What is Managed Services?

Managed IT service is when a company outsources certain IT functions to a third-party provider, referred to as a Managed Service Provider or MSP. These outsourced functions may be as basic as keeping IT equipment and other services functional all the way up to full IT team outsourcing. 

The goal is to either serve as an IT team for a company that has little or no internal capabilities or to support an experienced IT team by taking some of the day-to-day tasks off their plate. 

Why Does Managed Services Matter?

Managed Cisco services

Technology Growth

Technology in the workplace is changing rapidly and getting more complex every year. 

One great example is the number of devices employees depend on. Just 20 years ago, most employees only had access to work technology while they were at work. Today, it's likely employees are accessing company information in the office, on a work laptop at home, on a tablet and even on their personal phone--and some of those devices are being used without the IT department even knowing they're in use.

The IT team often has to come up with ways to support all of those devices and use cases while also keeping company data secure. That's just one example of how day-to-day IT work can quickly balloon in order to keep pace with the way workplaces use technology. 

Filling the Talent Gap

We see that IT work is becoming more complex, but IT talent is not keeping up with the demand. Even though the unemployment rate is the lowest it's been since 2000, nearly 60% of employers struggle to fill job vacancies within 12 weeks. Experts predict that trend is going to get worse, putting the technology, media and telecommunications industries short 4.3 million skilled workers globally by 2030. 

That means many companies won't have the talent to support many of these critical IT services. Without someone managing upkeep and maintenance business owners run the risk of cybersecurity breaches, data loss and other issues that can negatively impact a business. 

If you are lucky enough to have IT talent on your team, the last thing you want to do is alienate them or cause them to burn out on small tasks and maintenance issues. 

Using a MSP allows your IT team to focus on strategic initiatives that support your business. Not only is that good for the bottom line, it also proves the value of your IT department, giving you a bargaining chip for future budget talks. 

History of Managed Services 

In the 1990s networks were fairly simple systems. Since there wasn't a lot of dedicated staff in the IT department, the teams typically didn't do anything for general maintenance if their machines were malfunctioning or slowing down--only if they stopped working. Once they broke, the technology team would fix them, which became known as the break/fix method. 

This mentality cost companies a lot of lost revenue thanks to downtime and loss of data and productivity. 

After a while some of the biggest Fortune 500 companies recognized the negative impact this mentality was having on their business. They began to work with IT service providers to proactively diagnose and correct problems before they caused an issue for the company. This early version of IT outsourced service management used complex software to analyze the data, which was extremely cost prohibitive and wasn't accessible for most companies. 

The Beginning of Widespread Usage

By the end of the decade, computers were more complex and most offices had several other devices--like printers and fax machines--on their networks. Smaller companies began to realize the break/fix method no longer made good business sense. They needed to start being proactive about monitoring their equipment and providing maintenance before something broke.