Originally published: 11 November 2020
The Best Managed IT Services
Author, Todd Gifford – Chief Technology Officer (CISSP)
Context and audience
This blog post is aimed at IT Managers, Heads of IT, IT Directors and other senior leaders with responsibility for IT. While there is some technical content, this isn’t a technical post, and it is designed to prompt thought and discussion with your IT teams and partners about the future direction of IT within your organisation.
A Managed IT Service – What is it really?
Let’s go one step further — why do we have IT? It isn’t there to be an end to itself; it’s there to provide a capability or service to the people who consume it. This can be internal customers accessing CRM, email or that (topical) excel spreadsheet, or it could be B2C customers checking their accounts or ordering the next batch of artisan coffee pods. In any scenario, unless your business is providing an IT service, it is there purely to efficiently and productively support another outcome.
Consider who provides your IT service now. It could be people who work in your business, an outsourced managed IT provider or a combination of the two. We have even seen some instances of organisations with no defined IT service provision at all, and that has never gone too well.
A Managed IT service is where another organisation supports your business — typically a managed IT service provider.
Why Would You Outsource Your IT?
For the same reason you would have a mechanic fix or service your car or an electrician install new lights. It pays to have a trained, experienced professional deliver their core service in an area you absolutely have to have right.
Let’s face it; your IT environment is there to support your business activity. Without it, you simply won’t be offering your customers the best possible service.
For example, whilst you could spend the next six months learning how to plaster well enough to get a reasonable finish on that dodgy patch of wall, you could just pay a very reasonable fee to someone who has been doing it for years and have a nice flat wall tomorrow.
Most organisations don’t “do” IT as a revenue-generating activity; hence the reason managed IT service providers exist.
What is the best Managed IT Service?
Conceptually, the very best Managed IT Service is one that you don’t ever have to use and where everything always works. In reality that takes people, planning, alignment to business goals and lots of up-front work.
Here are some questions to ask to add context:
- Do you get 80% of your issues resolved by the time you put the phone down?
- Does your IT Roadmap align with your business goals?
- Does your IT function (in-house or outsourced Managed IT Provider) talk about Risks, Benefits, outcomes and capabilities?
- Do you have a clear idea of how your IT service is provisioned, where your data is and who has access to it?
- Are you confident that your Cyber Security approach is appropriate for your organisation?
- Are you making the best use of technology to improve efficiency, focus on value-add activities and deliver new capabilities and revenue opportunities?
- Do the recommended actions have a clearly demonstrable ROI in line with the overall IT roadmap?
- Are all the people involved in delivering your IT service focussed on outcomes with you at the heart of the decision-making progress?
- Is a high level of consistent service and turn-around time for requests a given that can be relied upon?
- Can your IT Service react in a planned and agile way to changing requirements?
What Are the Benefits of Managed IT Services?
Better Cost Control
In-house IT teams require training, equipment and personnel to manage. These costs are absorbed by the managed service provider (MSP), allowing your business to benefit from IT professionals’ expertise and skills for less money.
An MSP gives your business access to all its knowledge, skills, infrastructure, hardware and software at a fraction of the cost than if you manage your IT in-house. You don’t need to pay a salary to a team of IT professionals. Instead, you’ll pay a one-off fixed monthly cost to your MSP.
Less Risk
The MSP provides its own proprietary methodologies and gives you access to their modern and evolving infrastructure and software, enabling adherence to best practices at all times. This way, your business never falls behind the competition and is always at the forefront of IT technology.
An MSP has expert knowledge in the security and compliance of specific industries. An MSP partners with your organisation, working with you to help avoid risks and identify unique opportunities for further advancement and growth, so you stay competitive.
Improved Availability, Efficiency and Productivity
Access to constant mission-critical IT services, less downtime and shorter times to resolve issues. Your business needs a quick and reactive IT service that limits downtime and ensures problems are dealt with before customers become aware of them, eroding reputability.
An MSP is available day and night to respond to issues, and most of the time can deal with problems before they become a significant issue that affects your business.
In-house IT teams often suffer from higher research and development (R&D) costs with longer employment times. That higher cost is then passed onto your customer, making your business less competitive. An MSP can speed up your deployment time and drastically reduce your R&D costs while maintaining a level of high-quality.
Preventative, Not Remedial
MSP staff are always learning and training in new developments and updates. They can future-proof your business and not just fix issues as they happen. Preventative IT makes your business safer, more efficient, more productive and much more competitive.
Issues are bound to occur, but many IT issues are preventive. They can be solved through the expertise of an efficient MSP that has the resources to employ the services and infrastructure your organisation needs to stay protected and to grow with minimal downtime.
Maintenance and Upgrades
Software and applications are continually evolving to a point where it can be too overwhelming for a business and its employees. Upgrades often mean downtime, headaches and staff frustration. An MSP handles all the updates and upgrades for you, meaning your staff can focus on their job.
Your MSP can also access new technologies through their partnerships and deliver them for much less than if you went it alone.
What Is the Best Managed IT Service?
Conceptually, the very best Managed IT Service is one that you don’t ever have to use and where everything always works. In reality that takes people, planning, alignment to business goals and lots of up-front work.
Some Questions to Ask of Your Current IT Services
- Do you get 80% of your issues resolved by the time you put the phone down?
- Does your IT Roadmap align with your business goals?
- Does your IT function (in-house or outsourced Managed IT Provider) talk about Risks, Benefits, outcomes and capabilities?
- Do you have a clear idea of how your IT service is provisioned, where your data is and who has access to it?
- Are you confident that your Cyber Security approach is appropriate for your organisation?
- Are you making the best use of technology to improve efficiency, focus on value-add activities and deliver new capabilities and revenue opportunities?
- Do the recommended actions have a clearly demonstrable ROI in line with the overall IT roadmap?
- Are all the people involved in delivering your IT service focussed on outcomes with you at the heart of the decision-making progress?
Is a high level of consistent service and turn-around time for requests a given that can be relied upon? - Can your IT Service react in a planned and agile way to changing requirements?
How We Do Managed IT Services
Like many things, there are many ways to deliver the best possible managed IT service.
Optimising IT Services
- Straight to 2nd line support – you get through to someone who can actually help with your IT issue – not just give you a number and say someone will be in touch.
- Separate pro-active team. This team takes care of repeat tasks, like user creation, procurement, moves/adds/changes, checking backups, and other service requests.
- Dedicated 3rd line team – for those more complex issues or network and system changes
- Dedicated Projects Team – nothing derails a project like having a split focus or stopping to answer support requests – so we don’t. Our project team are at the forefront of the latest technology and can help.
- Market-leading IT Consultancy – not sure what you need, how to do it, or how to get your IT Service aligned with your business strategy? Our market-leading IT Consultants can work with you to understand your business and help shape and IT Strategy to meet your business needs.
- We also have the best tools and technology currently commercially available to provide remote monitoring, management, security and support to your organisation.
- We’re an award winning company, taking home the 2020 SDI Best Managed Service Provider Award
- Optimising IT is ISO 27001 compliant, UKAS Management Systems certified and is proud to be Crown Commercial Supplier.
Fill in your details on our Managed IT Services page and one of our experts will call you to discuss your IT needs. We are an award-winning managed IT provider helping our clients to scale their business, stay protected and defeat the competition.
What do other people say about the IT Services we provide?
The proof is in the pudding, right? Don’t take our word for it – see what some of our customers have to say!
TIM STYLES
GROUP CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, NGAGE
Optimising IT made some compelling commitments during our IT Services partnership evaluation stage. It has been refreshing that they have delivered on their promises and executed an expedited implementation program that exceeded our high expectations. This is a true partnership between Optimising IT and nGAGE to deliver a great user experience for our staff.
FINANCE DIRECTOR
RIDGEWAY AUTOMOTIVE
We’re a very busy company and we need our IT systems to run smoothly. With Optimising IT we know we’ve got a partner who shares the same values for their customers. That means, we can trust them to ensure our IT is the best it can be. Working with Optimising IT has made a huge difference and leaves us free to focus on delivering the excellent customer service we’re renowned for.
ADRIAN HOPE
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICE, BHSF
We work collaboratively with partners who share our values to help us deliver a quality customer experience. Optimising IT do just this by helping us provide robust information security supplier assurance and we value the expertise, flexibility and pragmatism they provide, and we see them as an extension of our own team.
DANIEL TAYLOR
CHIEF FINANCE OFFICER
As a consultative partner, Optimising IT are helping to shape the Network, IT Services and Security strategy to help underpin our ambitious growth strategy. They have taken time to understand our requirements and develop an IT strategy to meet those needs.
Contact us with any of your specific questions.
