What To Look For In An MSP? Mention Some Qualities

The managed service provider business has risen rapidly in recent years, but what do you look for in an MSP partner?

The market has nearly doubled in value in the last five years, rising from $107 billion in 2014 to $193 billion today. By 2023, the market is estimated to reach $296 billion.

To address their IT demands, businesses increasingly turn to managed services partnerships.

This massive global expansion is an enormous surge in demand for outsourced IT services.

• 75% of SMBs outsource at least a portion of their IT to a managed service provider (MSP).

SMBs, in particular, are finding managed services to be an appealing option to the more traditional in-house IT departments to which they have become accustomed.

Simple economics is the reason behind this. Simply put, hiring an MSP partner is substantially less expensive than hiring a whole internal IT workforce.

Here are some qualities to look for in a managed service provider.

• Take a shared approach to managed services
• Provide a flexible service model
• Offer advanced services
• Offer round-the-clock support
• Support multiple time zones
• Solid strategic relationship with your cloud provider
• Leverage remote monitoring for proactive maintenance
• Robust backup and disaster recovery plan
• A dedicated, reliable, and single point of contact for your business
• Work with your legal team to address compliance issues

How do I choose a managed service provider?

What should you look for in a Managed IT Services provider? This is a severe technology investment. Many fly-by-night companies offer managed IT that don’t have the track record, experience, or capacity to adequately serve your organization’s needs. To ensure you make a wise choice, review each vendor you consider with the following criteria.

Flexible, Scalable Plans:

What type of plan does the service provider offer? If they are complicated and have a lot of fine print, chances are you’ll be getting charged for a lot of stuff you don’t need, or else you’ll find yourself in crisis only to learn that certain services aren’t included in your service plan.

Look for a simple, easy-to-understand billing agreement with transparency around what is and isn’t included. If you’re unclear about anything in the contract, seek expert advice before signing. Avoid companies that want to lock you into a multi-year agreement but are reluctant to convey their responsibilities. Are they playing a leading role in continuous improvement and staying up to date with changing technology and data compliance regulations, are they playing a leading role?

Robust Customer Support:

It would help if you usually had it right away when you needed customer support. You don’t have time to wait until business hours begin in a different part of the world or try and explain a complex problem to a chatbot that can only deliver answers from a preprogrammed FAQ. Ask what kind of support is promised, when and how it will be given, and what your options are in an emergency.

Service Level Agreements:

Uptime is critical to your company. You aren’t making money if your organization isn’t accessible to your customer base. A service level agreement (SLA) will promise a certain level of uptime, typically well over 99%, and a response time during outages within a specific time frame. Suppose the Managed Services provider fails to meet these obligations. In that case, they will typically be subject to a penalty (often a free service period to compensate for their breach of service.)

Technical assistance and installation on-site

Engineers are trained subject-matter specialists who respond as a backup when a company needs maintenance or repairs.

They are in charge of designing and installing IT projects on-site and performing periodic check-up trips to ensure everything is functioning smoothly.

Remote monitoring and troubleshooting

Support groups capable of proactively monitoring the network functions of the company.

If a client has a problem requiring quick attention, a help desk should be available, or an engineer should be ready to solve the problem remotely without the client’s involvement.

This help should be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Extensive support for cloud-based operations

Revenue from public cloud services was $182 billion in 2019; this year, it will reach $250 billion.

Cloud services quickly become the focal point for many small and midsize businesses as executives gain trust and recognize the benefits.

They are more secure than ever and offer various options for storing firm data and licensing software.

Your MSP partner should be able to demonstrate substantial cloud service provider partnerships.

Final Words

It may seem counterintuitive, but having your personnel manage every part of your IT infrastructure can hinder them from concentrating on duties that directly impact your bottom line. Hiring an MSP to supplement your IT team will allow your personnel to focus on enhancing your company’s efficiency, productivity, and creativity. Furthermore, the correct MSP will be there for you in the long run, allowing your company to grow to new heights.

Protected Harbor is not your typical MSP. We assist you in maximizing the benefits of current and emerging IT solutions so your business thrives. If you want to learn more about how outsourcing your IT can enhance your business’s productivity, contact us today for a FREE technology assessment, or read our FREE eBook.

Guide to Managed Service Providers

What is a Managed Service Provider?

A Managed Service Provider maintains and manages your IT systems, including virus protection and control, day-to-day hardware and software administration, disaster recovery, operational efficiency, and end-user support.

MSP can provide the necessary technology to take your company to the next level. They assist your organization in transitioning to the digital age with optimum stability and control, allowing you to scale your business without incurring increased IT costs.

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are responsible for providing their clients a wide range of IT services and support. The specific responsibilities of an MSP can vary depending on the needs of the client, but here are some of the primary responsibilities that an MSP may undertake:

• Handling the management of IT infrastructure
• Adding cybersecurity measures to IT
• Providing technical support to staff
• Managing user account access
• Offering risk and compliance management
• Handling contract management
• Providing payroll services

How do MSPs work?

Managed service providers (MSPs) function as crucial partners in achieving organizational goals, offering tailored managed IT services for small businesses. As a leading managed IT services company, an MSP assesses a company’s current technical landscape, identifies areas for improvement, and seizes opportunities for enhancement.

Under a Service Level Agreement, an MSP delivers comprehensive IT-managed services, including help desk support, monitoring, security training, ongoing maintenance, and reporting. This agreement sets clear parameters for performance targets, response times, security assurances, and cost-effectiveness, ensuring a balanced approach to meeting the organization’s needs within its budget. With managed IT solutions from a trusted managed IT service provider, businesses can streamline operations, enhance security, and optimize their IT infrastructure for sustainable growth.

What does a managed service provider do?

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) work by providing a range of IT services to businesses, typically on a subscription or contractual basis. MSPs take care of the day-to-day IT needs of their clients, allowing them to focus on their core business operations.

A managed service provider augments your IT department to maintain, service, and support everything internet-related for your business, from configuring new devices to maintaining connectivity and supporting your infrastructure. On a high level, MSPs:

• Offer 24/7 remote system monitoring
• Provide End User Computing Support (desktop PCs, laptops, mobile devices)
• Support your IT infrastructure, including servers (physical and virtual)
• Monitor, update and maintain IT systems security
• Fix network or internet problems
• Accountable for data security, backups, and data recovery
• Office 365 setup, hosting, and management
• Mitigate risks related to data security, and cyberattacks
• Report a monthly summary of your issues, preventive/restorative steps taken, and advice for future planning.
• Create a Disaster Recovery Plan as part of your Business Continuity Strategy.

An MSP guarantees that you and your employees can access the internet, communicate with each other, manage data transfers, and maintain one or more websites. An MSP keeps your IT up-to-date, essential to the processes of marketing your products or services, driving sales and support for your customers, and completing all of the back-end administrative tasks related to inventory, data analysis, and more. Partnering with the right MSP means more security, service, productivity, and love from your user community.

Why Should you hire an MSP?

Traditionally, MSPs gained acceptance as companies tried cutting IT support and maintenance costs. Managing IT for a decent size business will need varying skill sets, in-house technical staff costs, hiring costs, tools/training costs, and other benefits for any permanent employees like insurance. An MSP, on the other hand, is cost-effective and efficient.

Plus, their cost is predictable. High-quality Managed IT Service Providers charge a flat monthly rate for proactive monitoring and maintenance of your workstations, servers, and IT infrastructure. Moreover, a proper IT-managed service provider aims to minimize IT downtime by preventing issues before they happen.

An IT service provider can also help you determine where you’re wasting money in “Nice-To-Haves or outdated systems” For example, perhaps you’re using an outdated Wi-Fi router, and maybe increasing your network’s bandwidth won’t provide you the expected result. Remember, working with an IT service provider will equip you with the latest trends and tech expertise. You can make well-informed decisions and find ways to cut costs and boost your team’s productivity

Some common signs you should hire a managed service provider.

• IT cost is skyrocketing
• Extra support for remote employees
• Limited IT staff
• Need help migrating
• Facing excessive downtime
• Want to grow strategically
• Lack of system monitoring
• Lack of compliance

Finally, with managed services, you’ll never have to worry about falling behind regarding your regulatory or legislative compliance. MSPs keep you updated with compliance laws, regulations, and procedures and thus avoid potential fines.

How much do managed service providers charge?

Prices for managed IT services can vary from company to company, and many factors can influence how much you’ll be invoiced. For example, the more users you have, the more devices (like desktops, laptops, tablets, printers, etc.) and licenses you must manage. Your MSP can define the cost model per user by knowing what you want to be addressed. Here are the most common cost models.

1. Fixed Price or Flat Rate
2. Per-User
3. Per Device
4. Metal Grading or Tiered
5. Customized

Understanding that the best offering from an MSP will include a service that provides a high level of business availability paired with strategic thinking and advice is vital. And this will be at a cost that is considered less than the cost of downtime and consulting packages.

Even better, if your MSP charges you a fixed price, irrespective of downtime episodes or maintenance calls. Many MSPs charge or include X hours per month; if the client goes beyond, they pay extra. Actual MSPs always charge a flat rate.

Affordable Managed IT Services for Small Businesses

Small businesses in New York can benefit significantly from affordable managed IT services. By partnering with the best managed IT service providers, businesses can access top-notch IT support in New York without the high costs of in-house teams. Managed IT support services in New York offer 24/7 monitoring, proactive maintenance, and tailored solutions to fit specific business needs. A managed service provider NYC ensures your systems run smoothly, providing essential services like network security, data backup, and cloud management. Investing in affordable managed IT services for small businesses not only reduces operational costs but also enhances productivity and security, allowing businesses to focus on growth and success.

Final Thoughts

A Managed IT Service delivers outsourced support, maintenance, and monitoring of your critical infrastructure and end-users. They augment you with the right expertise, including proactive device management to minimize future issues and reactive support when needed most. MSP supports your staff wherever using your technology, whether a more significant server or minor user issue. Also, MSPs can facilitate shifts and thrive in the post-COVID world by embracing innovation, flexibility, and agility.

And, like all relationships, you need to review your engagement to critically guarantee value for your money. Modern businesses leverage technology to stay competitive. So, your MSP must remain at the top of its game to keep your technology reliable. And we often hear from businesses working with their current provider for years but are too nervous about finding an alternative partner.

Changing providers comes with a perception of a complicated process that involves days of IT downtime and business disruption. Surprisingly or not, switching your MSP can be a cakewalk when you find the right partner.

If you are unsure of your MSP, we will audit and discover your potential areas of improvement.

We start every engagement with a discovery process to identify your business goals, risk areas, and technological priorities. We then create a strategic plan mapped to your business goals and provide ongoing monitoring and measurement to track the success of our solution.

Protected Harbor’s team of engineers, consultants, and certified technicians work with you to implement the best-fit technology to meet your organizational goals. You benefit from working with one trusted partner who understands your unique organizational goals.

Protected Harbor manages your IT infrastructure from soup to nuts. We’ve covered everything from email to teleconferencing, website hosting, cloud storage, and computer repair. We stay on top of your technological demands daily, keeping the lights on and providing strategic guidance to higher-ups.

If you’re looking for hudson valley new york manage service provider, or in rockland county, then you are at the right place. Protected Harbor offers customized IT solutions to businesses looking to scale their technology, and we’re on a mission to give you the best customer service possible. To do that, we are constantly innovating to make sure you have the best experience with our products.

As one of our customers, you can expect excellent service, quick response times, and an eager team to help. We are not your average MSP. We are engineers, software developers, analysts, designers, and lifelong learners. We offer a tailored approach to managed services that meet each client’s unique needs. Contact us today for a free IT Audit.

A Complete Guide to Managed Cybersecurity Services

The cyber-world is changing faster than ever, and it leaves organizations, individuals, and small businesses vulnerable to cybercrimes. They need to adopt a comprehensive cybersecurity plan to protect themselves against risks and threats. Implementing and testing controls, and regularly maintaining and monitoring the security management programs using reliable and trustworthy managed cybersecurity services can help mitigate risks and potential cyber-attacks.

Has your business ever dealt with malware, virus infection, or cyberattacks? Cyber attacks’ damage to companies ranges from unauthorized access through a relatively simple attack to a large-scale breach of critical data that can result in prolonged downtime. It damages your company’s reputation and the confidence of your investors and customers. Do not let a cyber incident destroy your organization. Managed services from a cybersecurity company can help you optimize your organization’s security posture.

Managed cybersecurity services are a crucial component of any organization’s cybersecurity strategy. This article will discuss managed cybersecurity services, why it is essential for organizations, and how an excellent cybersecurity company benefits you. So, let’s get started.

What are Managed Cybersecurity Services?

Third-party providers give managed cybersecurity services to administer an organization’s security processes. These small business cyber security services implement, monitor, maintain and enhance an enterprise’s cybersecurity posture. Managed cybersecurity service providers (MSSP) provide security services ranging from setting up infrastructure via security management or incident response. Some services providers specialize in specific areas, while others give complete outsourcing of an organization’s information security program.

As security threats and cyber incidents are becoming increasingly common, many businesses are partnering with managed cybersecurity service providers in addition to their existing small business cybersecurity programs. They provide expert monitoring and management, protecting data and hardware from potential cyber-attacks. MSSP manages and implements security programs for organizations. These include

• Managed firewalls
• Intrusion detection
• Blocking viruses and spam
• Implementing upgrades or system changes
• Setting up a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
• Security and compliance audits
• Security assessment and reporting
• System monitoring
• Penetration testing
• Security analytics

Moreover, a good cybersecurity company helps you monitor the security devices and systems in a workspace. Most MSSPs provide a wide range of cybersecurity small business services, such as

• Log monitoring and management
• Device management
• Vulnerability management
• Consultancy services

Managed cybersecurity service providers generally offer a whole suite of managed IT services. They typically provide cyber security to help organizations with their basic security needs.

Why are Managed Cybersecurity Services Necessary?

Organizations need to consider the importance of managed security services to protect themselves from cyber-attacks. MSSPs can be a valuable resource for companies that want to maximize their security but do not have the resources to manage an in-house cybersecurity team. These services provide strategies and designs to give a robust security posture.

MSSPs shield organizations against cyber threats and strengthen their cyber defense. They use a multilayered defense strategy to protect your organization from different angles. It means they do not only safeguard you from external threats, such as network intrusions or malware, but also security from the security breaches caused by employees accidentally or deliberately.

Opting for managed cybersecurity services provide

• Information security assessment_ Examine the maturity of your company’s information security programs, identify their weaknesses and gaps, and provide opportunities for improvement. Choose a good cybersecurity company and identify the risks to your business.
• Data governance_ These services help you handle a large volume of data and enhance your cybersecurity posture through efficient data management.
• Advanced security solutions_ These include anti-malware software, managed firewalls, web filtering, intrusion detection, multi-factor authentication, access management, and patch management.
• Dedicated security analysts_ MSSPs provide specialists who detect critical flaws in your IT infrastructure and recommend security measures to mitigate the risk of a security breach.
• Security information and event management (SIEM)_ tracks security-related incidents in your IT environment, such as suspicious downloads or failed logins. It then examines the incident and creates comprehensive security reports.
• Incident investigation and response_ If a security breach occurs, security experts immediately remediate the threat, assess the damage, and find the attack’s origin.
• Threat hunting_ Security experts proactively identify and isolate evasive threats for existing security solutions.
• Risk and compliance_ They align your GRC operations to business performance drivers using frameworks such as PCI/DSS, GDPR, NIST, NYDFS, ISO, and others with IT security service programs.
• Penetration testing and phishing_ Effective security comes with a clear understanding of your IT infrastructure’s critical flaws and vulnerabilities. Phishing assessment and penetration testing protect your organization against security threats.
• Security awareness training_ Educate your organization’s employees about your security posture’s strengths and weaknesses, and empower them against hackers. Good managed cybersecurity service providers ensure your employees stay ahead of cybercriminals.

Why is it Important to Choose an Excellent Cybersecurity Company?

A robust cybersecurity system is crucial for any organization in today’s digital landscape. Excellent cybersecurity for small business companies can help protect sensitive information and assets from potential cyber threats, prevent data breaches and cyber-attacks, maintain privacy and comply with regulations, minimize business downtime and financial losses, and enhance the organization’s overall security posture, reducing the risk of cyber incidents. In short, it helps to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of critical information and systems.

There is a wide range of managed cybersecurity service providers today. Identifying your organization’s security needs and engaging a good cybersecurity company to address them is essential. Before partnering with a provider dealing with cybersecurity for small business, security and IT teams need to plan carefully around which operations need to be outsourced. Once you have mapped out your requirements, it is necessary to research the best service providers and shortlist a few of them. Meet them and check customer feedback before hiring them. Because a good cybersecurity company is one that

• Optimize controls
• Improve governance
• Reduce the TCO of the risk
• Optimize security posture
• Strengthen security processes
• Reduce legal risks
• Increase profitability
• Provides scalability

Why Choose Protected Harbor for Managed Cybersecurity Services?

Protected Harbor provides managed cybersecurity services and cyber resilience regardless of the size of your organization. Our cybersecurity services provide organizations with the most effective tools, solutions, services, processes, policies, and practices to protect their intellectual properties, security posture, and financial assets. We provide cybersecurity assessments that help you understand your security posture, detect vulnerabilities in them, and set the baseline for improvement.

Moreover, our managed services include multi-factor authentication, endpoint protection, next-generation firewall, device encryption, and email security. We provide a robust solution to defend against cyber-attacks and let you drastically reduce implementation efforts, cost, and maintenance requirements. With our team of highly skilled experts, we allow our clients to build cyber resilience, innovate safely, and grow with confidence. Contact us today for an IT audit.

Why Quality Assurance Sucks And What To Do About It?

THIS IS WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN:   Why Quality Assurance Sucks – Traditional quality assurance only covers the application layer of a business’s software stack. Your IT company cannot verify whether an application, specific functions, or the entire system will respond reliably under extreme loads or unusual circumstances. A failure at any software stack or application layer can disrupt your customer and cost you money.  If your IT company uses traditional QA testing methods, they will never catch problem conditions before they happen. At Protected Harbor, we simulate events on mirror stacks that we know have the potential to cause problems, like network latency. Our engineers proactively attack these issues by affecting how clients’ systems respond to failures in a safe and controlled environment.

Quality assurance (QA) means avoiding issues in delivering solutions or services to clients by preventing mistakes or flaws in manufactured items.

It is a significant part of setting up a network system. Its importance grows with the network-related project complexity. QA workers need to organize and plan system maintenance to avoid interruptions.

Performing network security checks for data protection and the network’s backup plan is crucial to maintaining a good quality network. Moreover, other job responsibilities should also be considered and executed efficiently, such as managing the installation, testing, and troubleshooting voice and data network systems. Negligence of these primary responsibilities can be trouble for the customers.

1. The Indefinite Vision Of Quality

The core of an operational QA program is total commitment. The problems related to quality assurance programs mainly arise from not having a distinct target or aim to achieve.

Everyone is aware of the importance of QA, but is your QA team inspired to maintain a creative perspective and ready to go out of the way to achieve their goal? If not, then let’s delve in deep and look out if they are treated as essential members of the team? We don’t think so.

Mostly QA team is hired from a pool of fresh-faced teenagers eager to get into the business in whatever way they can. Quality Assurance standards very rarely go beyond the performance benchmark.

2. Lack Of QA Guidelines

Insufficient guidelines are significant problems that arise while discussing “Why Quality Assurance Sucks.”

Most of the time, many different QA engineers are trusted with the responsibility of QA for a single network project. Since each engineer uses a different testing style, maintaining the testing framework becomes messy. No proper rule or guideline is provided to the employees for executing the

3. Lack Of Resources And Time

Indeed working with poor network performance is a challenge for network engineers. With the absence of appropriate equipment at endpoints and midpoints along the way, it’s out of the question to provide the high-speed communication needed by today’s applications.

Moreover, the QA responsibility has only been given to the QA workers, as it is believed that each department has its responsibilities. The management is not interested in demanding quality work from the whole staff. All in all, they have not felt responsible for fixing errors or flaws that challenge quality. Due to the sufficient amount of tasks and insufficient amount of time, working becomes distressing for QA workers.

4. Lack Of Technology

Technology allows firms to improve remarkably and enhances their skillsets greatly. Numerous technical tools can assist QA companies, but they are resistant to use. Moreover, negligence of the problems has also been noticed in this domain.

Although several companies spot issues and deficiencies, they are not ready to invest in quality equipment. The company needs to promptly repair and replace the equipment to flourish and be successful. It could break the rhythm of QA if it is not ensured that the same set of tools produces consistent results.

5. Reward Structure And Lack Of Motivation

Everybody who hires the network engineers objects to the QA performance. But nobody considers the reason behind it. If the maximum incentive given to a QA worker is to become a leader and then move to another department, how much can a QA care about their job? Not much, right? Moreover, several employees are hired on contract at low wages, then get let go when a project is complete.

How Can Quality Assurance Be Made More Effective?

• QA workers should be instructed not to cut corners and sacrifice their company’s long-term interests for short-term gains.
• Giving proper development guidelines will help increase the maintainability of testing automation chambers. Early implementation of these guidelines can prevent headaches while managing IT services.
• Moreover, creating specific hiring standards will help hire the right employees and know their expectations.
• QA programs should maintain consistent quality, such as evaluating the evaluators regularly and documenting all the QA definitions; this can help in Application Outage Avoidance (AOA).
• Finally and most importantly, QA engineers should be respected and rewarded for the quality of their work rather than the number of bugs they identify.

Final Thoughts

Quality assurance is an essential part of the network system. But this system faces several important issues that arise and form hindrances in progress.

Acknowledging these issues as soon as possible can ensure the QA jobs’ reliability and enhance the Data Protection facility. Also, make sure that everyone is on the same page and working toward the same objective of producing error-free software.

Protected Harbor is a US-based IT firm that provides a full range of services for corporate technology issues, including malware, spyware, virus protection, cloud-based access, support, repair, and other IT help. We provide technological stability and durability to businesses, allowing computers, data centers, and apps to work smoothly.

At Protected Harbor, you’ll benefit from a solid quality assurance program. Our QA software is intended to make quality assurance as simple, accessible, and inclusive as possible in every workplace. We simulate events on mirror stacks that we know can cause problems, like network latency. Our engineers proactively attack these issues by acting on how clients’ systems respond to failures in a safe and controlled environment.

Introduction: What is Managed IT Services?

Managed IT services allow businesses to assign their IT operations to an expert organization that concentrates in handling these duties. Protected Harbor, known as Managed Service Providers (MSPs), We are responsible for the entirety or portions of a business’ IT systems, as agreed upon in a Service Level Agreement (SLA). IT equipment is typically procured by the client, and depending on the SLA, Managed Service Providers may provide round-the-clock monitoring, issue resolution and reporting, and more.
According to the SLA, managed service providers charge a flat fee for delivery of their services over a set period of time. The SLA defines exactly what services will be furnished and the degree they will be offered, as well as metrics for measuring the success of these services.

Cloud computing has allowed managed IT services to expand beyond the regions and borders that would constrain the average break/fix IT through the adoption of Software as a Service (SaaS) technologies, as well as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service(PaaS) also. These capabilities allow managed IT services to scale at a rate dramatically larger and faster than in-house IT operation or break/fix providers.

Key Terms & Definitions

Agent— A small program used by MSPs to remotely gather information about the status of machines and devices. Once installed, it allows MSPs to manage systems, update programs, and resolve issues.

Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR)— A combination of data backup and disaster recovery solutions that works cohesively to ensure an organization’s critical business functions will continue to operate despite serious incidents or disasters that might otherwise have interrupted them or will be recovered to an operational state within a reasonably short period.

Break/Fix— An older style for delivering IT services and repairs to organizations in a fee-for-service framework. Essentially, a client contacts a break/fix technician to request upgrades, maintenance, or to resolve issues, and the technician bills the customer upon completion of the work.

Fully Managed IT Services— Managed IT services that are coupled with a Network Operations Center to proactively monitor systems, resolve issues and perform work with a level of expertise and efficiency unparalleled to other solutions.

Help Desk— A managed IT service offering that provides information and technical support to end-users. Some MSPs white label their Help Desk services for the client SMB.

Information Technology (IT)— An enterprise solution for storing, transmitting, creating, and using data through computing devices, networks and telecommunications.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)— An MSP offering to SMBs; virtualized hardware over a cloud computing environment such as server space, network connections, IP addresses, load balancers, and other computer infrastructure with which clients can build their own platforms.

Internet of Things— The emergent network of tangible objects and products that contain software, sensors, and connectivity to the Internet and/or private networks and can exchange information based on standards set forth by the International Telecommunication Union’s Global Standards Initiative.

In-House— The process where an organization hires its own IT service providers and pays their salary, benefits, further training, and the infrastructure they oversee. This is typically an extremely costly endeavor, and often businesses that try to procure in-house IT lack the capabilities to fully service their system and an inability to grow.

IT Channel— An industry-exclusive marketplace where VARs, MSPs, and OEMs provide platforms, products and services to end-users by partnering with hardware and software vendors.

Labor Arbitrage— the phenomenon of decreasing end costs by utilizing the abundant labor forces, education, and training of untapped global workforces.

Managed IT Services— Managed IT Services (MITS) refer to outsourcing IT support and management functions to a third-party service provider. MITS providers offer a range of IT services, including hardware and software support, network management, cybersecurity, data backup and recovery, cloud computing, and help desk support, allowing the client to focus on their core business operations.

Managed Services Provider (MSP)— An IT professional (or IT organization) that offers managed IT services.

Mobile Device Management (MDM)— A security platform used to monitor, manage, and secure employees’ mobile devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc.) that are deployed across multiple mobile service providers and across multiple mobile operating systems being used in an organization.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)— A virtualized platform within a cloud environment that allows end-users to develop and manage Internet applications that would otherwise require a complex infrastructure to launch apps.

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)— a platform utilizing a collection of services and tools that can monitor, manage, and deploy solutions to servers and endpoint devices utilizing agent software installed on endpoint systems.

A service-level agreement (SLA)— Essentially, a contract between a vendor and a client that specifies what the vendor will furnish the timeframe in which it will be furnished and the criteria for measuring vendor success.

Small and Medium-Sized Business (SMB)— On average, business or organization that has 100 or fewer employees is considered small; 100-999 employees are medium-sized. IT channel partners often seek SMB organizations as clients.

Software as a Service (SaaS)— Sometimes referred to as “software on demand,” SaaS is a licensing and distribution model that utilizes a subscription basis for access to software that is centrally hosted by its provider and accessed by end-users via a client.

Value-Added Reseller (VAR)— An organization that adds services or features to a product, then resells it as a new product or solution.

History of Managed IT Services

At the outset of enterprise computing, information technology services and business models on a break/fix basis, meaning that computer systems were only managed by an expert when they did not work, necessitating a technician to fix it. This technician may also have been the person who built and/or installed the computer system, due to the proliferation of small IT shops that specialized in these small-scale client services at the time.

However, as time progressed computer manufacturing grew to a large scale, leaving the small IT dealer to focus less on manufacturing and more on break/fix. This system was time-consuming, labor-intensive, costly and reactive. It did not allow the technician room to grow their business or take on new clients without massive investments in labor and infrastructure.

As computing devices increased yearly, the divide between break/fix technicians and the number of computers they could reasonably service under the break/fix model grew wider and wider. Managed IT services emerged in the early years of the millennium to meet this need, shifting far from the break/fix model.

Managed IT services heralded a proactive approach to IT, attempting to conduct maintenance, upgrades, system monitoring, and issue resolution on a routine basis, with the goal of preventing problems before they started. Automation increased Internet capabilities, and cloud computing allowed for monitoring and issue resolution to be provided remotely, enabling more efficient processes and a consolidation of resources.

Efficiency, consolidated resources, and client satisfaction, coupled with fixed rates, the ability to offer greater service offerings, and take on a larger clientele led to managed IT services becoming the industry-standard approach to managing computer systems large and small for SMBs.

The Managed IT Services Model

MSPs managed platform utilize a broad range of IT expertise to resolve issues efficiently. Unlike break/fix providers, MSPs can employ the latest processes and software to proactively monitor endpoints, keeping systems up-to-date, and preventing issues before they arise. Managed IT services are also available 24x7x365, allowing end-users to take nights and weekends off while the MSPs do the heavy lifting on tasks and processes done after hours.

MSP services are typically offered at a flat recurring rate in tiered levels, offering a greater level of automation and a higher degree of management at higher levels based on the specified service level agreement. End users only pay for the services they require and can increase or decrease their tier based on business needs and demand.

As with other necessary business functions like utilities, the end-user pays for services provided offsite, such as remote monitoring and management, help desk solutions, backup and disaster recovery, and more. Managed IT services thus become essential operating expenses to maintain core functionality, rather than additional expenses applied during exceptional issue resolutions with break/fix models. MSPs enable their end-users to run their businesses more smoothly and more efficiently than they would otherwise. Additionally, they offer SaaS-based solutions and a pricing model that can’t be achieved with in-house options.

However, managed IT services do not necessarily make the enterprise IT professional obsolete; for the end-user, an IT professional can act as an endpoint liaison that manages the relationship, provides feedback, and analyzes the reports provided by the MSP. Because the majority of routine work is being completed by the MSP, the IT professional is capable of greater efficiency and has the flexibility to tackle larger, more complex projects they would otherwise not have the time or capacity to take on.

What kinds of managed IT services are available?

IT services New York are available through reputable providers in New York, and encompass a wide range of offerings tailored to meet diverse business needs. These services, offered by the best-managed IT service providers, include comprehensive monitoring and maintenance of equipment, proactive IT systems management, and remote monitoring and management of servers and networks.

Unlike traditional break/fix models, modern managed service providers adopt proactive approaches to maintenance, incorporating patch management and predictive maintenance to prevent issues before they arise. Cloud-based managed services, including Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS), offer scalable solutions to meet growing demands without the overhead of managing on-premises infrastructure.

Furthermore, managed security services are crucial for both traditional and cloud-based infrastructure, providing reliable protection against evolving threats. Trusted security experts play a vital role in safeguarding businesses, particularly those with hybrid cloud environments.

For small businesses seeking affordable managed IT services New York, partnering with a reputable managed service provider NYC can provide tailored solutions to meet their specific requirements, ensuring reliable support, optimal performance, and affordable managed IT services for small businesses.

Benefits of Managed IT Services

Through outsourcing managed IT services, SMBs are able to reap the benefits of receiving IT support and business continuity at a significantly reduced cost in comparison to creating a comparable team in-house. Additionally, MSPs can also offer a wealth of experience from actively managing multiple client accounts that in-house teams would not collectively have.

Additionally, by using an MSP organizations are able to forecast their monthly, quarterly, and yearly expenditure on IT, and are freed from having to focus on this area of operational readiness. This allows SMBs to focus on growing their business without worrying about day-to-day IT issues or requirements.

Another benefit to managed IT services is a greater opportunity for security expertise and successfully enacted security policies. MSPs work with standards such as PCI compliance day in, day out, and should be able to steer your organization within the parameters and regulations it needs to adhere to. For some organizations, especially in finance, healthcare, educations, and other industries, this type of regulatory compliance is mandatory for the IT portion of their business, and requires the expertise and experience that a managed service provider can offer. MSPs can mitigate risk in this way while assuring that the experts in charge of your IT operations are always up to date on the latest information, technologies, and processes that will keep your infrastructure working efficiently and successfully into the future.

In short, Managed IT Services can provide organizations with a comprehensive and cost-effective IT support solution, helping to ensure the reliability, security, and availability of critical IT systems.

If you’re looking to get the most out of your manage service providers in the Hudson Valley New York area, then Protected Harbor is the clear choice.

Source : https://www.continuum.net/resources/mspedia/managed-it-services-overview