During the latest round of client surveys, we asked our clients “why were you looking for an IT provider at the time we met, and what was the impetus for hiring us?” The resounding answer was that they were spending too much time thinking about, and dealing with, IT.
One client said “[We were] needing IT support in general, needing someone to help us manage security liabilities, needing improved firewall and anti-virus to feel that our donor data is safe. Phoenix has gotten us off of our servers, helped us with an unexpected office move, and helped us select a new Internet and phone service providers (no easy feat!)!”. This is the very issue that Managed IT Services addresses.
What is Managed IT? What Services Does It Include?
We’ve come to learn that when our clients hear and think “Managed”, they mean get it off my plate and manage it for me. One of the departure points between client’s desire and what MSP (Managed Service Provider) vendors deliver is at this juncture; IT doesn’t only mean the employee facing systems like email, devices, productivity apps, etc, we have come to learn that clients want all of it, i.e. anything and everything from that which uses the Internet to anything that plugs into a wall socket is under the responsibility of IT. This means print, voice services, any line of business applications and esoteric software applications they may have.
Why Do Companies Need Managed IT Services?
While clients may have a vendor who supplies and provides support for that product, they still answer to, work through and coordinate with the company’s IT team. Since most of our clients can not afford, nor would they be able to make a case for needing an in-house IT team, they expect us as the outsourced IT support provider to manage these vendors and relationships for them. An outsourced Managed IT Services vendor provides all of the amenities, expertise, elasticity and responsiveness that an IT internal team would provide, but at a smaller cost.
While most companies may start out working with a solo consultant, before hiring a firm, they quickly realize that one individual whether they be an internal employee, or a solo outside consultant, cannot take care of all of the things that a small business that fully uses technology requires. This is where Managed Services starts to make sense and is worth a serious look.
Learn more about Phoenix 2.0’s managed IT services.
Now on the topic of pricing and cost, please take a look at our next article in the series where we discuss the Managed IT Services pricing model and related questions.