What is a Managed Service provider?

New to Managed Services? Here's what to expect from a Managed Service provider, or MSP.

What is a Managed Service Provider (MSP)?

A managed service provider (MSP) is a third-party outsourcer or organisation that manages or delivers IT services, such as the devices, network, infrastructure and security management for businesses, nonprofits and government agencies.

MSPs perform day-to-day management services through ongoing and regular support in their MSP data centre (hosting), customers’ premises or a third-party data centre, accountable for deciding which services and technologies are required to fulfil clients’ needs.

Managed service providers are essentially an extension of the IT team, ensuring your business’ IT systems are operational and secure, assisting any business function effectively. MSPs originally only applied to the infrastructure of device service types, but the term now includes continuous IT management and support.

Managed service provider services can:

Incorporate security and monitoring
Incorporate network application and infrastructure management, including working with software, hardware and cloud technology.

Business models for MSPs can vary, depending on the outsourcer, from service delivery to support.

Service delivery involves:

MSPs managing IT systems and functions on behalf of their clients remotely
MSPs managing onsite and cloud applications.

Support can vary based on the client’s budget, needs and availability.

Every managed service provider can work differently and may operate under a subscription model, helping organisations choose the coverage that suits the budget and level of assistance needed. The goal for MSPs is to offer services that are cheaper than it would cost for a company to perform the work themselves at a higher level of quality with a flexible and scalable approach.

All managed service providers will provide a service level agreement (SLA) with their clients, outlining the level of service expected, the metrics on how the services are measured, and any penalties if the MSP doesn’t achieve the service levels.

MSPs will handle the day-to-day management services for your organisation, helping businesses worry less about issues arising in technological systems.

What are the Benefits of Using Managed Service Providers?

Keeping Up To Date With IT Trends

Many in-house teams can’t keep up with the evolution of IT trends, ensuring business systems are working efficiently for success. This is where a managed service provider comes into play, as outsourcers who remotely manage and deliver IT services for businesses of all sizes, reducing the worry of a failed system.

Working with an MSP reaps many benefits for your business, from cost efficiency to industry expertise.

MSPs are Budget Friendly

When running a business, knowing your expenses is fundamental. With failed IT systems and constant problems evolving, costs can rack up, paying an unnecessary amount in the short term.

With MSPs, you’ll pay a fixed monthly rate for their services, which is a more effective way to pay, securing day-to-day management services and ensuring the resolution of issues quickly with regular monitoring. A managed service provider secures the infrastructure for a set rate rather than employing an in-house person, which can be more costly.

A Managed Service Provider Provides a Flexible IT Solution

MSPs have a flexible approach to working, and cost efficiency is one advantage. Flexibility is also how the MSPs can work with your company, benefiting you from a financial and operational perspective.

If you require 24/7 support or only within office hours, an MSP can work on your timeline, giving you managed IT support when your business needs it.

MSPs Help Businesses Avoid Downtime

An MSP’s flexible approach can help your business avoid downtime, as rather than being reactive, you can be proactive when it comes to your IT system.

As they provide regular monitoring, they can spot and resolve an issue, maximising uptime and minimising downtime. In any moment of downtime, you can lose money as operations can’t continue, and why hiring an MSP is valuable to your business functioning.

MSPs have IT Expertise to Match Your Needs

Every business wants a top level of expertise for their IT management, and MSPs can provide that. They can invest in new pieces of technology in a way individual companies cannot due to a lack of experience. These projects can take expertise and time to find the right specialist in-house, which can cost money, and why using an MSP will benefit you.

MSPs have access to expert resources and can advise you on improving business processes, resulting in better performance.

MSPs Monitor 24/7

MSPs can offer 24/7 monitoring for your IT network using network monitoring tools, providing cloud management and system visibility. Regular monitoring can help spot any potential disasters and help resolve the issue before recovery is needed. SLAs can help an MSP map out what exactly this process will look like, laying out the obligations of the MSP to monitor the system.

If an organisation lacks skills from their workers, an MSP can provide the work without the need to be employed by the company. MSPs can help clients gain relevant insight and innovative thinking and train the existing team.

two men in manufacturing industrial plant reviewing laptop

What are Managed Service Providers Used For?

Managed service providers offer external, outsourced IT support for companies to maintain their systems, generally when companies don’t have the resources in-house to provide this insight.

Services can be offered from working-hours support to 24/7 monitoring, depending on the type and size of your company. Small and medium businesses are usually most popular with MSPs as they have limited in-house IT capacity. However, larger companies still require MSP support due to hiring limitations or supplementing the insight of in-house staff. Specific industries, including finance, also work with MSPs to ensure compliance with industry regulations and management on protecting data.

MSPs can be used for various IT support for businesses, handling the complex work involved with the management of IT infrastructure to monitoring systems. The typical services of MSPs include:

Infrastructure management - including servers, networks, mobile devices and computers.
Cloud services management - migrating and managing cloud infrastructure to optimise performance.
Cyber security management - including incident response and threat detection, protecting clients from data breaches.
Backup and recovery management - implementing backup and mishap recovery plans, ensuring your business is covered when failure or disruption occurs.
Auditing - auditing your current IT systems to understand their capabilities and gaps. Every MSP has their process, helping you implement or support an appropriate solution.
Project management - helping drive a project for success, involving resource identification and allocation, providing processes and best practices, ensuring that the project stays on a suitable timeline and budget, and keeping your company on track.

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