What Are Managed IT Services?
Managed IT Services provide a means of outsourcing the implementation, management, and maintenance of your IT infrastructure to a third-party managed services provider. In return for the continued management of their IT systems, the client typically pays the third-party vendor a monthly fee for support, technical assistance, and the day-to-day management of their managed IT service and other managed services used.
The company providing the Managed IT Services is referred to as a Managed Service Provider (MSP). They work around the clock to monitor the entire IT infrastructure of their client and provide ongoing technical support where needed. This support may include critical first-, second-, and third-line support, such as IT operation, managed services, security management, remote application hosting services, and endpoint device governance.
What Services Are Usually Included in Managed Services?
The services offered under a managed services model can vary depending upon the individual needs of their client. In most circumstances, the service is unique to the client. This is because a white-glove approach to managed services often produces the best results for the client.
Here, we will have a closer look at some commonly managed services:
24/7 Support Services & Monitoring
Managed IT services typically offer their clients 24/7 support services and remote monitoring of managed computer systems. This means that the Managed Service Provider will be available around the clock to ensure the smooth operation of your managed IT services infrastructure and to address any problems as they arise.
24/7 monitoring allows the Managed Service Provider to proactively identify problems early on and to address them straight away, helping to minimize unplanned downtime and enhance business productivity, both in and out of hours. This could include tasks such as monitoring servers, infrastructure monitoring, network monitoring, updating software, improving system performance, and performing regular backups and restores.
This service is particularly important for small and medium-sized businesses that may not have the resources to employ full-time IT support staff around the clock in-house. Outsourcing desk support and IT system monitoring needs to an MSP delivers big advantages; you can be assured that service never sleeps and the IT systems are being maintained to the highest standards throughout the day.
Proactive Maintenance
By actively monitoring a client’s IT infrastructure, an MSP can take proactive steps to prevent issues before they occur. Proactive maintenance as a managed service could involve monthly security patching, regular software updates, hardware checks, and performance optimization.
Proactive maintenance reduces the need for reactive break fixes. Needless to say, support is available when the unexpected happens, but a proactive approach and professional services automation reduces the probability of having to resort to reactive maintenance.
Data Backups & Recovery
With an ever-increasing reliance on data, businesses must ensure that they have effective and up-to-date data integrity and data security procedures in place. With this in mind, data backups and recovery are incredibly important and a commonly requested feature of all managed service models.
Data backup involves regularly making copies of important data and storing these copies in a secure location. We recommend the 3-2-1 approach to data protection, this ensures that if the original, sensitive data is lost, it can be easily recovered from a backup kept in various locations. MSPs typically offer a variety of backup options, including on-site and off-site backups, as well as cloud-based replicated backups.
Additionally, MSPs typically provide their clients with a disaster recovery planning (DRP) service. This involves creating a comprehensive plan for dealing with disasters and minimizing any impact on the business. A proven backup strategy is a vital part of the DRP. The purpose of disaster recovery planning is to identify potential risks, develop response plans, and test those plans to ensure that they are effective for your business continuity.
Managed Security services
Managed security services help to protect organizations from any cybersecurity threats, including cyberattacks. These services typically offer remote assistance and include advanced threat detection, vulnerability assessment, security audits, penetration testing, and incident response. Many of the specialized security solutions offered by an MSP may not typically be available to an organization’s in-house teams.
One of the hardest things to achieve for security compliance is accurate logging and auditing. The volume of logs created by modern security software is highly verbose; as a result, you may feel overwhelmed by the volume of alerts and information you receive.
The best-managed service providers use intelligent tool sets and operating systems that only alert against issues that deviate from normal operations. Using SIEM tools, AI, and human interaction, logging platforms can distinguish genuine issues from false positives, and understand what issues require further investigation. This is where the power of Managed Security Services shines.
Cloud Services
Transitioning to the cloud can be a massive undertaking for businesses that do not already have a cloud presence. It requires significant planning, resources, and expertise to make cloud migration a success. The benefits of moving to the cloud are significant, including cost reductions, access to advanced managed services, and the ability for a business to rapidly scale up to meet growing demand.
Working with an MSP helps to simplify this process for businesses and organizations. An MSP can help their clients to transition their infrastructure into the cloud. Look for professional services that focus on cloud migration, and pay particular attention to those that include helpful migration services.
The help available varies on your requirements; cloud providers can offer a light touch advice service to help you get started, or you can reach out for end-to-end support on the entire migration process. Cloud providers’ service offerings include virtual machines, storage solutions, and a comprehensive range of resources tailored to meet diverse business needs.
With a strong emphasis on security and compliance, Atlantic.Net’s cloud services provide businesses with a flexible and resilient enterprise computing foundation, empowering businesses to optimize performance, enhance scalability, and strategically position their business to become a cloud-first organization in the near future.
Consultancy
MSPs may offer a range of expert consultancy services to their clients as a means of improving and simplifying their daily IT operations. These consultancy services could include IT services, strategy consulting, project management information technology consulting, and security consulting.
Atlantic.Net offers a wide range of managed Consulting Services as part of its Managed IT Services that go beyond conventional hosting solutions, adding a layer of deep security and offering clients a tailored approach through 4-Tiered Managed Consulting Service packages (CAP). The choice of CAP depends on the system architecture and support needs of each enterprise.
- Tier 1: Fundamental support is provided, covering basic configurations and the installation of applications like Filezilla.
- Tier 2: This tier focuses on web hosting environments, managing application service providers such as cPanel or Plesk, and providing support for seamless site migrations.
- Tier 3: Advancing to high-level, customized applications; tier 3 encompasses tasks like recompiling kernels and configuring advanced clustering programs like Heartbeat and DRBD.
- Tier 4: At the highest level, Tier 4 delivers top-tier support, including critical services like Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing for large organizations managing multiple ISPs. This tier also includes expert database administration, compliance audits, and the implementation of bleeding-edge technologies.
Each tier ensures a comprehensive and specialized level of service quality, with Tier 4 support conducted by seasoned engineers adept at handling complex technological landscapes.
Endpoint Management
A common managed service is the remote monitoring and management of endpoint devices, such as laptops, desktops, and mobile devices. MSPs can work to ensure that endpoints are always updated, functional, and secure. Endpoint-managed services could include software updates, patch management, antivirus and malware protection, remote management, and ongoing device monitoring.
Vendor Management
MSPs can provide vendor management services, which allow them to manage third-party contractor relationships on behalf of their client. This may include third-party vendor selection, contract negotiation, and the continued monitoring of vendor performance. These tasks all help to ensure that clients are receiving value from their third-party contractors in support of a reliable managed IT service.
Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory compliance is essential for any business or organization, but strict compliance regulations can be hard to navigate. An MSP can help to simplify this process for its clients, helping them to comply with relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS. Their input could include compliance assessments, policy development, and ongoing compliance monitoring. These tasks, provided by compliance experts, aim to reduce the significant risks associated with non-compliance.
Managed IT Services vs. Cloud Services – What’s the Difference?
Managed IT services and Managed Cloud Services are both types of managed IT services, but they have several key differences, which we will explore below:
Managed IT Services
A Managed IT Service Provider generally offers a wide range of services, managing and supporting an organization’s entire IT infrastructure. This comprehensive selection of services may include managing servers, networks, and endpoints, as well as providing data backup, strategic IT planning, help desk services, managed print services, and cybersecurity services to other organizations.
Unlike a cloud service provider, MSPs can provide their services either on-premises remotely, or through a hybrid structure, depending on the needs and requirements of their clients. For businesses with an internal IT team, it is often preferable to work with an MSP that can manage on-premises infrastructure, including local servers, workstations, and networking equipment.
Managed IT services often involve a fixed monthly subscription, which provides an “all-inclusive” range of services. This all-inclusive pricing structure allows businesses to predict and monitor their monthly expenditure.
Cloud Services
Cloud Service Providers are a subset of managed IT services, which provide provisions such as software, storage, security, and processing power over the Internet. Cloud services primarily involve hosting data, cloud-based applications, and entire IT environments on remote servers. This provides organizations with unparalleled scalability and flexibility.
Cloud Services can be deployed using public, private, or hybrid cloud deployment models depending on the unique security and scalability business requirements. Leveraging cloud computing technologies can help to reduce the need for extensive on-premises hardware.
While MSPs can provide a degree of scalability, this is not comparable to the instant scalability offered by the cloud services providers. For businesses with varying workloads, cloud service providers allow businesses to rapidly adjust their computing resources to align with current demand.
Many cloud service providers offer a flexible pay-as-you-go price or the per-user model. This means that clients only pay for the services they use rather than paying a fixed fee. For businesses with variable workloads, this can often result in significant cost savings.
Choosing Between Managed IT Services and Cloud Service Providers
Whether you choose to work with an MSP or a cloud service provider will depend upon the specific needs and requirements of your business. You should take time to consider the merits of each service provider, thinking about your individual IT budget, the complexity and scale of your internal IT systems, and your specific IT service needs and requirements.
Benefits of Managed IT Services
Leveraging managed IT services can offer significant benefits to organizations and businesses of all sizes. These benefits include:
Bridging the Skills Gap
Often, the skills possessed by a business’s workforce do not align fully with the skills required to support their IT infrastructure and business applications. This skills gap can lead to reduced productivity, decreased competitiveness, and increased costs for businesses.
Partnering with an MSP can help to bridge this gap by providing the necessary time, skills, and experience. With an MSP, businesses can benefit from a team of experts who can help manage their IT needs and ensure that their infrastructure is running smoothly.
Providing Access to Expertise
The expertise and knowledge provided by a dedicated MSP can prove invaluable for a business or organization. An experienced MSP can provide their clients’ channel partners with expert knowledge and real-world experience on a range of important issues, including cybersecurity and industry compliance.
Cost Savings
MSPs typically operate using a regular monthly subscription model. This helps to minimize costs and enables businesses to benefit from predictable pricing, allowing them to factor a regular payment into their monthly expenditure. Using a managed services model also allows clients to cut down on the costs associated with full-time employees and on-site infrastructure.
By using a managed IT services provider, businesses can have access to the latest technological innovations at an affordable price.
Increased Reliability
One key advantage of leveraging a managed platform for managed IT services is that they can help to ensure that IT systems are properly maintained and updated. This can help to prevent unnecessary downtime and ensure optimal functionality. As managed services are provided under a service level agreement (SLA), businesses know what they can expect and how these services will be provided and evaluated.
Furthermore, as MSPs can provide round-the-clock support and remote monitoring, this helps to prevent downtime and ensures that employees and internal teams are able to remain productive even in the event of technical issues.
Improved Productivity
By outsourcing the management of your managed IT services to a third party, you can free up time for your internal staff to concentrate on the business’s core competencies. This will help to enhance the productivity and operational efficiency of the workforce.
Atlantic.Net: Managed Service Provider
Atlantic.Net is celebrating its 30th year in business. We offer a wide range of managed it services, and we are proud to be your chosen Managed Services Provider. Our US-based support teams provide around-the-clock service to a wide range of customers. We offer a “pay-as-you-go” model, allowing our clients to tailor their IT needs accordingly. We also offer discounted two or three-year plans.
Managed IT Services from Atlantic.Net will significantly reduce your IT spending and client costs. Our experts can procure hardware and software on your behalf at discounted rates from our suppliers, and our seasoned professionals have the expertise that’s crucial to navigate complex network infrastructure.
Our expertise spans countless industries; we specialize in cloud computing, cyber security, compliance, and cloud services, to name just a few. We consistently deliver when it comes to emerging services, providing cutting-edge solutions that address our clients’ evolving IT needs. Managed service offerings such as Network Edge service delivery, IoT management, managed security services, and managed DDOS prevention services are core to our managed services model.
We are so confident in our technology that we offer an industry-leading 100% uptime SLA.
