The IT managed service industry is expected to see impressive growth with the driving factors including accelerated movement to the cloud, increasing data compliance requirements and the lack of ever-fluctuating technical skills to manage the booming enterprise infrastructure milieu. Managed Tech Services Manhattan
If you’re looking to go with the flow and opt for managed services, it’s important that you deal with and overcome certain obstacles. This requires you to be both organized and flexible when it comes to operating managed services.
Managed service providers (MSP) are enticing for businesses because of the appeal from a cost perspective. With managed services, you need to pay only a fraction of the expense, but keep in mind that it is a shared resource. Even if you have access to IT resources, they are in general working for more than one client. You’re going to be sorely disappointed if you wish to schedule some task at short notice. Instead, you need to plan and schedule your needs well in advance.
You also cannot just swap your in-house staff for an MSP and hope that your user base isn’t affected. One major aspect to consider is that your service provider may not understand the needs and requirements of your business or your users. This is an especially important consideration if the MSP comes into direct contact with your end-users, be it in-person or virtually. Some users can turn finicky when it comes to whom they are serviced by. In the early stages, you’ll very likely need to do some hand-holding and act as a liaison between your users and the MSP. Once the technical and soft skill requirements needed to deal with end-users are passed on, they can interact directly with the end-user community.
Data is another primary concern when working with one or more MSP’s for your organization. The most important aspect concerning data is to ensure it’s safety and integrity. Ensure that your MSP has proper backup and disaster recovery (DR) plans in place. Assigning an MSP with the control of your company’s sensitive information is a huge leap of faith. Never take for granted that the necessary measures to data storage, retention and security will adhere to your internal high standards. Regular monitoring, audits and DR tests should be carried out to verify that all the necessary steps are in place.
Usage of more than a single MSP is commonplace due to multiple service providers specializing in certain niches to target enterprises. You can choose one MSP to handle your network and communications an another MSP to operate the service desk. In this instance, the need is to develop smooth communication channels between the service providers.
Several data-related issues arise when more than one MSP is being used within your organization. These channels should facilitate sharing pertinent data between MSPs in addition to communicating operations-related information. If not executed in a proper manner, data silos can form that keep critical data from reaching other services and users who can benefit from the same.
Done the right way, opting for managed services by taking into account the aspects mentioned above can be the right choice for your organization.
