Enjoying Better Technology

Keeping Control: Outsourcing Select Parts Of Your Business's IT Needs

30 September 2019

Riley Garrett

For many businesses, the most challenging part of moving to managed services is giving up control. While cloud-based services and managed IT can offer massive cost savings and access to skilled professionals, moving these functions off-site also means losing direct control of physical hardware and staffing. This does not have to be the case, however. It is possible to selectively move portions of your business's IT needs to managed services, retaining control where necessary and gaining the benefits of managed solutions elsewhere.

SaaS Solutions

As a starting point, software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions offer a convenient way to offload some of your business's needs to managed solutions without abandoning your existing IT infrastructure. Most SaaS solutions are web-based, allowing you to continue to use your existing user hardware. This type of managed software offers a vast array of benefits:

• Your employees will always be using the most up-to-date version of the software
• Your IT staff will not be required to maintain or update the software themselves
• Since the core of the software runs on remote hardware, there is less need to update or upgrade your office computers
• The SaaS provider handles user support rather than placing that burden on your company's internal IT staff

SaaS solutions are available for everything from accounting software and word processors to industry-specific databases and simulations. With the wide range of potential solutions available, it is likely that there are several that your company can already benefit from.

Managed Support Services

Managed support services are used widely across a range of industries. The primary function of these services is to relieve your company's internal staff from the need to provide support. This can be especially helpful if your IT staff is relatively small compared to your overall company size or if your IT staff is primarily focused on infrastructure support. Since user support is rarely an area where a high level of on-site control is required, this is an ideal area to gain the benefits of a managed IT service without stepping on the toes of your existing IT staff.

An added benefit to these services is that they often offer multiple levels of support depending on your specific needs. At a lower level, managed support providers can remotely install software, provide upgrades, and troubleshoot problems. They can also work directly with your users to manage trouble tickets and hand off more difficult or sensitive issues to your internal IT staff. By working with a managed support provider, you are almost guaranteed to find a plan that works for your company's unique IT needs.

Contact a company that offers managed IT services to learn more.

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