What does a Managed Services Provider do?
Learn everything about Managed Services Providers starting from what they are to what they do, how they work, and how can they benefit your business.
Google and other search engines get a large number of search queries every month on the keyword ‘what does a Managed Services Provider do’ that indicates so many people still are not well aware of what MSPs do. The one-liner definition of MSP would be it is a third-party entity that helps you manage your entire or a part of IT infrastructure. But then, for those who are looking for a holistic knowledge of MSPs, this one-liner will not help much. This is why we have come up with this short & succinct guide on Managed Services Provider (MSP) that include:
- What is a Managed Services Provider?
- What does Managed Services Providers do?
- How do Managed Services Providers work?
- How an MSP can benefit your Business?
So, let’s break it all one by one.
What is a Managed Services Provider?
A third-party entity you outsource your full or a part of IT system management to is called a Managed Services Provider. There are two ways you can get your IT system managed & maintained, either by getting Managed Services Consultants on board or by outsourcing the services to the MSPs. Most MSPs provide both options. The best part about MSPs is the managed services pricing offered by them. Most of them charge a monthly fee which is far less as compared to the capital that you invest in building and up-skilling an in-house team.
What does Managed Services Providers do?
Like any other modern business, you need to manage several ongoing IT tasks regularly. It may include keeping your equipment up & running, taking effective cybersecurity measures, hosting & monitoring your applications, and so on. However, you may or may not have the resources for the effective management of these tasks in-house. That’s where a Managed IT Service Company or a Managed Services Provider comes into the picture. In simple words, an MSP helps you remain focused on your primary business by helping you manage the smooth functioning of your systems, stay up-to-date & secure, troubleshoot technical issues, and much more.
Not all Managed Services Providers offer all the services. Here are a few services most of them provide:
- Complete IT Management
- Remote Monitoring and Management
- Procurement & Asset Management
- Stand-alone Help Desk
- Network Operations Center services
- Network Engineering
- Data Center Operations
- Data Center Management
- Service Desk (Remote or Onsite)
- Contact Center
How do Managed Services Providers work?
The first thing Managed Services Providers do is reviewing your current processes thoroughly and analyzing how you are accomplishing those. For example, it could be your payroll process or how your contracts are stored. Following that, they figure out opportunities that will improve the performance and maximize savings while reducing expenses. They also work on mitigating risks by finding challenges and liabilities within your processes that you were perhaps unaware of.
After they have completely analyzed the systems and uncovered the liabilities & opportunities, they create tailor-made solutions that go well with your business requirements. Finally, they work on the management and maintenance of your new processes.
How an MSP can benefit your Business?
With an extensive list of benefits, Managed Services Providers help you cope up with the challenges prevailing in the present IT landscape. Let’s have a sneak peek at some of these benefits one by one.
Benefit#1: Cost Reduction
As depicted by the report based on the CompTIA survey, 46% of companies that switched to managed IT services for their IT solutions reduced their annual IT costs by 25% or more. Moreover, 62% of the companies surveyed plan to increase their commitment to managed IT services. (https://www.channelfutures.com/business-models/managed-services-tech-cost-savings-vs-productivity-gains). With MSPs, the need for building & maintaining an in-house IT staff gets eliminated. Not just that, you don’t need to bear the heavy costs of resources, tools, and technology required for handling the IT tasks.
Benefit#2: Technical Expertise
Apart from the experience in managing diverse IT solutions, the expertise & knowledge that MSPs have, promise you greater accuracy and reduced liabilities & risks. With them, compliance with industry standards and government regulations is kind of assured.
Benefit#3: The Best-in-Class Resources, Tools, and Technology
Since, MSPs have top-of-the-range resources, tools & technology, they help you streamline your procedures & processes and improve the productivities. You gain better visibility and more insights that in turn helps you make informed decisions based on real-time analyses and information.
Benefit#4: Automation
Just now we talked about how MSPs streamline the IT processes and procedures. But that’s not all, the MSPs also help you reduce the time & money you spend by automating the tasks that are time-consuming, recurring, and tedious.
Benefit#5 Best Practices Followed
Most MSPs follow the best practices and so deliver the services correctly and quickly. Since they are exposed to working for different IT environments and have dealt with different IT issues in their journey, they know well what works where.
Benefit#6: 24*7 Support Services
The top Managed Service Providers deliver 24*7 support services. So, you can stay relax that there is always somebody sitting there to address and resolve your issues.
The Final Words
With more and more businesses turning to MSPs for their varied IT system management, the Managed Services industry is growing fast. In fact, according to a recent report, the global Managed Services Market size is projected to grow from USD 178.5 billion in 2019 to USD 309.4 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 9.6% over the forecast period. (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/managed-services-market-size-to-reach-usd-309-4-billion-by-2025---valuates-reports-301049291.html). And, why not? After all, MSPs not only help you lower your overall IT costs, remain up-to-date with technology, improve your service quality but also mitigate risks & errors.
In short, through MSPs, you enhance the performance of your IT systems while saving all — your time, money, resources, intellect, and energy. Moreover, if you are thinking about whether or not the MSPs provide Managed Services for top Cloud Service Providers like Microsoft Azure, then the good news is most of them do. If you are thinking “Is Azure a Managed Service?” Then, let us inform you, yes it is, and that several MSPs provide Managed Azure Services.
Hopefully, the guide serves your purpose of MSP research. Have something to say? Please share in the comments!
