Technology has taken a demanding and ever–expanding role in today's fiercely competitive and rapidly changing business environment, no matter what type of business that may be. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) allow safe computing connection into the office from home or on the road, videoconferencing brings employees together without travel, laptops are taken into the field and VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) allows voice and data over a single, network infrastructure. These advances can improve productivity, promote business growth and reduce overall costs. But, all this capability comes at a price: Businesses can have difficulty remaining current with technologies, malware attacks, strategic IT planning and the everyday trials of normal business.
Managed Services, like VOIP, is one of the next "BIG IT" investments "everyone" says small and medium sized businesses should make. But what are Managed Services? Is it worth the expense and what will be the return on your investment?
The foundation of Managed Services is monitoring. On a 24/7/365 basis, a Managed Services company will monitor your desktops' and servers' critical functions. An immediate benefit is realized if your mail or file server goes off–line, your Internet connection breaks or a network component fails; the monitoring company will know within seconds, often before your own company's personnel realize there is a problem.
Longer term benefits are found in the deeper testing that is an integral part of Managed Services. System and network logs are scanned for errors and events that can foretell impending problems. Before a hard disk fails, it usually develops errors that are recorded in the system logs. Monitoring can illuminate these errors and often allows for proactive repair before disk or other failures occur. When a system reaches it's memory capacity, the system slows to a crawl and may even crash. Updates, upgrades and new programs require more disk space and more memory. Monitoring allows detection of disk and memory issues before they can become serious problems.
Network logs are monitored so that intrusion and internal misuse attempts are discovered in real time. Viruses, Trojans, Zombies or Spyware can overwhelm your system's resources. Hackers using techniques such as port scanning don't care what's on your system; they are just looking for an available computer to install their illicit programs. Anti–virus and Spyware defense systems are only as good as their most recent updates. The most dangerous attacker may be from inside your own business. A monitoring system will detect unusual changes in resources and allow for an immediate response and mitigation of attack. The logging and addressing of these events is also an important part of compliance for HIPAA, Sarbanes–Oxley and other regulatory statutes.
In addition to monitoring functions, another role of Managed Services is to protect your investment in equipment and software. Physical inventory and software assets are routinely monitored. Each computer's actual presence; the number of disks, memory and peripherals it contains; which programs are installed and their associated software licenses can be inventoried. Since desktop and laptop PCs are typically set up to report to the monitoring system, monitoring can be used to assist in the recovery of stolen assets.
Another critical task that Managed Services alleviates is patch management. Keeping operating system and software component updates, such as security and anti–virus software, as well as a plethora of other programs up–to–date can be a daunting task. Not all patches released by software vendors should be installed, despite what the vendor may say. Managed Service providers typically hold patches for a minimal period of time to allow for additional testing and to allow for the technical community to provide feedback on the advantages and problems associated with the patch before installing them. This often improves productivity by preventing avoidable problems and downtime.
Frequently, the most appreciated part of Managed Services is the immediate availability of a Helpdesk and Remote Desktop Control. These services are often the proverbial icing on the cake. The Managed Services' helpdesk/support person will have access to your office's inventory and asset management information. That person will have immediately available a wealth of knowledge about the specific system, including error reports from ongoing monitoring, as soon as the call starts. The vendor of the item that may or may not have caused the problem, has no information about the intricacies of your system. Your Managed Services provider does. Instead of spending valuable time explaining the problem to the vendor, your Helpdesk person already knows more about your system than the vendor.
"What do you mean the RAM won't BAM!?" Some problems can be difficult to communicate. The user may not be able to describe the problem in words that make sense to a technical person. "I say cursor, you say blinking thing." Sometimes it is just easier for the Helpdesk person to work on the machine directly. The technician can use Remote Desktop Control to "take over" the problematic PC remotely. In this way, the remote Managed Services person can work on the computer as if he or she were in front of the problematic PC. Many minor problems can be solved quickly, without an on–site visit and its accompanying costs.
Many routine tasks can be solved by remote support as well. Server maintenance, add/change/remove operations and configuration fixes can be accomplished in a few minutes, without the need for a service person to visit the site. Not only does this save time, decreasing downtime, but often saves money directly, as the cost for remote support is usually lower than the cost of the on–site time. However, if a technician needs to come to your site, he or she will arrive with a good knowledge of what to expect and with the needed parts in hand.
Ultimately, managed services provides a cost advantage for your business by focusing on your IT infrastructure, enabling you to concentrate on your core business.
