Proper Management of IT Services

Managing IT services refers to the practice of outsourcing IT management responsibilities and functions on a proactive basis that can save you money. It is a strategic method for increasing efficiency at the same time.

The Managed Service Provider (MSP) provides a defined set of services proactively or as determined by the MSP. Managed IT service provides greater operational simplicity and actually provides enhanced software capability and greater return on investment. This can include but is not limited to dedicated servers, data center migrations, switch and router maintenance, VMware, storage, high-availability load balancers, backup and recovery, remote hands, firewalls, and application, service, and infrastructure monitoring.

• If you are planning to have someone deal with IT issues and get break fix services for your company, you’re onto a great idea but there are a few things you should know before you begin. The idea of having an IT services company providing services for a fee and billing you only for the services provided is a cost-effective and efficient way to manage your IT services and infrastructure. But there are more advantages to this model than just cost savings. Let’s take a closer look to find out.

• If you look at the case of providing IT support for the end-users of the company, you will need a 24/7 helpdesk to provide them with adequate support. The formula works thus; it takes one IT person per 40 personnel to handle their need. But to hire just one person for an office with less than 40 people is a sure-fire way of making sure that the one IT person gets inundated with requests for help. One IT person will not be able to handle the administration of all the hardware that 40 people use.

• If you assume the scenario where you can find the one person who will be able to do this herculean task, he will come easy or cheap. And if you consider the fact that he will not be on call 24/7, you will need to hire more than one person, which will add to cost. Hiring a company to provide these services will open up a whole new set of issues like the vendor wanting to bill more hours than actually needed and the downtime that results when systems are down.

Seeking the help of an IT managed services company is the best way to tackle the issue of IT services. The company paid for services provided and not for the number of hours spent in providing those services and this model will work to your advantage.