and issue resolution to be provided remotely, enabling more efficient processes and a consolidation of resources.

Efficiency, consolidated resources, and client satisfaction—and fixed rates—became the industry-standard approach to managing computer systems both large and small for SMBs. The ability to offer more significant service offerings and take on a more extensive clientele also became the standard.

Source: https://www.continuum.net/resources/mspedia/managed-it-services-overview

 
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The Myth About MSPs and when to Consider Either Break-fix or MSP

Tech Studio Mac and PC Repair provides both MSP and Break-fix services depending on the business and how they operate.

Organizations sometimes feel that managed services are just too expensive. They would rather wait and pay for repairs, consulting, and hourly rates when disaster strikes rather than paying the monthly expenses of monitoring and preventative maintenance.

We understand and appreciate that our clients know more about what their budget can handle than we do; however, they are often amazed by the fact that managed services can be more cost effective than traditional break-fix services, especially when the actual cost of downtime is included.

In the long run, the cost of resolving a problem caused by lack of foresight, combined with lost revenue while your systems are down, has the potential to far outweigh the costs of managed services.

The 24/7 monitoring and maintenance offered by managed services reduce the probability of experiencing outages. By detecting and solving issues as they occur and taking proactive measures to ensure problems don’t materialize, you are likely to spend far less on repairs than you would on managed services.

However, the cost of managed IT services is less than the fully loaded cost of hiring a full-time employee. Managed services can also provide stability and continuity if you are experiencing employee turnover in your IT department.

However, because managed services models typically define fixed standardized services, they may offer less flexibility than purchasing a block of hours of break-fix services. If your IT environment is always in flux, frequently changing the terms of your managed service contract to accommodate system changes may require additional work and eliminate one of the critical features of managed services, predictable costs.

Break-fix support might be the most suitable model for your business if the size of your business is medium to large size, and you have internal IT staff capable of maintaining your IT services when your on-site technologist can resolve issues and downtime when problems arise. Then MSP can just be a supplement to your internal IT staff.

Tech Services Provided By Managed Service Providers

There are tons of services provided by the managed service providers depending on the business, size of the business from small to large scale business, the level at which they operate, and so on. The following services are a few of the most common types of services we offer at Tech Studio Mac and PC Repair:

Network Monitoring

At Tech Studio Mac and PC Repair, we continuously monitor computer networks to check for slow or failing components and send a notification to the network administrator in case of failures or any other problems. We ensure that there’s no network outage at any time, 24/7 all year long.

Software Production, Support, and Maintenance

This makes it easier for us to offer our services through remote monitoring and the use of management software that monitors businesses at the lowest cost.

Remote monitoring and management

Remote software allows us to remotely troubleshoot and solve problems with servers and endpoint devices. In this way, we can manage many IT systems simultaneously and effectively.

 

Data Backup and Recovery

Your business data is crucial. If data is lost, accidentally deleted or corrupted, the result can be catastrophic on your business. Tech Studio Mac and PC Repair proactively provides backups that can be used to recover lost data.

Cloud computing

We help in the transition from the old methods of handling and storing your data to newer, more efficient methods. We improve your computing power without direct active management by your company’s in-house IT.

Upgrading

We help you set up your business with the latest technology that best fits your business so that you can increase your revenue. We upgrade all technology that needs to be upgraded and let you know when hardware upgrades are necessary.

Security

As cybersecurity is a significant concern to most organizations, we help you secure your business. We are skilled in several methods of prevention and monitoring of unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of a computer network and network-accessible resources.

Repair Tech

We are the best in repairing any damages that can happen to your gadgets. We offer on-site services when you contact us.

Benefits of using Managed Service Providers

There are many benefits when you hire Tech Studio Mac and PC Repair. These are:

Expertise

We have all the necessary skills to ensure your business is up to date with the latest technology. We use our expertise and experience to meet your business' IT needs. Your mind is at rest that an expert is running your IT chores, so you are left to focus on running your business successfully.

Proactive support

At Tech Studio Mac and PC Repair, we are quick to identify problems before they emerge rather than later fixing them, which may lead to downtime. We ensure that your IT infrastructure and software are upgraded and updated to minimize risks such as downtime, viruses, and crashes.

Consultation and planning

If you are looking for the best IT service provider, we are number one. We are readily available for your consultation, and we give you strategic planning of how your business is going to stand out among its peers.

Accessibility

We are just a tap away from you. We are easily accessible to perform on-site services and gadget repair. We are fast and efficient in our work as we are aware that not responding on time can hurt your business.

Monitoring

Tech Studio Mac and PC Repair provide round the clock monitoring and managing of all your information technology affairs, including issues with applications and Infrastructure to guarantee comfort and security.

Cost-effective Help

We provide cost-effective services, especially to SMBs, that can't afford in-house IT staff. Our pricing is significantly reduced when compared to paying wages to IT, and we give you all you need.

Reliable, professional, and experienced

These are the characteristics you will find in us at Tech Studio Mac and PC Repair, and they are all characteristics that are not genuinely revealed without the passage of time. When considering a new IT Support company or a new technician, the best way to confirm the authenticity of the service provider is to talk with their customers. You can visit our social media pages to feel the astonishing remarks from our customers on how we contribute to the growth of their businesses.

Certification of your IT service provider can also be considered when choosing an IT provider. Still, this metric doesn't guarantee the excellence of the technical skills they will offer your business. If your service provider is lagging in the current technology, it will impact your business.

Accessibility and availability

If your IT service provider is not accessible or available when you urgently need them on-site, you need to have a rethink and partner with another service provider that has branches locally to avoid the risk of downtime at all times.

Communication gap

If you find it challenging to understand your MSP technical terms, you should feel free to communicate with them to come down to your level, and you should be able to express your business desires to them and understand each other to reach a great conclusion.

The Effect of your IT Service Provider on your business

Since IT services are an integral part of businesses, your choice of IT service provider can either make or break your business. One of the disadvantages of having an unsuitable IT provider is that they won't consider the uniqueness of your business operations and, thus, the specific IT needs that your business requires.

Every business has systems and activities that are specific to them; a qualified IT service provider will take these systems and activities into consideration while developing the spectrum of IT services they will provide for your business, which means that IT services provided are tailor-made given the specific operation of each business.

At Tech Studio Mac and PC repair, we first define the scope of our services, given your specific needs. We hold a meeting with you to ensure that we do not leave anything out. Based on your needs, we will let you know our average response time, the number of technicians we will allocate to your business, and so on. We will equip you with the skills of how to report problems, that is, how to distinguish the severity of different types of issues and our response time for each level of severity.

Depending on your specific needs, managed IT services at Tech Studio starts at $149.0/month. Tech Studio should be your first choice of Managed IT services in the Los Angeles area. We do not only serve your business; we partner with your business to make IT happen. Our dedication and support have earned us over 50,000 customers. There is a reason why our customers refer us to their friends who are also business owners.

Choose Tech Studio and make IT happen for your business.

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