The idea behind working with a managed IT service provider is to offload the burden of dealing with computers, mobile devices, networks, and other electronics that are essential to modern businesses and organizations. Managed IT solutions are intended to cover a lot of ground and that can leave customers feeling a bit confused. It may be helpful to break managed IT services down into the main types so let's look at four of the most common forms.
Infrastructure and Networking
Virtually everything in a managed IT environment is connected to internal networks and the internet. That means keeping tabs on a wide range of networked systems, including website hosting, remote data backups, mobile app infrastructure, and customer portals. Event printers can be set up as accessible servers, allowing everyone in an organization to share resources and reduce the need for extra equipment. Similarly, the managed system allows technicians to quickly track down unused and underutilized resources on your network that may be costing you money.
Security
You might have had a moment of pause when you read the part about things being connected to the internet. With that comes the need to deal with security, too. An IT managed service provider can help customers deal with viruses, spam, ransomware, and spyware. Preventative, proactive, and responsive measures can be taken to deal with each of those issues.
On the flip side, it's also important to maintain security internally. Managed IT solutions should be robust enough to allow you to limit user access to the least amount of resources for each employee to do their job. That means controlling which machines they use, how they access files, and even what they can look at.
Software as a Service
A major plus to using managed IT solutions is that software can operate on the managed infrastructure. This is beneficial because it means licensing is very streamlined, with all the installation, maintenance, and upgrade pains becoming the managed IT service provider's problem. Using this approach can ensure that your organization will always have up-to-date software, reducing the security and stability risks associated with running older versions of operating systems and applications.
Support
Having someone to turn to when you need basic answers about using systems and software makes a difference. Managed IT services include many types of support, including human technicians who can address your concerns, knowledge bases that allow you to look up answers, and chatbots that can provide a streamlined interface for getting quick answers.
