IT Managed Services: What Does the CIO or IT Director Need?

The need clearly, is to find a strategic partner, who can drive business growth and transformation, rather than remain a mere supplier of IT capacity. Many global organisations want more than an IT vendor. They seek a highly flexible, broadly capable partner with global reach to help them simplify, optimise and advance their technological investments.

Today's IT Leaders have to meet the challenge of increasing business demands while controlling IT costs and alleviating management headaches. CIOs are continuously looking for a provider to improve the performance of their IT Infrastructure, as technology is becoming more and more complex.

Transformation from Traditional Models

In the coming days, we will see more of managed infrastructure services and CIOs will want to adopt and engage with a flexible managed services model to have the convenience of using best of breed technology and services without losing control of IT. A lot has changed and the market has gradually transformed from body shopping contracts or facility management services to a strategic process-oriented & flexible delivery model. We will see more of a hybrid of offsite services delivery either through Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM) or a combination of offsite remote management and onsite delivery.

Initially, managed services were mostly adopted by large enterprises but now small to medium enterprises are using them because of competitive pressures and operational concerns. Today, organisations from different verticals are very keen on using workplace management services, managed data center and network and security support services rather than traditional outsourcing models. The managed services providers need to focus on service excellence and offer bespoke services to different customers. They must expand their local delivery capabilities by having a truly global model with the required knowledge, customer-facing partners and distributors worldwide.

New Flexible Delivery Model

Companies need to begin 2011, one step ahead of the game. They can do this by adopting a flexible managed service provider who can manage the peaks and troughs of their business demand to meet future IT infrastructure requirements. In this collaborative approach, both parties (organisation & IT managed services provider) share risks and responsibilities for better output. This model helps in rationalising headcount, whilst focusing on cost efficiencies within the organizations existing ways of working.

Through a partnership approach to their managed services program, organisations can focus on their core competencies; lower the cost of managing IT infrastructure through improved productivity and operational efficiencies with access to a dedicated team of highly qualified and talented professionals from their service provider.

It is an investment that gives organisations the most advanced IT capabilities while allowing them to maintain as much or as little control over their IT operations and infrastructure as they wish.

IT Managed Services (IMS) consists of various service level offerings that provide proactive IT management and support. Companies can opt from a range of IMS designed to optimise the technology investment and maximise the productivity of their people and business.

IT Managed Services offerings cover the entire array of IT outsourcing services including:

• Data Centre & Network Management

• Desktop & Server Management

• IMAC

• Virtualization and

• Cloud Computing services

Infrastructure Management Services gives organisations access to highly qualified support professionals to resolve issues related to desktop & laptop support, routers, switches, firewalls and wireless access points. Acting as a single point of contact for all IT based inquiries, the service logs all issues as incidents in a service management tool.

Business Benefits

This model will provide an effective and proven Infrastructure Management Services for organisations to reduce costs and improve on service delivery efficiencies. The other business benefits are:

• Reduce total cost of ownership

• Pay less for a higher quality of service

• Better control and efficiencies of scale

• Gain access to best of breed tools & best practices

• Speedy knowledge transition and reduce dependency on individuals

• Shared service delivery platform within business units and industry

• 99% -100% of SLA maintenance

• Peace of mind

Ramy Stuart - Business & Technology Consulting

Allied Worldwide's IT Managed Services are designed to protect clients existing investments and intellectual capital by working with multiple platforms, delivery partners and their own teams. We base our solutions on ITIL-best practices and proven methodologies. You can read more about on how leading manufacturer upgrades IT Infrastructure with Zero Downtime.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Managed Services - The Secret Sauce For A Successful Managed Services Business

Just for the moment, consider yourself a moderately successful IT service provider who sees the growing opportunity in managed services, is quickly developing the technology to support this burgeoning market and knows the secret - has in fact the secret "sauce" - to managing a successful managed services business.

Now liken yourself and your IT business to the owner of a fine dining establishment. The restaurant owner knows that his professional livelihood is built on the "meat and potatoes" of his operation, namely his fine selection of highly quality meats cooked to perfection. And he is convinced that his culinary success is due to the secret "sauce" he has created to adorn each entree. He even has a signature garnish that he places on top of each entree that makes it highly unique to him and a cut above his competition.

This same analogy applies to your IT business. Your company is probably beginning to shift away from the technology and the tools that deliver services to a realization that the managed services business is the "meat and potatoes" upon which your future livelihood will rest. Your "culinary" success will be due, in large part, to the special "sauce" you create to adorn each managed service you offer. That special "sauce" is your marketing strategy. The garnish you place on each managed service is the one unique fact or feature about your business -and how you market it - that sets you apart from your competitors.

So, what are the "meat and potatoes" of your business - the managed services you plan to offer your clients as you transition to a successful managed service business? How are you going to marketing those services - what "sauce" or "sauces" are you going to create to sell them? What "garnish" will you put on top - what fact or feature about your business is unique enough to separate and differentiate you from your competition?

First, let's talk about managed services. This is the "meat and potatoes" of your operation.

To optimize your overall performance as a successful managed services business, here are five key elements of the business to master. Mastery of these "secrets of success" will determine how well you do in the marketplace and positively impact your success and survivability as a managed services provider (MSP).

Core Technologies. The definition of managed services is expanding from infrastructure management and remote maintenance to the inclusion of software as a service. Selecting the right technology is one key piece of an effective MSP strategy. Successful MSPs typically use one of two types of software solutions - Professional Services Automation Software (PSA) and Remote Monitoring and Management Software (RMM). PSA blends such functions as customer relationship management (CRM), sales force automation, customer billing and troubleshooting into one single comprehensive platform. RMM allows the MSP to proactively maintain and troubleshoot customer systems and networks off-site.
Emerging Technologies. Up until now, MSPs were able to master basic PC and server administration. Today's MSPs face new challenges as the landscape of managed services continues to evolve. Now these MSPs have to master cloud and SaaS managements and learn how to tap into systems like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Apps, Microsoft Windows Azure and Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). Keeping pace with these options requires constant networking. Successful MSPs make this one of their biggest priorities.
Business Leadership. As you move from being a technology driven business to being a managed services provider, commitment from the CEO and top management is critical. Managed services will stall or fail completely without this commitment. CEOs don't have to master the MSP technologies but what they do need to do is this:
Promote recurring revenue streams as much as possible instead of quick break fix project work.
Track and improve customer service levels rather than billable hours.
Schedule frequent meetings to advise customers on those service levels and to discuss technologies that can further improve overall business performance.

Hiring & Firing, Sales Training & Compensation. The jury is still out on whether MSPs need to fire or replace staff as they push into managed services or work with existing staff to generate more and more recurring revenue. Sometimes MSPs find it works better if they augment their staff with outside talent, though many times this talent can be found within their existing rank-and-file. In more traditional IT companies, sales teams are generally paid a one-time commission for special projects revenue. In the managed services market, however, recurring revenue models create new opportunities and new challenges. The biggest challenge is keeping salespeople focused on longer-term, ongoing contracts rather than quick-hit project work. Without the proper compensation plans in place, salespeople may make half-hearted managed services calls and end up pitching a new technology product instead of the managed services you hope to sell. The best MSP in the most successful managed services business has clearly communicated compensation plans with well-defined goals and priorities that motivate the sales professional to look for more business and more opportunities for managed services from either existing clients or new ones.

Service Level Agreements. Successful MSPs know that without a well-designed and understood service level agreement in place, the clients will be expecting one thing and the MSP another. Using a solid service level agreement shows the client that you know what you are doing and that you will put both your reputation and wallet behind your word.

Now, let's talk about how you are going to marketing these managed services. What "sauce" or "sauces" are you going to create to sell this business model and bring value to the customer. The signature "sauce" you create and the ingredients you use to make it is the key to your success. Here are the three ingredients you need:

Marketing & Client Education. Managed services generates a significant amount of information about end users' activities and needs. Successful MSPs use that information to anticipate those needs and recommend applications and value-added services to help clients run their businesses more effectively. Using that information as part of a marketing strategy to better educate the customer is paramount. Many MSPs believe the client's lack of knowledge and understanding about the managed services business model is their greatest inhibitor to success. When the time comes to describe your managed services portfolio to clients, remember these three words - less is better. Skip the high-tech acronyms, the techie bells and whistles, and focus on the benefits to your client. Concentrate only on the services you offer that bring them real value, like customer satisfaction or service levels.

Marketing Strategies. To date, managed services has been about the technology, but today's successful MSPs are more focused on how to run their business well and deliver value to their customers. They know the importance of a successful business model, targeted sales strategies and value propositions and they are marketing all of that to their clients as part of their managing services portfolio. But the driving force behind the push to invest in a sales and marketing strategy is the company's commitment to sell the customer on the value the MSP can provide.

The New Marketing Model. Successful MSPs know that technology alone is not going to change their business. They know it's all about creating a business model of managed services and equipping themselves with the skills to run their business and to market it to a targeted audience. To build a successful marketing model, you need to do three things:

Define your product (managed services) from the client's perspective and sell it that way. Let client's know the advantages of this approach. Let them know you can provide them with software and spread costs over a number of clients. Tell them you can build more application experience than in-house staff. Assure them that your key software systems are kept up to date, available and managed for performance by experts. Let them know they will always have access to product and technology experts. Show them you can reduce their costs to a predictable monthly fee.
Know your client and let them know you know them. Let them know that you know it takes them six to 12 months to commit to a services program. Speak to them in their own language by speaking to the pains that you know that they have because they are common in the industry. Then show how you are uniquely qualified to resolve these pains and problems.
Use sales and marketing tools to your advantage to reach your client and, use only those with a proven return on investment. Schedule as many visits and meetings with the client as you can to advise them on service levels and to discuss new and emerging technologies to further improve business performance. Invite them to events like small business luncheons to get their thoughts and opinions on business trends or use of technology. Prepare hand-outs describing the benefits of predictable, flat-rate, proactive managed services programs. Create ongoing marketing and PR campaigns to announce new software products and technologies. Actively solicit customer endorsements.

Now, once again, liken yourself and your IT business to the owner of a fine dining establishment. We have defined the "meat and potatoes" of your operations - all of the managed services upon which your business in now built. We have given you the key ingredients to make your special "sauce" or "sauces" - client education, key marketing strategies and the new marketing model. Now all you need is that signature garnish you place on each of your products that is unique to you and you alone and a cut above your competition.

That garnish is a statement of who you are and how you present yourself. Are you ingenious? Are you creative? Are you capable of delivering the services required in a knowledgeable and innovative way? Do you communicate reliability and dependability? Are you empathic towards your client and their needs? What is it about you that makes the client want to do business with you and nobody but you? These are the intangible things that set you and your managed services business apart from your competitors. This is what your clients will remember.

This is a concise overview of what it takes to succeed as an MSP. Know your product. Know the market. Know your customer. Then move ahead and capitalize on the opportunities in managed services.

Now that you have tasted the "secret sauce" for managed services, you can get your hands on a complete built-for-you marketing system that will help you attract more clients, avoid expensive mistakes and win the managed services game. Go to http://www.managedservicesblueprint.com to claim your free audio CD on building an auto-pilot marketing system that attracts and closes high-profit managed services clients.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Telepresence Managed Services - Best Practices

THE ROLE OF MANAGED SERVICES FOR TELEPRESENCE

Over the last 12 months, there has been a dramatic increase in the attention that video has received in regards to inter and intra office communications. On a global scale, the introduction of telepresence is making a resounding impact and causing enterprises to change the way they communicate by incorporating video as an essential ingredient in their communications mix. And to that end, the role of the Managed Service provider in the video and telepresence space has become increasingly relevant. In many cases, it's the Managed Service that can play the key difference in the success or failure of telepresence in the organization.

Understanding Telepresence

Before one can fully appreciate the role that a service provider plays as it relates to Telepresence, it's important to understand what telepresence actually represents. Telepresence is a term coined to describe a video communication solution, where the audio, visual and physical elements of a meeting room environment are designed in a way to create an immersive experience. In addition to identical or nearly identical furniture, monitors, cameras, speakers and video devices which are installed at offices in different locations, telepresence equipped locations use an IP network for connectivity. When a video meeting is initiated, the people on either side see and hear each other in a high quality, life size image which yields the appearance that they are actually sitting in the same room. Because of this arrangement of cameras, monitors and speakers, the technology becomes part of the room and the meeting participants become immersed in the experience, focusing on the agenda of the meeting, rather than on the technology that is driving it.

Is this just video conferencing under another name?

Yes and No - Telepresence is in fact a form of video conferencing. Beyond overall adoption challenges, video conferencing has been faced with other perceived barriers including: quality of the network, non-standard room environments, and lack of widely accessible expertise / support.

Network - When initially introduced video conferencing was invariably compared to the television and telephone - both of which took many years to be perfected but have now become synonymous with reliability and quality. In a similar fashion, traditional video conferencing has been slow to evolve into a fully reliable communications method due to the limited quality and capacity of network types (such as ISDN), ease of use issues and lack of reliability. Additionally, there was limited focus and expertise focused on addressing these issues that caused an inconsistent and poor experience to the users of the technologies.

Room Environments - Traditional video conferencing equipment was often purchased and placed in conference rooms with little or no regard to the quality of lighting, the audio or the placement of the camera for optimal coverage of meeting participants. With video systems in vulnerable positions and capable of being moved out of position, there was a high potential for a poor overall experience. In fact, users often complained they could not see or hear people at other sites with the cause being more related to poor lighting, acoustics, and room layout rather than the equipment or the network.

Support / Expertise - Traditional video conferencing also suffered from a lack of overall support and "ownership", having rarely received the appropriate level of attention that other "mission critical" applications were given. The result was a perceived difficulty in using video and even worse, many employees not even being made aware that video conferencing was a communication tool available to them.

Beginning in late 2000, the transition to IP and the creation of a new breed of service provider dedicated to supporting video communications yielded significant strides in improving the overall reliability, ease of use and performance. With these improvements, video conferencing adoption began to occur in many organizations. At the same time, with greater importance being placed on "green" methods and cost reduction efforts, video was on the verge of becoming a "mission critical" application.

A new era of Video Conferencing emerges: Telepresence

Originally marketed by a company called Telesuites, telepresence has in fact been available for a number of years. Telesuites gained early traction by building and managing "telepresence-type" rooms for several organizations around the world. That said, the term telepresence did not become prevalent until some big technology companies, including HP and Cisco recognized the potential and began marketing the concept globally. There was a common objective: join the emerging video communications market, but distance the "new generation" technologies from the negative connotations associated with the term video conferencing.

With its launch of Telepresence in 2006, Cisco and their CEO, John Chambers have become the driving force for global awareness of Telepresence and have yielded the video market world-wide attention and increased adoption. Since that time, all the leading Video Conferencing industry manufacturers have added to the accelerated adoption and awareness by launching Telepresence solutions of their own.

And telepresence is coming full-circle. Although Telepresence is regarded as a room, immersive experience and, in its original form, includes a complete "room" configuration, several manufacturers are moving toward single screen stand alone models that resemble traditional video conferencing systems.

These developments have driven a new expectation level that represents a significant change from the traditional video conferencing era such that high quality "Telepresence" immersive experiences have become the benchmark for quality and performance of video in the business community.

Markets projections driven by the Telepresence era

There are many conditions driving an increased demand for high quality video communications. Global Warming, rising fuel prices, an economic downturn and terrorism have all combined to create a "perfect storm" of demand for Telepresence. The different approaches by new and traditional providers to capitalize on this emerging market have added to the awareness and attention.

According to the IDC and Cisco, The worldwide revenue opportunity for telepresence is projected to be $5 billion (U.S.) by 2011, with the largest portion of the revenue ($3.8 billion) driven by network and managed service revenues. Of the $3.8 billion, $1.5 billion will be attributed to managed services and $2.3 billion for network connectivity.

Telepresence is increasingly being sought as a collaboration tool between business partners and customers. Although the price tag of installing a telepresence room (ranging from $150k to as high as $400k) may seem to indicate that it is only designed for C level executives, in reality telepresence technology is designed to help any organization reduce costs and improve communications. In addition to playing an important role in addressing the issue of global warming and carbon footprint reduction, telepresence can help organizations save money on travel and can help to increase productivity.

A recent study by TRI, which included discussions with organizations who are using telepresence, identified the following business objectives behind telepresence:

- Greater operational efficiency,

- Optimization of global resources & competencies,

- Mitigate risk & promote secure business interactions,

- Raise quality of life, and

- Promote a homogeneous, robust culture.

Respondents to the study had the following to say about telepresence: "Telepresence provides significant communications benefits. It is a far more efficient approach to working."

"Telepresence provides a meeting across the seas as easy to set up as walking down the corridor to gather up colleagues."

"Telepresence is not just about saving money on international travel, it is about getting smarter at communication, strategy, and collaboration."

Clearly, telepresence has the ability to impact the bottom line of any organization in a positive way with both quantitative benefits and qualitative value. But how does it compare to video conferencing?

Telepresence offers great quality, yields a fantastic experience, and users love it...

So where's the "But?"

As with any new generation of technology there are few key barriers to consider:

1) Interoperability - many companies already have made a significant investment in "traditional" video conferencing equipment and need to leverage both the traditional and the Telepresence solutions.

2) Bandwidth - the great video quality and reliability comes at a high cost in terms of network bandwidth. Each room's set up uses 3 or more video codec's that require an average of 15MB of network bandwidth.

3) Investment - while the rooms are specially designed and integrated, they represent a considerable amount of equipment that must all function properly in order for the experience to be high quality and reliable.

4) Resources - the ability to establish multi-point (several rooms in one session) Telepresence calls requires additional investment and appropriately trained resources.

So when everything is operating and functioning properly, Telepresence offers a superior experience to the users. However, support of Telepresence rooms can be a daunting task and most organizations lack the expertise and available resources to dedicate to this effort. As a result, a new type of video managed services has emerged which is routinely offered along with Telepresence rooms called "VNOC" services.

VNOC stands for "Video or Virtual" Network Operations Center and is generally comprised of a suite of services tailored specifically for the unique requirements of Telepresence rooms.

VNOC services are a critical component of the telepresence experience because:

- The complete telepresence experience must consistently satisfy end users under the most demanding conditions.

- The adoption rate and overall productivity of a telepresence investment is directly related to user experience on a day-to-day basis.

- The benefits of a telepresence solution can only be fully realized by leveraging the expertise of a Telepresence VNOC Service Provider.

- The right service and support can make the link between telepresence and video conferencing appear seamless.

- Business to Business and the advent of public room rental using Telepresence technology is available without added investment or effort.

According to Frost & Sullivan, telepresence revenues are expected to increase by nearly 850% within the next five years. This means that telepresence and video conferencing will no longer be optional communication methods, as they will be essential for organizations to be competitive and demonstrate improved productivity, efficiency, and to have the ability to communicate with other organization's video platforms on public or private networks.

In order for Telepresence to avoid the challenges and pitfalls of the past and achieve wide adoption, it will require that:

- Video technology from different manufacturers will need to successfully communicate with one another and interoperability must be achieved.

- The complexity of room scheduling and call launching calls must be overcome.

- The technology must be as reliable and consistent as using the telephone.

- Analysis and information about room usage and productivity must be readily available.

- The technology must be "always on" with help and support available as it is with typical help desk availability.

- Seamless communication with private or public environments must be achieved.

The FOUR FACTORS to Properly Evaluate VNOC Service Providers

There is more to a successful telepresence experience than just installing the room and equipment. Utilizing a VNOC Service Provider should not be considered optional or a luxury. Even if you do have the internal resources available, you should be sure that you have access to a team of specialists dedicated to keeping up with equipment and software changes and they should be trained and certified on all the various "standards-based" platforms for interoperability issues. Even more basic than that, is making sure you have a plan to address some of the simple, most common questions that always arise:

- How do you schedule a meeting? What if there are more than two sites involved in the call?

- How do you launch a call?

- Whom do you contact if there are problems?

- How are users trained?

- Do you have the infrastructure to maintain connectivity to the outside world?

When it comes time to make a decision on a provider, properly evaluating their capabilities is essential. The FOUR FACTORS to consider are as follows:

FACTOR 1 - EXPERIENCE & INFRASTRUCTURE

Ensure that your provider has specific experience in Telepresence and traditional video conferencing, as well as networking, scheduling, multi-point bridging. Your provider must also have a proper infrastructure to enable your environment to private and public environments in a secure fashion.

FACTOR 2 - FLEXIBILITY

Choose a VNOC partner who is not tied to any one particular manufacturer or Telepresence solution as your needs may change and different systems may be chosen for the differing conditional and environmental needs of your locations. It's critical that you retain flexibility so your company doesn't get locked into one technology.

FACTOR 3 - ROBUST AND REDUNDANT SUPPORT RESOURCES

Many organizations focus on the equipment and room aspects of telepresence, but the importance of maintaining a consistent experience worldwide should not be secondary. Your service provider should offer comprehensive support for telepresence facilities through concierge services, remote management, and connectivity on a global basis.

FACTOR 4 - INTEROPERABILITY CAPABILITIES

Pay careful consideration to the provider's ability to offer interoperability compatibility between and SD, HD or telepresence environments and provide both telepresence VNOC services, exchange services, public room access and network services:

What You Should Expect From Your VNOC Service Provider

Proactive Monitoring - 24/365 proactive monitoring of the conferencing equipment and connections should be included to ensure that all equipment is functional and operable on a minute-by-minute basis. A combination of advanced infrastructure technology and experienced personnel should be deployed at all times with escalation and notification procedures in place.

Scheduling and Management - a dedicated toll-free number, a concierge service, and web portal scheduling tools for the user communities should be included. Automation and advanced tools such as integrated outlook and lotus notes capabilities with its confirmation notifications provided to requesters and participants of meetings.

Call Launching and Monitoring - can be handled by an engineer, who manages the successful launch of the call and connection of all sites in the telepresence meeting, including point-to-point and multi-point calls. The VNOC should be able to digitally monitor connectivity levels during sessions and should always be available to ensure a high-quality experience, every time.

Help Desk Support - users should have a single point of technical support for telepresence solutions to ensure a high-quality, uninterrupted experience for every call. Your provider should be able to interface and coordinate with hardware vendors, network providers, and integrators to repair or replace any component parts, network degradation, or resolve room integration issues.

Performance Reporting - provides key metrics on a monthly basis to identify areas of success, as well as areas in need of improvement. The reporting should include the telepresence room, the network, and supporting service levels. Your reporting should be detailed, such that it includes network and room service levels and availability, number of conferences held, total hours of usage, mean time to respond and repair any technical issues, along with a root-cause analysis and corrective action plan, where applicable.

Training - required for ensuring the successful use and adoption of telepresence systems.

It is not only important for users to feel comfortable using the technology, but to also understand the value the technology brings to day-to-day business activities. Using telepresence systems helps improve communications, enhance productivity, and have access to subject matter experts when and where they are needed.

Interoperability Testing and Support - to ensure telepresence systems can connect with other video conferencing rooms and businesses outside of your private network. Make sure the VNOC service provider is experienced in evaluating and testing video communication equipment for reliability and interoperability across manufacturers and access to exchange services for communication with private and public environments in a secure fashion.

A Final Thought

The future for telepresence appears robust. Environmental and economic issues necessitate finding more effective ways to communicate, be more productive and creative, and telepresence is rapidly becoming a "mission critical" application in the communication mix.

While providing a superior experience, today's Telepresence technologies are complex and demanding on your network and human resources. Advancements in technology may very well reduce the complexity over time, but the technology should always be secondary to the reason for using it. It is important to address entire picture - the technology, the service and the support - to ensure success with video programs.

As with any communications tool, Telepresence is best supported when an experienced service provider hides the complexity and simply makes it work, allowing the users to leverage the experience as part of their everyday life.

We are embarking on a visual society that is endless. Whether it means communicating with business executives on the other side of the world on important tasks, providing complex guidance to surgeons in an operating room in a different state or country, or extending your most talented and specialized resources across borders to interact with your most valuable clients, the new era of video communications is here and is no longer just a "nice to have".

The final and most critical decision is to choose the right overall solution for your needs by partnering with the right service to ensure it works anywhere, anytime, for any application.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Battle of the Budget - An Opportunity to Reduce Operating Costs With Managed IT Services

Per Matt Dickerson, Managing Director and Senior Network Consultant of AXXIS Technology, and cited as one of the Top 15 Worldwide SMB consultants, "The typical small business or firm spends 30% of the I.T. budget on hardware purchases and 70% on I.T. maintenance." What are those numbers for your business? What do you use to measure those expenses?

The purpose of this article is to give you a potential option the next time you, or the boss asks, "What can we do to improve the business, while reducing the cost of doing business?" Grab your favorite beverage and let's take a quick look at I.T. Managed Services.

What is Managed IT Services?

A mix of products, services and other I.T. partner offerings used to deliver a full range of on-site and remote I.T. services to primarily the small to medium sized business. The service provider serves as the complete virtual I.T. department for the business.

This can include, but not limited to, initial I.T. planning and implementation, to ongoing technical support and administration, to budgeting to ensure that the information technology backbone stays in step with the businesses current and future needs.

What are the services?

All providers have differing services and solutions that they provide and, this is important, how they provide them. Below are examples of the basic services. If you are researching a I.T. Managed Services partner and they do not provide these, continue your search!

7/24/365 Network Monitoring, Maintenance, & Support

This is at the core of what each and every I.T. services company provides the business. Your information and the needs and expectations of your customers are too important to call somebody and wait 24 to 72 hours or more for an I.T. issue to be resolved. How do you effectively plan and budget for these out of the blue situations anyway? Your IT services provider should be constantly monitoring your systems, providing maintenance, such as spyware and virus protection, disk drive analysis, application usage, and security patch management. A big one for most businesses: have off-site and on-site support available around the clock. No guessing game or "around this much" - there should be a fixed fee for the services.

I.T. Systems Planning and Analysis

Many business owners make I.T.-related decisions as a reaction to their immediate needs rather than part of a long-term growth plan. Your provider should assess your current and future I.T. needs and make recommendations to help your business grow. The idea is for every component of your business to be geared in some way towards growing your business. This should include I.T., right?

Disaster Protection/Offsite Data Backup

There are plenty of recent examples to confirm for us that you have to plan for the unexpected. Your customers depend on you to serve them without interruption. Your I.T. services provider should provide secure offsite data backup solutions that provide a backup of your data automatically. You have a business to run. Your I.T. services provider should partner with you to develop and implement a disaster recovery plan that you or your staff won't have the hassle of managing.

I.T. Vendor Management

Should you or your staff spend endless hours on the phone with I.T. vendors, or rather, dedicate time and effort to growing the business? Your IT services provider should be there to help you manage your relationships with your ISP, hardware vendor, web developer, ASP, etc...

Network Services

I have yet to meet or work with a business, large or small, that doesn't go through some kind of periodic "environment changes". This can range from staff changing desks, switching offices, or moving the entire business to a new location. Make sure your I.T. services provider takes care of the I.T. aspects of these changes. If you are moving or setting up a new network, task your I.T. services provider with designing, installing and certifying your data network. Make sure they are capable of taking care of the telecom, cabling, and I.T. equipment installation.

Regulations and Compliance

At the beginning of this century, we in the healthcare industry went through a "regulations crisis". The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) came down and the mad scramble and focus was on how to secure the system-housed information and ensure we were all in compliance. As HIPAA is to healthcare, other businesses have rules and regulations on how to use and secure information. Your I.T. services provider must have the knowledge, experience, and resources to aid you in remaining compliant with these directives.

Website design and hosting

Whatever your position on the degree of benefit to the internet, the reality is that many businesses and consumers use the internet as the first step in getting info on your business. Your I.T. services provider should have the tools available to work with you on developing and managing a website that can serve as "the front porch to your business". While having a great website will not necessarily be used to rule you in as the business to call, having a substandard or non-existent website can be used to cross you off the list.

Discount Product Purchasing

I.T. equipment is often an expensive investment. Regardless of the amount you purchase, you should never pay more than absolutely necessary. Your I.T. services provider should have agreements in place to ensure you get the best, most competitively priced complete systems, peripherals, parts, or upgrades.

What are the benefits?

You now know what the typical managed services company provides or should be offering, but what do you really get out of this partnership? After all, change is difficult and everyone is comfortable with the way we've always done things, regardless of the costs, the impact on the business, or how we might be getting short changed on services.

Focus on Business

You and your people are experts and great at what you do. I've spoken with business leaders who give examples of staff members trying to fit I.T. guru into their responsibilities. I've heard, "One of our staff lawyers, Joe, does our I.T.", "Pat, in Accounting, does the I.T. stuff that she knows.", "My HR Director, Tom, studied programming in college and does our I.T." I never doubt that these people give their best efforts, but question if that's the best use of these valuable resources and I am skeptical if everything is getting done.

Single Source for I.T.

You have one point of contact for all of your Information Technology needs. Rather than a laundry list of contacts and phone numbers, you have one source for your I.T. Note: Check on this! Most premier IT services providers will have a single point of contact who will know you, your business, your goals, and your I.T. infrastructure. If you don't know who has your account, you are always speaking with a different person on the phone, a different technician comes out to your business to do service, well, it is time for you to ask probing questions or search for a new provider.

Budgeting

The guesswork is gone. As you formulate your budgets, you will know exactly what your I.T. expenditures will be for any period of time. You work with your I.T. services provider to formulate and define your plan, needs, and expectations. The dollar figure is assigned and you work on producing results in your industry.

Breadth of Knowledge: We all know the growth rate in the I.T. industry has been phenomenal and new technologies and gadgets are constantly being added to the inventory. While most businesses have team members who specialize in a particular facet of the company, I.T. Managed Services companies also have staffs that have expertise throughout the I.T. spectrum.

It is near impossible, and not very cost effective, for SMBs to employ an in house I.T. staff with the same cumulative breadth of I.T. knowledge. This leaves the questions for the business with the in house I.T.: What are we incapable of doing? What is getting missed? For businesses without I.T., it makes sense to avail themselves in having an entire I.T. department at their disposal without the costs or impracticality of an in house I.T. department.

Anybody there?

Getting back to the level of support topic, having an I.T. services provider ensures that you maintain a predictable, consistent level of support, regardless of vacations, sick time, resignations, terminations, etc., associated with in house I.T. Apart from this, most I.T. services providers have a form of supplemental support where they will work with you during times when in house I.T. is absent or there is an increased workload.

If 30 minutes would help my bottom line...: Every successful business leader, whom I've worked or spoken with, is looking for ways to improve and keep their business ahead of the competition. Some businesses have an in house I.T. department or retain their current support and services provider, because, well, that's the way things have always been done. Some businesses prefer the "Las Vegas approach" of no I.T. support at all. They cross their fingers, roll the dice daily, and hand over the money as they go along.

I encourage you to do some due diligence, even if it takes 30 minutes. Research, discuss internally, and engage an I.T. Managed Services professional to see if I.T. Managed Services would possibly benefit you, your staff, and your valued customers.

Bill Culhane writes for Mission IT Services. Mission IT provides Austin IT Support and IT services for small businesses across Central Texas.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Managed Services - What's All the Buzz About?

It seems like the new buzz word, that all of us in the IT industry have been hearing about for the last couple of years, is Managed Services. And doesn't it also seem like the definition of Managed Services continues to change depending upon whom you ask? In fact, this term is so new that you'll have a hard time finding a definition for it in the dictionary. Now clear your mind for a moment, discard any existing preconceptions, and for the remainder of this discussion I'll use the following definition when referring to Managed Services deliverables: Any defined set of proactive services that are delivered and prepaid for on a recurring basis.

Let's digest this definition for a moment. The word "any" is a powerful one and it means that when defining Managed Services deliverables as "any defined set of proactive services," the deliverables are not limited to just network monitoring or IT services. Hardware vendors, co-location facilities and service providers can all use this term to describe their product and services offerings.

Now let's look at the remaining elements of the definition: "remotely delivered," "prepaid for," and especially "recurring basis." By understanding these concepts, and as an SMB service provider, you can begin to appreciate how they can help you increase utilization of your technicians and engineers, and your revenue opportunities.

Managed Services Provider Benefits

The benefits of offering Managed Services are many. First, as you deliver more services through remote means, the less you'll need to schedule onsite visits, and the more you'll be able to increase the utilization of your workforce and your earning potential. As you add new clients and transition existing clients to this annuity-based service model each month, you'll be able to avoid the dreaded "feast or famine" cycles, and instead recognize significant revenue growth.

Sounds good so far, right? Let me take it a step further. Now that you are delivering services through remote means, eliminating much of the travel time required for onsite support, and not trading time for money, you can do much more with less. Think about it-travel is the biggest utilization killer. In your local market, technicians can lose up to an hour each way when traveling to provide onsite support. Add to that the reality that once a technician is onsite, he or she can typically focus on resolving issues for only that one particular client.

Using this same example, the technician has already lost a couple of hours to travel, now add the actual time spent onsite-and that's after addressing only a single client's issues. Let's also throw in a lunch hour for our technician, since he or she hasn't had one yet. By the time the technician returns to the office, he or she could potentially be gone for six hours (or more)--yikes! Plus, if you're like most IT business owners, you're paying for the gasoline--and we all know that's not getting any cheaper.

Now, let me take the same example and view it through our Managed Services model. Instead of jumping in a car to drive to the site, the technician uses an application to gain access to the client's network server or end-user desktop remotely and then initiates a maintenance or troubleshooting session. Let's say it's a basic cleanup and optimization issue. Because there is generally not a lot that can be done while antivirus scans are being run, or drives are being defragmented, the technician now has an opportunity to address more than just this single issue for this particular client.

In other words, you can address multiple issues for different clients while engaged in concurrent remote sessions. Guess what that does for your utilization? That's right; you can achieve utilization increases that are simply unattainable through onsite support. Now let's be clear-not all issues can and will be resolved remotely. But let's just say that approximately 80%, or more, of your clients' issues can be. In short, you could net significant cost savings to your bottom line.

Hold on-I'm not done exploring many of the other benefits of remote support, though you may already be way ahead of me. As we discovered above, you can now support many clients with the same amount of (or even less) staff. And just imagine the time you'll save by not hiring, training, or managing excess staff, which can mean more dollars added to your bottom line. Further, through the implementation of a documented help desk SLA and escalation procedure (one that is consistently delivered by all technicians) you can establish standards to help reduce some clients' propensity to request a specific technician to support them, which in turn can prevent a billing bottleneck that can occur once your clients grow accustomed to using the next available technician rather than their favorite technician.

Another point to consider when weighing the benefits of converting to a Managed Services model, is how you can avoid haggling over invoices with clients. How much time do you spend each month going over line items on invoices with your clients? And how many times do you negotiate down to keep them happy? In the new model, all of your flat-fee invoices will go out in advance, and your clients will know what to expect each and every month-thereby eliminate invoice haggling.

Let me also discuss for a moment the change in perception your Managed Services clients can experience as a direct result of receiving proactive support. Your clients will now more likely begin viewing the Managed Services provider as much more than a "break-fix," reactive "computer guy," and they will see him more like a truly proactive advisor. And once you quiet down your clients' networks, you will then have the opportunity-nay, the responsibility-to deliver solutions to them. You may also find that when you implement a proactive Managed Services model, the value of your services increases and you become a trusted advisor to your clients, making it easier to sell your solutions.

As a result of prepaid, long-term annuity-based Managed Services agreements, you can logically expect the value of your organization to increase. This is based directly upon the value and term of each of your company's individual Managed Services agreements. In my company, we write three-year Managed Services agreements, which automatically renew (some of our partners write even longer terms into their agreements--five years and beyond!). This has helped my company significantly increase its value, especially when compared with previous month-to-month block-time/break-fix contracts.

To summarize, a Managed Services agreement offers the following service provider benefits:

An annuity-based revenue model Predictable, long-term revenue growth Can eliminate feast-or-famine revenue cycles Billing independent of any specific technician Can stop trading time for money Can do more with less by providing proactive services by remote means Reduce travel and other associated expenses Eliminate invoice haggling Sell solutions more easily Increase your company's valuation

Managed Services Client Benefits

This all makes perfect sense to the Managed Services provider, but what benefits can your clients expect from this proactive model? Let's start with increased operational efficiency. A well maintained, proactively-serviced network and its devices will always run better than the alternatives. With proactive network monitoring, patch management, and device optimization being performed on a regular basis, your clients will notice a tremendous difference and reap the benefits of time spent preventing fires rather than fighting them.

Your Managed Services clients will also be able to control and reduce their overall operating costs with the flat-fee billing model. For your enterprise clients, cost-effective access to enterprise-level support now becomes a reality, as Tier 3 issues can be escalated to existing staff or to vendors that can help resolve even the most complex issues. In my company, this type of support is covered under all of our Managed Services agreements.

In addition, because you also manage all your clients' infrastructure vendor relationships, your clients can now focus on running their businesses, not their vendors. And as a result of our "always-eyes-on" style of monitoring networks 24 hours per day, clients can experience an additional level of comfort and security.

To summarize, a Managed Services agreement offers the following client benefits:

Increased operational efficiency Reduced operating costs Cost-effective access to enterprise-level support Minimum downtime Allows the focus to be on running their business, and not their vendors Piece of mind from knowing that their environment is monitored 24/7/365

Incidentally, these are key areas to always highlight during sales presentations with prospective clients. As I've attempted to illustrate above, transitioning to a Managed IT Services delivery model offers tremendous benefits to both the SMB IT service provider and their clients. And that is what all of the buzz is about!

Erick Simpson
Vice President, MSP University
MSP University helps MSPs succeed...period.
Join MSP University FREE for all things Managed Services
www.mspu.us

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.