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As a technology professional, you may not have given a second thought to Managed IT Services in the past. In fact, many IT professionals we’ve spoken to over the years have said that they thought Managed IT Services was meant to replace them; to make their jobs obsolete. Perhaps this describes your own perception.
Whether you’re the sole technology professional in your organization, or you’re part of a small team, Managed IT Services can help augment the great work you do on a daily basis. In this blog, we’re here to show you exactly how Managed IT Services can make you more strategic, more efficient, more proactive, and more effective in your role.
Ready to make the shift from reactive to proactive, and attain more freedom from, and with, your technology? Keep reading!
What are Managed IT Services?
You may already be aware that Managed IT Services is a strategic outsourcing of your organization’s IT responsibilities to an external provider, with the intent of letting that provider assume responsibility on an ongoing basis for your IT systems and functions. This could include services like:
- Data Backup and Recovery, to keep your organization going in the event of a disaster.
- Improving operational efficiencies.
- Management of servers, routers, switches, databases, and licenses.
- Desktop and remote support for end-users.
- Increasing automation within your organization.
- Network monitoring and/or security.
What you may not have considered is that Managed IT Services is highly customizable and allows you to pick and choose which services you would prefer for your organization. Let’s dive into the five key reasons why you, as a technology professional, should consider Managed IT Services.
#1: Free Up Your Valuable Time to Focus on More Strategic Activities
Do you love to focus on high value, strategic initiatives? Are you getting a little tired of always having to interrupt that important work to help end-users to reset their passwords, or answer a question about hardware or software issues? Maybe the phrase, “did you try restarting your computer?” is starting to grate on your nerves…
Strategically adopting Managed IT Services within your organization and telling your Managed IT Services provider that you want them to handle these sorts of requests means that you’ll never have to worry about this again. Managed IT Services gives you the opportunity to offload more repetitive, monotonous, or non-strategic tasks (like end user support, backup, disaster recovery and security, resolving server issues, and more) to your provider, rather than having to focus on those menial tasks yourself.
With Managed IT Services, your end users are helped, and your boss is happy that you’ve been able to execute on those big-ticket items… it’s a win-win!
#2: Switch from a Reactive to Proactive IT Model to Increase Security
Cyberthreats are increasing at an alarming rate, and it’s difficult to be aware of every new threat that’s out there. As your organization’s IT resource, you may have noticed that managing your overall IT security has pushed you into reacting to situations that arise, rather than proactively predicting those that might be a threat.
When you engage a trusted Managed IT Services provider, like ProServeIT, to assist you with this monumental task, you are calling on more than just your own knowledge of the threats and concerns. Managed IT Services providers have a wealth of information on what risks are out there. They can proactively work to secure your environment by patching your servers, backing up your data, monitoring your environment, and advising you of potential threats before they become a crisis.
#3: Have a Team of Resources at Your Fingertips
Have you ever come across a situation that took way longer to resolve than anticipated because you had to learn about the possible solutions before you could act on it? Ever wish you had more time to learn about new and emerging technology to see if it would be of value to your organization to implement?
In the last advantage, we talked about the wealth of information that a Managed IT Services provider brings to the table to help with cybersecurity. But that wealth of information also extends to other parts of the technology field, too! By switching to a Managed IT Services model, you’re able to augment your knowledge of technology by tapping into the talents, expertise, and skills of a whole team of likeminded technology professionals – all just a phone call or email away!
When you employ a Managed IT Services provider, like ProServeIT, we become your partner in all things technology. We learn about your organization’s unique ins and outs, learn about your technology and infrastructure requirements, and determine what knowledge or expertise may pertain specifically to your organization. This way, we can take a proactive role in alerting you when something needs to be replaced or upgraded, or if new technology emerges that would make sound business sense for you to implement.
#4: Gain Industry Insights
Further to the last advantage, it’s important to note that a Managed IT Services provider can really make your job easier by helping you to gain industry insights! Technology is constantly changing, with new apps and services and updates and policies emerging on an almost daily basis. It’s practically a full-time job just keeping up with each new update that is released, or new program that comes out, or new app that is designed to make your life easier! As a busy IT professional, you’ve got other, bigger fish to fry.
Your Managed IT Services provider, as your partner in your endeavours, can alert you when new technology goes to market that would be beneficial for your organization to implement. As that partner, your Managed IT Services provider should have a bead on all your current technology and can advise whether that new technology will seamlessly integrate with what’s already set up in your environment.
At ProServeIT, it’s our job to stay up to speed on all the ebbs and flows and shifts and currents of the technology industry – working with someone like us puts you, and your organization, at a competitive advantage.
#5: Decrease Costs While Increasing Value
How important is it for you to have predictable monthly expenses? Are you being told to decrease spending in your department? If you, as a technology professional, are responsible for your organization’s IT budget, these questions may resonate with you. And the fifth and final advantage we want to talk about in this blog may help you answer them!
One of the key costs of a new technology project is the discover and design phase. This is where you (or an IT provider you may be working with) need to map out all your core dependencies, determine what to implement, and then decide when and how that implementation is going to take place.
When you work with a Managed IT Services provider, like ProServeIT, we gain intimate familiarity with your technology and environment, and, more important, we help you develop and stick to a projected technology roadmap for your organization. So, when it comes to new technology projects, we, as your provider, already have the knowledge we need to be able to work on implementation. In other words, we can skip the design and discover phases, reducing the costs of each new project you implement, and making sure that the changes happen faster.
Like what you've read so far? Ready to see how to get started? The first thing to consider is choosing the right Managed IT Services provider.
How to Choose a Managed Services Provider
When considering Managed IT Services solutions, it's important to select a Managed IT Services provider who aligns with your own business values and objectives. You want to make sure that the relationship between your organization and your new Managed IT Services provider is a partnership, with both companies working towards the same goals and objectives. As a technology professional, you also want to make sure that any potential Managed IT Services provider will be able to work with you, specifically, to achieve your goals and objectives, and help you to meet any key performance indicators (KPIs) that have been set for you from an organizational perspective.
At ProServeIT, we put together a 4-part webinar series that helps to explore the Managed IT Services journey from start to finish. In Part 3 of the series, we talk specifically on how Managed Services can help IT professionals, like you, to augment your skills - check out the video below!
Get A Free Estimate for Managed IT Services Today!
The 5 advantages that we’ve described in this blog are written specifically to help you, as an IT professional, take advantage of additional support, become more effective and more efficient in your role, and shift your focus to bigger, more strategic possibilities for your organization. Simply put, we’re here to help augment the great work you do on a daily basis!
Ready to explore what Managed IT Services could look like for your organization? Fill out this short form, and let us provide you with a free estimate for Managed IT Services. Got questions? We're happy to help - click here for more information on Managed IT Services, or give us a shout to get started!
