What Are Managed IT Services and Why Use Them?

Understanding Managed IT Services and ITIL

For a while now, the buzzwords managed IT Services, ITIL, and IT Service Management (ITSM) have been floating around. So, what are these buzzwords about?

In simple terms, these concepts represent the opportunity for a business to hand over the administration of all its IT operations to a third party, known as a managed services provider (MSP). These managed services providers are usually responsible for managing, monitoring, and fixing the entrusted IT systems and processes, allowing the businesses they serve to focus purely on their business goals.

ITIL is a recognized set of procedures for IT service management. For many years, ITIL has been adopted and adapted by many businesses, and many companies have already invested heavily in the promotion of these practices and upskilling their employees. The reason is that ITIL enables business transformation and fulfillment of business value.

IT service management refers to the design, creation, delivery, and support of IT services throughout their lifecycle. And IT services are what IT teams provide in addition to IT support. What is more, IT service management is not just a simple set of tools and techniques but extends throughout the business culture. Changing your business culture is another challenge that can be overcome using ITSM.

Top 10 Reasons Why Businesses Opt for Managed IT Services

There are many reasons to decide on managed IT services. Usually these are split into two major categories, which are determined by their field: IT and business-specific benefits.

IT service management is ideal for both large and small companies. As your business grows, the need to invest in expertise and more sophisticated processes grow too.

For better IT efficiency, IT service management can help to:

• Streamline process workflows
• Eliminate manual processes
• Improve performance of IT resources
• Set up service-based incident management

For better business performance, IT service management can:

• Reduce the amount of downtimes
• Reduce the negative impact on businesses through problem and capacity management
• Optimize spending
• Facilitate repeated deployment of underused assets and sources
• Prevent duplication of efforts

In addition, managed IT services can supplement IT service continuity management. This allows proactive and reactive planning for recovery in case of damage, loss, or disruption to IT processes, and supports the entire business continuity management process.

IT service continuity management comprises:

• Advice and assistance with issues associated with business and the continuity and recovery of IT processes
• Minimization of costs
• Analysis of the impact of changes
• Mechanisms to support business continuity

At this point, you should now have a clear understanding of why to choose managed IT services. Now, let’s see how to do it right.

How to Choose a Managed Services Provider

Armed with this wealth of knowledge, you can start thinking about your business needs and decide whether managed IT service solutions are for right for you. Start with these simple questions:

• What are the issues you need to solve?
• What are the expectations of your business regarding managed IT services?

The answer to these two major questions will help you clarify the vision and the scope of your service needs. Next, aim to find out more about the tools and solutions offered in the market that may meet your requirements.

Then it’s time to decide whether to go with ITIL or ITSM. These are two different tools: ITIL is a recognized approach within the ITSM framework, but not every ITSM supports ITIL, which is the basis of good management practices, recognized with many certificates and awards. This decision is the turning point in selecting your managed services provider.

It’s not that easy to find an MSP that meets all of your needs, as the market is flooded with a wide range of services and solutions. Thus, next we offer a list of ideal qualities, a kind of a cheat sheet, to help you make the right decision.

1. Response Time and Prompt Service. Numerous application errors, Internet downtimes, and even the loss of a mobile device are regular occurrences. Your MSP should be able to quickly resolve these issues.
2. Cyber Security. Cyber criminals are the new normal in the world of finance and banking. The risks they pose may only be mitigated by IT team experts, who regard cyber security as their highest priority.
3. The constantly increasing number of regulatory requirements can be overwhelming. Failure to comply may result in significant penalties and fines. Your MSP should be able to assist with regulatory compliance.
4. Monitoring of Network, Applications, and Data. Data is a vital asset for any business, whether hosted in the cloud or on site. The MSP you choose should be able to manage day-to-day operations and monitor the infrastructure.
5. Business Continuity. To support business continuity, the MSP should be able to restore daily operations once needed and offer a solution that involves planning and implementation support.
6. Skills and Certificates. Experts certified in technologies are quite expensive to hire. However, managed IT services are a good way to benefit from their expertise and range of talents.

This list is not exhaustive. It may be supplemented with many other equally important qualities. Nevertheless, the list demonstrates what to consider when selecting your managed services provider and making the right choice can have a tangible impact on business results.

Collaborating with an IT managed services provider means leveraging many advantages, such as technical expertise, the most advanced technologies, the flexibility to decide whether to install your hardware onsite and whether to scale up or down as needed, together with a proactive stance, round-the-clock support, security, and compliance.

At CompatibL, we offer full-stack IT service management solutions aimed at satisfying the most rigorous requirements of our clients. Our teams of experts possess unmatched experience and proficiency, proven over many years of successful managed IT services provision. We enjoy the recognition of our customers and have received awards for our feature-rich solutions.

The Future of Managed IT Services

New technologies have promoted the digitization and automation of business processes. Meanwhile, IT managed services have evolved into a distinct sector with a strong concentration of expertise and knowledge.

According to Statista, the managed IT services market was worth US$186 billion in 2019, and is forecasted to grow by over US$350 billion worldwide by 2025.

Using managed IT services, businesses are increasingly delegating their IT operations to managed service providers in order to reap the benefits of expanding their business opportunities and achieving operational excellence. The financial industry is also using ITIL to aid regulatory compliance and mitigation of most risks to ensure businesses perform efficiently and succeed in their strategic plans. It is a challenge to navigate the world of managed IT services to find your ideal provider. But it is also an opportunity to take your business to the next level of operations.