Managed services benefits

When it comes to Information Technology departments, fixing problems within companies is increasingly becoming the second choice for the companies involved. Many managers of IT departments wish to outsource their “break-and-fix” model to managed services companies, who handle the problems that arise, but also offer their services for a fixed monthly fee.

A 2015 survey reported that 66% of businesses surveyed used an outside Information Technology (IT) firm in the past year. For many IT departments, reducing payroll costs has been a strong influence in outsourcing IT services. There are a few other reasons as well.

For 38% of companies of all sizes, enhanced security and compliance was the reason for using a managed services provider. One statistic shows that over half or 55% of small to medium-sized businesses were victims of cyber attacks within the last year. For 31% of impacted businesses, security breaches cause more than eight hours of downtime and the cost of a data breach reached $3.5 million since 2014, which was an increase of 15%.

In fact, the managed security services market is expected to double by 2020, from $17 billion to over $33 billion.

For those looking to pursue or look into a managed services company, here is a brief breakdown on the different types of managed services a managed services model would offer.

Authentication. The managed services model offers generally authentication as part of their package that comes with a fixed monthly fee. Authentication services may include verifying a person’s identity the first time they enroll within a company, confirming that identity with each login, and maintaining the life cycle of that authentication system.

Systems management. System management is the process of administration of distributed systems within a computer network. Systems management may involve tasks such as server availability monitoring and metrics, software inventory and installation, capacity monitoring, and storage management.

Backup. Data loss can occur often within a company due to deletion and corruption, the first possibly being incidental and accidental. The managed services model provides services such as archiving and storing computer data in case of loss of data so that data can be recovered. Some methods of preserving stored data include encryption and compression.

Storage. Managed services benefits often include storage of data. There are many different kinds of storage. Data can be stored as primary storage, secondary storage, tertiary storage, and even off-line storage. This generally requires hardware, including effective CPUs.

Network security. A managed services model will often include a network security array of services. Network security allows the authorization of access to a network of data. It also stands as the denial of unauthorized attempts at entering the network.

If you are interested in a managed services company, an easy way to start your search is by using a search engine. For instance, someone in New York City might search for ‘managed IT services NYC‘ and see what comes up in the search.