The past few years have seen an increasing number of companies across verticals move from a more traditional in-house or standard IT service model to adopting IT managed support services. No longer are only large companies availing these services, small and medium companies have also discovered that they can too, reap significant cost savings, by offloading select or all of their IT operations to an IT managed services provider.

Why this trend? What have small and medium companies discovered about IT managed services?

Resources in many small and medium companies may be scarce, and may not be well equipped to handle all the infrastructure issues and needs of the company. Business tends to suffer when there is insufficient IT backup and/or security, as a result of system downtime and risks. Which is why we now see even small and medium companies are turning to IT managed services, as an extension of their own IT team.

Small and medium companies are no longer forced to choose a standard set of services that are costly and do not meet the company’s distinct needs. IT managed services providers nowadays offer global bespoke and flexible solutions and services, and companies can take advantage of a service that best suits them, and make optimal use of IT managed services.

The benefits a company gains by engaging IT managed services are manifold.

Firstly, it significantly reduces costs. A company always looks to direct any savings it makes towards its core competencies. Tightening IT budgets while looking to meet increasing business demands seems to be the order of the day. Therefore, IT Directors and CIOs constantly look to efficiently manage cost pressures. An IT managed services company, by providing flexible solutions, manages IT operations 24x7, thus increasing productivity and eliminating downtime. Also, with the access to a dedicated global pool of IT professionals, the right tools, experience and software - problems are dealt with efficiently, thus improving operational efficiencies and increasing productivity. By entering into a partnership relationship with clients, IT managed services providers pull back resources during troughs and increase resources during peaks, enabling the client to maintain their key people and competencies. So the client pays for the services only as and when they are used.

Secondly, managed support services helps companies tap into a global pool of highly qualified support professionals, who have the advantage of working in various IT environments, and have extensive experience across sectors. IT needs are met with quickly: to ensure that IT systems function all the time, only the most skilled professionals are hired by IT managed services providers. The resources also are well versed in the local language as well as in English, and are sometimes multi lingual, thus eliminating language barriers.

Thirdly, IT managed services are more agile as they provide their services and resources globally. Therefore, there is a single point of contact for all IT issues, system administration, on-site hardware support, etc. This single point of accountability greatly reduces the risks associated with having to deal with multiple vendors. An IT managed services company should typically adopt a centralized help desk model, which manages resources in different regions.

Fourthly, IT managed support services help fix an issue as soon as it arises, eliminating downtime and ensuring seamless functioning of your business. The client has the option of using a resource either on a full time or on a part time basis, depending on the project or issue at hand.

Other advantages include: the close working of the IT managed services professional along with the company’s own personnel leads to an exchange of ideas, leading to a better resolution of problems. The resources could also train the in-house team, saving costs. Using IT managed services may also free up internal resources, who could then work on the company’s core competencies.

Better performance, a continued uptime, a secure and risk-free environment, and the flexibility to scale up down or work full time or part time, and significant cost savings is why companies - whether small or big - prefer IT managed support services.