Deciding whether managed IT services or IT consulting is right for your company depends on the capabilities of your current IT team and the state of your existing technology. IT consulting includes an external company auditing your current technology and providing recommendations and strategies for improving it.

In contrast, managed IT services help companies streamline their existing IT strategy. Managed IT services often include monitoring critical systems and increasing network security while augmenting the existing IT team’s work. Managed IT service companies are often hired to oversee repetitive, mundane, or time-consuming tasks so the in-house IT team can focus on IT strategies that drive higher value for the company.

What is the Difference Between IT Consulting & Managed IT?

The difference between IT services and IT consulting is who executes the IT strategy. In managed IT services, an outsourced IT company does some or all of the work of implementing and/or managing the company’s existing IT strategy. In IT consulting, the consulting company provides strategy, advice, & training while a second team (usually in-house) provides the implements, executes, & maintains.

How to Know Whether Managed IT Services or IT Consulting is Right for Your Business

When you’re deciding whether to utilize managed it services or IT consulting, you will want to consider the following:

• Team: What existing team do you have in place? Does your team have the capability to handle your current IT needs or are there aspects of your IT that are currently falling through the cracks?
• IT Strategy: How is your current IT strategy? Do you and other decision-makers have confidence in your current IT systems and management?
• Needs: With your current IT needs, do you simply need more hands-on-deck or do you need IT direction, strategy, and confidence?

Do you have an in-house IT team?

If you don’t currently have an in-house IT team then you will most likely benefit from managed IT services. Managed IT services can be a less expensive and less complicated way to manage your IT needs. Managed IT services can provide basic monitoring and security to dynamic support and strategy. Learn more about managed IT services.

Do you have more than one IT person on your in-house team?

If you currently have limited IT resources, you may benefit from both managed IT services and IT consulting. In limited IT teams, it can be common for teams to feel overwhelmed or understaffed. It can also be common to lack diversity in experience and knowledge. Companies with limited IT resources can benefit from augmenting their existing IT resources with managed IT services to free up their current team members’ time without making an additional in-house hire. In addition, IT consulting can help bring a stronger IT strategy to the company while filling in knowledge gaps. Also ref. Staff Augmentation (for temporary IT staffing support).

Do you feel confident in your current IT systems and technology?

If you are currently wondering whether your systems or technology are out of date, you may benefit from IT consulting. It is not uncommon for a growing company to find their current IT needs could use additional expertise and insight. IT consulting can bring more options, solutions, and strategies to the table to maximize your existing IT resources and prepare the company for future growth and needs.

Do you lack faith in your current IT team?

Sometimes companies are unsure whether or not they have the right IT professionals in the right roles in their business. In these cases, IT consulting can not only ensure you have the proper systems and technology in place to support your company but also that you have the internal IT team to do so. IT consulting services can include training or re-training your in-house team, helping with internal IT team restructuring, or helping bring in new in-house experts when needed.

What is your budget?

If you currently have an in-house capable of handling your IT needs but lack strategic direction and expertise, then an IT consultant will be far cheaper than hiring a full-time CTO. If you currently have a young or inexperienced CTO who needs extra strategy and training, an IT consultant can help provide training, coaching, and strategy instead of sending you back to the drawing board for a new, potentially more expensive hire.

If you currently have an in-house IT expert or a team capable of handling strategic decisions but have exceeded their existing bandwidth, you will likely benefit from managed IT services. With managed IT services, an outsourced IT team handles many of the repetitive, mundane, or monitoring-intensive tasks. This can free up the time of your existing IT staff so they can focus on more important aspects of your company’s IT. Using managed services to augment your IT team can be a great way to prevent having to make one or multiple full-time in-house hires.

How can we help?

Network Coverage offers managed IT services as well as IT consulting. Whether you’re looking to augment your existing team, improve your IT strategy, or have all of your IT needs managed by a reliable company, Network Coverage is here to help. Let us discuss how we can make your technology work better for you. Schedule a free consultation today!

It can be daunting to consider outsourcing IT services for your company. After all, not only do your operations depend on having reliable systems, but so does your company’s security, compliance, and productivity.

In many circumstances, outsourcing your IT—with the right outsourced IT services company—can save you time, improve your reliability, and increase productivity. However, if you make the wrong hire, you face several risks of outsourcing IT services.

5 Risks of Outsourcing IT Services

Some of the risks associated with outsourcing IT services include inexperienced staff, misaligned software partnerships, hidden fees, or unreliable service.

1 – Inexperienced Staff

One of the risks of outsourcing IT services is risking having inexperienced staff managing your IT. When you hire an in-house IT team, you have the benefit of interviewing and getting references for every individual on the team—however, this is only effective insofar that you have the knowledge to be able to verify new hires’ experience.

Choosing outsourced IT services means you don’t get much—if any—insight into the team members managing your account. Instead, it’s important to verify the knowledge and experience of the outsourced IT company as a whole. Look for case studies, call references, and read online reviews.

2 – Hidden Costs

Another risk of outsourced IT services is hidden costs. Some IT companies will charge a monthly fee for basic IT services but will rack up surcharges for support, additional software charges, consulting on any opportunity not included in your contract, add fees for hardware maintenance, after-hours or holiday customer service, and more. This is why it’s important to read your contract carefully before signing. Make sure to ask any references whether they’ve experienced hidden fees and, if so, for what.

3 – Unresponsive Support Team

Another risk of hiring an outsourced IT company is the time it takes to receive support and troubleshoot problems. Since an in-house IT team is typically on-site, it makes it easier to seek assistance or to produce fixes in case of system problems.

Many outsourced IT companies offer remote desktop assistance which can help troubleshoot almost any problem—although this is only helpful when the support team answers. Make sure any outsourced IT company you hire is committed to fixing problems quickly, answers phones with live people, and has IT engineers available for more complicated problems—in a timely manner.

4 – Biased Software Decisions

While on the outside it may seem like software partnerships between outsourced IT companies and software companies are a good thing as they often result in a discount for the end-user (while providing a kickback to the outsourced IT services company), this is not always the case. Software partnerships often diminish the company’s ability to stay objective in picking the right software solution for you.

Any company that has tried to pigeonhole themselves into a CRM or task manager that wasn’t the right fit for their company understands the risk here. A well-aligned software is exponentially more productive than software that doesn’t actually fit your existing needs.

5 – Decreased Security

Another risk of hiring an unreputable outsourced IT company is decreased security. This may come in the form of outdated technologies, antiquated security strategies, unfamiliarity with the most recent security threats and best practices, and more.

However, this risk is pertinent to in-house IT teams as well. The best option to maintain the best network security, backup and recovery systems, and disaster preparedness is to partner with a reputable IT expert. Better-known outsourced IT companies are more in the spotlight making it even more necessary to maintain high standards of safety and security. They’re also more likely to be able to attract and maintain top IT talent.

Let’s Talk

Are you considering whether outsourced IT solutions are right for your company? We understand the decision may be difficult, and we’re here to help you make the best decision for your company.

Network Coverage offers customized outsourced IT packages. Whether you’re looking to augment your existing IT team so they can focus on what they do best or looking to replace your in-house IT needs with a dependable, trustworthy solution, Network Coverage can help.

Reach out today to speak with an outsourced IT specialist.

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Outsourcing IT is sometimes seen as an IT management strategy for small companies to maximize the level of IT service they receive for as little cost as possible. While this is certainly a major benefit of outsourcing IT, it’s not the only reason companies—of all sizes—should consider outsourcing their IT services.

7 Benefits of Outsourcing IT

Outsourcing IT is about more than just covering your bases while reducing employee costs. Outsourcing can also maximize the level of expertise your company can receive while increasing security, ensuring compliance, improving monitoring and support, and reducing hardware & systems costs.

 

 

1. Round-the-Clock Monitoring

When you hire an in-house IT manager to oversee your company’s IT, you’re at the mercy of business hours, sick days, vacations, and workloads. However, when you choose to outsource IT you benefit from the round-the-clock monitoring and 24/7 crisis support that can come only from a company that has made it their business to make sure your IT has as little downtime as possible.

2. Increased Expertise

Hiring an outsourced IT company to manage your IT also has the added benefit of improving the level of expertise you experience. When you hire in-house, you have the limited knowledge of one person or a small team of people. While your IT manager may do their best to stay on top of the latest technological advancements, it’s difficult for any single IT mind to specialize in everything IT-related. That’s why outsourced IT companies will have multiple experts on staff with experience in hardware, software, networks & servers, technical support, and more. In addition, outsourced IT companies make it their business to stay up-to-date on the latest technology, trends, security risks, compliance factors, and other details. When you outsource your IT, you get the benefit of all of these experts at a fraction of the cost of bringing similarly-experienced experts in-house.

3. Scalable Services

As a business owner or manager, you know the difficulty that comes with trying to hire the perfect person for the job and everything that job may entail in the present as well as the future. As your company grows, so, too, do your IT needs. Should you hire the IT team now that will support your company through your foreseeable growth stages, or should you hire only what you need now and expect to add additional experience and manpower down the road?

Outsourcing IT can better bridge the gap between where you are now and where you want to go. Your outsourced IT package will include all of the experts you need at a fraction of the cost of hiring a similar team full-time in-house. In addition, your outsourced IT team can grow with you, adding services and support as your company grows.

4. Reduce In-House Hires

Employee salaries and associated expenditures are one of the biggest expenses of almost any company. Outsourcing IT has the benefit of ensuring your IT needs are met without having to make excessive in-house hires. This is especially crucial when your company is in the early stages of growth and you can’t quite justify the need for a full-time in-house IT manager. Instead of hiring full-time when you only have part-time needs, outsourcing IT means you don’t have to pay a full-time salary for an in-house IT expert when your company isn’t big enough to justify the cost.

5. Maximize In-House Team

If you have a medium- to large-sized company and have IT experts in-house, outsourcing IT can augment your team’s expertise while freeing up time for your in-house team to focus on the most crucial IT components of your business. For instance, an in-house team can provide far greater benefits by being available for advancing company technology or handling issues that need internal troubleshooting as opposed to spending time with monitoring, backup, software setup, basic support, and other mundane but time-consuming tasks that can be handled by an outsourced IT team.

6. Reduce IT Costs

There are a number of reasons outsourcing IT reduces company costs:

• Pay only for what you need. An outsourced IT package is flexible, meaning its costs can grow or shrink based on your company’s immediate needs, compared to an in-house hire which has significantly less-flexible costs.
• Reduce in-house hires. By reducing (or eliminating) in-house IT hires, you’re reducing not only salary costs but also costs associated with benefits and bonuses.
• Reduced equipment costs. You’ll also benefit from reducing the amount of in-house hardware and technology required to support your IT needs.

7. Increase Security & Compliance

Some of the major components of IT include network security, data recovery and backup, compliance, and more. While an in-house hire may have security knowledge and experience, it may be limited to certain industries or components. In addition, putting your security and compliance in the hands of a single individual or small team comes with increased risk in the case of relationship-oriented complications.

When you choose an outsourced IT company to manage your security and compliance, you get not only the benefit increased experience and expertise related to security measures and compliance for your industry, but you also get the benefit of having an entire company whose business success relies on the quality of their security and compliance services.

 

Benefits of Outsourcing IT—2019 Guide

For more information about how outsourcing IT can benefit your company, download our It Outsourcing digital guide.

 

Many people feel they have an understanding of “managed services,” but find they struggle when asked to define it. What, exactly, are “managed services” anyway? What does it mean to receive managed services, and what does a managed services provider (MSP) do for you?

What are Managed Services?

“Managed services” most commonly refer to an outsourced IT service provider overseeing and managing your IT solutions. IT solutions overseen and managed by a managed services provider (MSP) typically include networks and servers, software and technology infrastructures, data backup systems, and overall network security and risk management.

Outsourcing management of these systems through “managed services,” otherwise known as managed IT services, means you receive more extensive round-the-clock monitoring and support without the cost of a comparably-devoted internal hire.

What is Included in Managed Services?

Each managed services provider offers a different range of services, so it’s important to look over your agreement carefully to make sure you have an agreed-upon understanding of what is expected of your managed services expert. These services may include:

• Network testing and monitoring
• Overseeing network security & risk mitigation
• Connectivity and bandwidth
• Providing data storage
• Managing installations and upgrades
• Suggesting and implementing software patches
• Providing web hosting
• Network provisioning or virtualization
• Performance monitoring and reporting
• Providing help desk technical support

Why use Managed Services?

Managed services help to improve operations and cut expenses by offloading general management and monitoring duties from an in-house team to a better equipped external team.

Since it would be costly to hire an in-house individual for round-the-clock monitoring and systems supervision, managed services provide 24/7 IT system monitoring without the cost of a comparably-vigilant in-house hire.

It also improves security by taking the overall security of your network and data from the hands of a single person and putting it into the hands of an entire team with strict systems and protocols. While it’s easy for a single individual to let certain aspects of your IT security and monitoring fall through the cracks, a managed services company is specifically structured to oversee all aspects of your robust systems, monitor for potential or impending threats or malfunctions, and mitigating potential risks as quickly as possible—often before the risk becomes an actual problem.

It also frees up the time of your internal IT team. Monitoring and managing information technologies is time-consuming. Passing this portion of IT management on to an external team means your internal IT team can be more focused on day-to-day challenges and more strategic big picture thinking.

The Benefits of a Managed Service Provider (MSP)

The benefits of hiring a managed services provider range based on the actual professional you hire, but often include:

• Better cost efficiency. Receive round-the-clock monitoring without the cost of a 24/7 in-house team.
• Greater expertise. Instead of relying on the knowledge of a handful of in-house individuals, you’re benefiting from the expertise of a robust outsourced managed services team.
• Increased security. Using an outsourced managed services provider typically means a higher degree of security due to round-the-clock monitoring and preventing “putting all your eggs in one basket” with a single internal hire.
• Predictable pricing. Emergency response purchases, such as those typically experienced by an in-house IT team undergoing unplanned or urgent IT repairs, almost always cost more than preparation and planned management by a managed services provider.
• Reduced risk. With an external managed services team, you typically have a more well-versed team, better checks and balances, and more streamlined processes than you can see in an in-house team.
• Detailed service agreements. Instead of a salaried in-house employee who is at the mercy of whatever emergency is loudest and most urgent, managed service providers have a detailed list of deliverables that are rarely—if ever—matched by a full-time employee.
• After hours and holiday support. Just because your employees are gone for a weekend or holiday doesn’t mean your technology and servers are put on hold as well. A managed services provider provides 24/7 monitoring and support—even on weekends and holidays.
• Higher standards of certification. Since managed services represent a host of technology vendors, they typically have to hold more up-to-date certifications in the constantly-evolving IT products and services than an in-house IT expert would require. This means more informed decisions and expertise.

Do Managed Services Include Design & Implementation of IT Services?

Some people wonder if managed services also means the design and implementation of IT services. While traditionally “managed services” has meant the management of already-implemented IT systems, some managed systems providers (MSPs) offer design and implementation services as well, serving as more of a one-stop-shop for IT service needs.

How can we Help?

Are you interested in learning more about managed services or would you like to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation? Let us know!

Speak to an IT Expert  » 

Deciding what type of managed services are required for your business takes some time to plan. Simple upkeep or a full suite of services, and anything in between is things that each company must take into consideration.

Do you need networking and infrastructure? This can be set up on-site or help find the right outsourcing due to the requirements of each individual company. Or do you need more?

What are Managed Service Providers, MSPs?

Currently, there are three main categories as follows:

• Lower-Level, Pure-Play MSPs
  • These companies manage by keeping everything running, monitoring, and alerting, without taking responsibility for business needs.
• Mid-Level, Value-Added MSPs
  • In addition to the Low-Level, disaster recovery, software maintenance, and other broad range services are provided.
• High-Level, Outsourced MSPs
  • This is a full spectrum of services from providing equipment to filling all the needs of any company they serve, on and off-site.

Security management consists of all aspects of network security which includes risk prevention, security, and making sure all the latest versions of anti-virus software are installed and maintained on the system as well as individual computers for each employee.

Planning for more effective and useful networking solutions, or data analytics monitoring may be what your company needs as well.

And finally, support services. This can vary from help desk support and/or technical support, on and off-site.

There are also some additional services your company may want to consider such as mobile device help, as many companies need individual cell phone use, or just having employees use their own phones for business. This can sometimes lead to a breach in security if they are not connected to a secure connection.

Cloud computing is a feature that is a new type of service wherein storage and the sharing of valuable data is possible. It is important to keep the wrong people from gaining access to shared information. Dedicated MSPs and handling your organization’s cloud infrastructure can relieve the stress of someone who isn’t familiar with this type of storage from handling it incorrectly.

Another feature is the ability to have a data backup system in place is important to make sure that nothing is lost should the worst situation occur. We’ve all had our computers crash and the most inopportune times and auto-saving is vital as well as backup storage, to protect anything from getting lost when that happens. Just because the power goes out does not mean that all is lost when things are properly planned for.

Does Your Company Need a Help Desk?

Many times, managers can end up being the go-to for every question from their employees. This may be good for business-related issues, but simple, or maybe those not-so-simple problems can sometimes be better handled by having a help desk with trained technical staff members ready to help keep everything up and running.

Business Growth with Managed Infrastructure Services

When thinking about your company’s growth, there are many challenges when it comes to IT infrastructure. Things such as Hardware – servers, data centers; Software – CRM, ERP, etc.; and Network Security. These services can drain the resources of your company and your employees if they don’t have this set up effectively.

As your business grows, implementation, integration, and management are important. Avoiding threats by auditing and monitoring the information data, systems, and applications. Testing the flow of information as well as sensitive data and systems is a complex and tedious task. Keeping up with updated policies and procedures as well as applications and software is paramount to keeping data secure.

These are things that can take more time if not handled by those who have the know-how to deal with them on a day-to-day basis. Not having the correct amount of education can cause serious breaches in security and can put your company and information gathered from customers in danger of being compromised. Sometimes paying for a good management source is money well spent in the long run.

Think of this as insurance for your home. We pay monthly and most will never use it. But when that window breaks or the tree comes crashing down on our roof, it is comforting to know that this is all covered by someone who knows how to get the job done and do it correctly. Our favorite uncle may not be the best resource for finding a service to help in a dire situation like that!

 

For more information on how we can help, fill out the contact us form and we’ll get in touch to set up a time to go over all your business needs! We’ve got you covered!

 

 

Resources:

https://acp.us.com/looking-at-the-various-types-of-managed-services/

https://consoltech.com/blog/types-managed-it-support-drive-business-success/