Are you familiar with the term managed IT service? If you are thinking about starting your own company, these services are designed to help you. Managed services can refer to plenty of things, but in this text, we are going to focus on the IT department. Keep reading the following text to learn about different kinds of services third-party IT provider can offer you.
The main reason businesses outsource is the expense. Building an entire IT department in your company requires a lot of money, and many firms cannot afford it, especially start-up companies.
Before you sign a contract with any provider, there are certain things you have to ask your potential partner. The most important question is – What will a provider do in case of any kind of trouble? As you know, anything can happen, from cyber-attack to natural disaster. If a potential associate cannot provide you with an already developed plan or is not prepared to make one with you, you should cross them off immediately.
The second thing you should look into is the services that IT Company offers. Different IT teams can provide you with different services so it is important to discuss this matter before employing them. Talk about each of them individually, tell your future partner what type of help you need and ask if he can provide it.
Furthermore, choose the associate that can help you grow your business. IT Company should be familiar with all your plans for the future and also be able to provide you with software and equipment that will ensure the growth. This means that they should not only be prepared to solve current problems and manage your IT department, but they also have to be able to recommend you new pieces of technology that are the best for your business but still don’t exceed your budget.
Also, it is always a good idea to hire a company that is nearby. Yes, they have a support team you can call anytime, but in case there is a problem they cannot solve remotely, you would have to call a repairman, and you would probably lose a lot of precious time. For example, if your company is located in Baltimore, consider Kyocera MidAtlantic.
Let’s move on to some services professional IT companies offer.
First of all, there is backup and recovery. Basically, all your data will be mirrored and safely stored on some external hard drive. This way, your company will not lose its information in case of trouble. The recovery plan, we have mentioned above, determines the frequency of backups. Discuss with the provider how often you want them to be run.
Secondly, you will probably need the data analysis service. The provider will monitor and analyze all the information that comes up, making your business a lot easier since you will get already interpreted data that you can use to develop your company.
Another service that will help your employees is managed communication. It includes emails, file sharing, hosted phones, instant messaging, video conferencing, etc. into one service, meaning that all your workers will be connected on one platform instead of using a number of different ones.
Probably the most important one is security as a service. Most of them are distributed via the cloud, but some IT companies will install additional components on your main server. This is something you should discuss with the provider. This service includes log management and analysis, system monitoring, testing and remediation, anti-malware software, security reporting, and so on.
The last one we are going to mention, again, is the support service. This includes help for the provider when dealing with everyday problems such as password resets or faulty printers, tablets, and other devices.
All in all, these are some important features of managed IT services. If you are working with confidential data, and your IT needs have overcome your company’s capacity, we believe it’s time you think about outsourcing.
