What Do Managed Service Providers Do?: The Role of MSPs

What is a Managed Service Provider?

In today’s dynamic business landscape, many companies often grapple with the complexities of IT management or find themselves overwhelmed with IT responsibilities. This is where Managed Service Providers (MSPs) come in. MSPs alleviate the burden of IT responsibilities and streamline your business IT. They are essential partners that support your business, eliminate downtime and ensure you are secure. Whether you are a small or medium-sized or large business, a non-profit or a government department, engaging an MSP allows you to focus on your core business functions.

An MSP offers a comprehensive suite of services, including network and infrastructure management, security, consulting and support. By entrusting these critical tasks to MSPs, customer organizations can focus on their business without the worry of security issues or IT service disruptions.

A Brief Historical Perspective

MSPs emerged during the 1990s with the arrival of application service providers (ASPs) providing an array of service for applications hosted remotely and paving the way for cloud computing and remote IT infrastructure support. Initially MSPs focussed primarily on remote monitoring and management (RMM) of networks and servers. Over the years, their scope of services has widened to such an extent that they stand out from any type of competitor.

What Do Managed Service Providers Do?

If you are wondering what are managed services providers and their role in industry, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) play a crucial role in today’s business landscape. A Managed Service Provider is engaged to provide management & support for any IT hardware, functions & services. They assess clients’ needs and recommend the most suitable technologies and services. They deliver these services either on-site or remotely, incorporating the appropriate hardware, software, and cloud technology as part of their solutions.

Managed Services providers support small, medium and large sized businesses by offering essential IT knowledge and skills that may be lacking and to enhance the business’ IT operations. Niche industries like healthcare and finance rely on MSPs to also ensure compliance with industry regulations and secure classified information.

Key Functions of Managed Services

Small, medium, large businesses and niche industry use services offered by MSPs such as:

Managing Infrastructure

MSPs are responsible for managing the IT infrastructure of a business such as:

• Computers, Desktops, Workstations
• Servers
• Storage
• Laptops & Mobile Devices
• Networks
• Security
• Data Backup & Redundancy
• Access & control
• Risk
• Print Services
• Vendors
• IT Operations

MSPs ensure that all these operations are functional, efficient and safe.

Managing Cybersecurity

MSPs play a crucial role in protecting businesses from cyber threats; they:

1. Identify potential vulnerabilities
2. Monitor for unusual activity
3. Implement robust security measures
4. Manage crisis situations

This level of protection is especially important for industries handling sensitive data, like healthcare or finance.

Managing Backup and Recovery

They help businesses prepare for the unexpected. They create and implement backup strategies, redundancy and disaster recovery plans. This ensures that if something goes wrong, the company can quickly get back on its feet with no data or function loss.

Managing Cloud Services & Solutions

Many businesses are moving to the cloud for increased flexibility and scalability. MSPs guide this transition and manage the cloud infrastructure. They help a company choose the right cloud solution, migrate data safely, and optimise the cloud performance.

Managing Helpdesk

Technical issues can bring work to a standstill. MSPs provide helpdesk support for their clients, ensuring immediate solutions for any IT issues.

How Do MSPs Work?

Managed Service Providers allow businesses whether small or large to focus on their core operations. MSPs structure their business model to deliver high-quality IT services at a lower cost.

Subscription-based Pricing

MSPs typically offer their services on a subscription basis, with clients paying monthly or annually. This model provides predictable costs for businesses and ensures the consistent support, maintenance, security and strategy for their business.

Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

SLAs are contracts between MSPs and their clients that outline the expected level of service, metrics for measuring performance, and remedies. SLAs ensure transparency and accountability in the MSP-Client relationship.

The relationship between an MSP and a client is structured to ensure seamless IT operations and optimal IT efficiency & performance. This relationship typically begins with a comprehensive agreement and continues through consistent support and service delivery. When a company decides to work with an MSP, the process usually follows these steps:

1. Initial Assessment: The MSP will review the client’s existing IT infrastructure, systems, processes, and documentation.
2. Planning: MSPs discuss objectives, timelines, and responsibilities with the client.
3. Customisation: Based on the initial assessment and client needs, the MSP will tailor their solution to meet the specific requirements.
4. Implementation: MSPs setup necessary tools and processes to manage the client’s IT environment and support the Client staff.
5. Ongoing Management: They provide continuous support and proactive monitoring & management of the IT infrastructure.

MSPs have specialised software to manage the IT infrastructure and provide the support efficiently. Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tools allow MSPs to maintain IT systems remotely. Professional Services Automation (PSA) software helps manage the support, projects, and Customer inventory. By using these tools, MSPs provide efficient, responsive and scalable services to their clients.

MSPs provide a vast array of tailored services and solutions, from managing basic IT functions to providing advanced security and cloud solutions. As a business gets bigger or needs change, the MSP adapts their services and solutions to support the change. This means that companies of all sizes continuously get great IT support from MSPs as their company changes or grows and as technology or industry requirements change.

What are the Benefits of Managed Service Providers?

Apart from significantly increasing your security, efficiency, resourcefulness and reducing your overall IT costs, managed IT service providers have the following advantages:

What Industries Need Managed IT Services?

Today most industries require managed IT service providers. Managed IT service providers are now of significant benefit to every company size and customer base. Industries such as the following heavily rely on MSPs:

MSP Pricing Models

Managed IT Service Providers offer a variety of pricing models allowing for scalability and easy budgeting as follows:

Price Per Device

Clients pay a fixed subscription fee for every device to be managed such as servers, SAN/NAS, laptops, mobile phones, PC/desktops, Switches, Modem/Routers, Firewalls, UPSs etc. This model is straightforward and makes it easy for clients to predict costs based on the number of devices they use as well as track & manage required IT assets.

Price Per User

This model charges a fixed subscription fee for each user involved in the contracted IT services. It is ideal for businesses where each user uses multiple devices. It is a straightforward model and makes it easy for clients to predict costs, manage access & controls and ensure user security.

Tiered Pricing

This model provides price package tiers with different levels of service provided.  The client selects a tier that suits their budget and requirements.

Time & Materials Pricing

In this model, clients pay based on the amount of hours worked by the MSP plus any materials required.

MSPs & In-house Teams

IT service & support is a fundamental requirement for small or large business groups. However, some organisations confront the question of whether to maintain an in-house IT team or hire a managed IT service provider (MSP)?

Having an in-house IT team means that an organisation employs its own staff to manage and maintain its IT systems.

Today, companies that must have an in-house IT team still engage MSPs to manage certain IT tasks and functions increasing their IT teams available time. MSPs increase access to the latest technologies and best practice techniques as well as overall business security. MSPs add round the clock support throughout the year and whilst staff are on leave as well as provide additional geographic coverage. MSPs provide the internal IT teams with ongoing training, additional expertise and resources needed to handle any IT function or challenge.

Hire MSP Corporation As Your Managed Service Provider

If you’re looking to reduce costs, increase efficiency & profitability and ensure highly satisfied employee and customer satisfaction, MSP Corporation is the top choice for business IT solutions. MSP Corporation specialise in providing comprehensive IT services across Australia and New Zealand, catering to all industries and business sizes. Our business services include:

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