It’s no secret that the current economy is forcing companies to find ways to save money. It’s also no secret that technology — and your IT department — is more important now than ever, thanks to an
ever-evolving e-business world. Making sure your company’s technology is performing at optimum levels is vital.
Since companies need to cut costs without sacrificing quality, everyday IT tasks that once were outsourced are now being brought in house. This is a good solution, except for the fact that it spreads your already stretched IT staff even thinner.
Thankfully, there is a solution that will help you cut IT costs while maintaining quality: managed services. A collection of IT support services, managed services solutions help you to avoid and mitigate IT failures that can have a negative impact on your business.
“Managed services programs have a high emphasis on front-end, proactive services, such as monitoring, identifying and mitigating challenges before they impact your business,” says Vince Lamb, the vice president of managed services at Technology Integration Group (TIG). “A good managed services provider will assume responsibility for your IT and proactively manage the key performance indicators within your IT operating environment.”
Smart Business spoke with Lamb about managed services, how they can benefit your company and what to look for in a managed services provider.
What are managed services and how do they compare to outsourcing?
Outsourcing is taking an internal function and contracting an outside source to perform that work. Managed services are a collaborative effort between you and your service provider with emphasis on proactive monitoring and management of an IT operating environment. People within a company sometimes consider outsourcing as a threat to their jobs. Managed services are different in that they place the emphasis on the reallocation of resources to strategic core business initiatives.
These days, everyone is strapped for cash. But, you have to keep up with the fast pace of technology. Managed services handle mundane IT tasks so that you and your technology staff can focus on current and new strategic business endeavors.
What benefits do managed services offer?
Managed services free up IT resources and help to reduce costs without sacrificing quality. Your IT staff can focus on aligning with business goals without worrying about day-to-day operations and reactive support. Another benefit is that managed services are typically offered at a flat monthly fee. So when issues or incidences arise, they can be resolved easily and your fee will remain basically the same.
With managed services in place, your IT environment is constantly monitored. So, instead of reacting when things break, you can proactively remediate issues. In addition, a good managed services program will be able to react to the problems that can’t be planned for, so you’re covered no matter what. A good program is flexible and modular — it can scale up or scale back as your business requires.
Additional managed services offerings include adding expertise to your staff where you don’t have it or don’t require a full time person (i.e. Oracle support, VMware or security). Software as a Service (SaaS) is a type of managed service that allows you to add tools you need without upfront capital expenditure and the hardware and skills needed to deploy and manage the tool.
If a company explores managed services what outcomes can it expect?
First, you have to define what managed services are appropriate for you and your company. Usually this entails a combination of identifying what elements of IT are core to your business, and also identifying what commodity items a managed services provider can potentially manage. From there you can determine exactly what you need and when you’ll need it. You’ll be able to predict IT costs, so you’ll have consistent spending. Managed services also offer a proactive analysis of your operating environment, remote monitoring tools, less reactivity for operations, more scheduled maintenance and the ability to measure results via monthly or quarterly reports from the managed services provider. Managed services will allow you to focus on your business and not on IT.
What should a company look for when considering a managed services provider?
Look for a company that’s stable, one that will be around tomorrow. You’ll also want a provider that is willing to commit to service level agreements (SLAs). The No. 1 reason managed services agreements fail is a lack of clarity on expectations. An SLA will help mitigate that.
Find a provider that’s proven and experienced, one with a battery of resources to find issues and solve them, not just run tools in the background. Every service provider out there wants to get into managed services — they want the predictability of recurring revenue. You need to find the one that will best service your company’s needs. A good managed services provider will provide recognizable value and will truly care about you and your business. It will focus on all aspects of your business, offering you proactive and predictable solutions while saving you money.
Finally, look for a provider that’s willing to sit down with you on a monthly or quarterly basis to review the program. This gives everyone involved a chance to make sure they remain on the same page, highlight successes and discuss areas that need improvement.
Vince Lamb is the vice president of managed services at Technology Integration Group (TIG). Reach him at (858) 566-1900 x3300 or [email protected].
