What are Managed Services, and Why Should You Use Them?

Nowadays, more and more companies are shifting into the Managed Services role. What that means for businesses is a highly competitive landscape dominated with confusing offers and wildly varying price ranges.

To begin sifting through the fray, we must first understand what managed services are. Dr. Gerard Macioce defines managed services as the practice of transferring day-to-day related management responsibility as a strategic method for improved effective and efficient operations. The person or organization who owns or has direct oversight of the organization or system being managed is referred to as the offerer, client, or customer. The person or organization that accepts and provides the managed service is regarded as the service provider.

Managed Service Providers, such as Compu Mech, offer continuous outsourcing of an IT function. They monitor and fix things proactively and perform it all over the internet, rather than having to work hands-on at a client’s site, though on-site work is not out of the question. Common services provided by MSP’s include remote network, desktop, and security monitoring, patch management and remote data back-up, as well as technical assistance.

The advantages of using such a service, especially for small-to-medium businesses, is that it effectively lowers the cost of supporting your IT infrastructure (computers, network, servers, etc..) while providing a central point of contact for all your IT needs. With fixed monthly costs, it’s easier for you to set budget requirements on a yearly or even monthly basis. Typically these services cost less per year than it would to hire a full time IT support individual, but if you do have someone on staff, the services can further support or enhance the individual’s effectiveness and back him or her up with experienced engineers.

With the array of operating system choices, security patches, vulnerabilities, and the overall complexity of running a computer network, it’s good to know that you have a competent, effective service on hand to rely upon 24/7.

For more information about Compu Mech’s managed services, please visit www.compumech.net, and click on the “Learn More” link under Managed Services.