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What Can a Managed Service Provider Do to Assist Your Data Management?

As we have done throughout this series, let’s compare the experience that a managed service provider delivers to the alternative.

Cloud Services

Tom’s business has a lot of data that needs to be stored, and quite a few applications that need to be run, as most businesses do. Tom elects to host his assorted solutions in-house. Jerry’s business also needs these solutions, but Jerry decides to utilize cloud services instead - storing his data and hosting his business-critical applications in the cloud for a monthly fee.

As a result, Tom is responsible for maintaining the hardware and software, which takes up a lot of his staff’s time and resources (or it doesn’t get done at all, which is dangerous). Furthermore, the infrastructure needed to host his solutions isn’t cheap, so a sizable investment needs to be made to procure it. Tom and his team are then responsible for everything - updating the solutions and securing them. As a result, Tom’s investment quickly becomes more expensive than first anticipated.

Jerry, on the other hand, reaches out to his managed service provider and is quickly connected to a trustworthy cloud service, leveraging his managed service provider’s professional relationships. Jerry is then able to store his data and host his applications in the space provided by the cloud service, without needing to do anything to maintain it. In exchange, he pays a predictable monthly fee based on his usage, protected by the cloud service’s uptime guarantee. 

Backup and Disaster Recovery

Let’s assume that the city in which Tom and Jerry both operate is hit by some natural disaster. The difference in their use (or lack of use) of cloud services via a managed service provider could spell all the difference in how well each company makes it through.

Take Tom’s company. Since his solutions are all in-house, the disaster could easily wipe them out, leaving him without his data… unless he’s been maintaining an offsite backup. Unfortunately, he has not - he has a copy of his files saved to a network-attached storage device, but nothing else. As a result, the disaster leaves him without any of his data… and his business is in some truly dire straits.

Jerry, on the other hand, has been using the cloud to host his data and applications. This means that, when the disaster strikes his business, his data isn’t there. Furthermore, his cloud service goes the extra mile and stores his data in multiple places, insulating it from being affected by the same disaster that makes a backup necessary in the first place. This means that Jerry’s data - indeed, the backbone of his business - is safe and sound, able to be recovered as needed.

Data Warehousing

Data warehousing is the process of combining seemingly unrelated data into a singular platform to help businesses fuel their business analytics and business intelligence platforms. These platforms are becoming more important by the day, and provide value by providing decision makers a thorough knowledge base.

This processing, as one would imagine, requires quite a bit of computing power - far more than Tom’s in-house system will be able to muster. Jerry, on the other hand, has his managed service provider to assist him. This gives him a definite advantage. In order to accomplish Jerry’s goals, the managed service provider can adjust his infrastructure to see to this analysis, opening him up to increased business opportunities.

Don’t Miss the Next Installment in this Series!

Up next, we’ll be discussing how a managed service provider can assist with IT procurement, so if you still haven’t subscribed, make sure to do so! Of course, Digital Seattle is available to discuss all of this with you as well, so if you can’t wait, give us a call at (206) 709-9556!

How a Business Can Consult with an MSP

Be honest with yourself: who do you think is going to have a better handle on what your business needs for optimal success… you, after a few hours of Googling, or a service provider whose business is built upon their ability to deliver this optimization?

This consulting can take many shapes, and provides different benefits to your business. As we have in other parts of this series, let’s compare two hypothetical businesses to outline the benefits of a managed service provider’s assistance.

IT Consulting Services

Shirley manages a business that is experiencing promising growth - promising enough, that enhanced IT solutions are needed to support her operations. Another business owner, Laverne, is also experiencing similar success and growth, and therefore has similar IT needs.

However, when it comes to selecting these enhanced, improved solutions, the two business owners take very different paths. Shirley decides to try and design her IT upgrades herself, thinking, “How hard could it be?” Alternatively, Laverne realizes that her expertise lies in her business, and not in IT, so she calls in a managed service provider to assist her in developing a technology strategy that allows her to scale her solutions to match demand.

As a result, Laverne will have the technology solutions that suit her business and allow it to accomplish more. While Shirley may make some lucky guesses and pick the right solutions independently, this is far less likely than if a dedicated professional was advising her.

Virtual CIO

A managed service provider can also provide a business with a Chief Information Officer, commonly known as a virtual CIO (as compared to an in-house CIO, which large businesses commonly hire). Since Laverne is leveraging managed services, she is able to access the virtual CIO services that are offered, opening her up to increased efficiency in her IT spending, greater productivity and data management, with a resourceful and responsive representative from the managed service provider working for her.

Shirley, on the other hand, does not have access to such a resource, and is therefore not provided with these business advantages.

Business Process Management

Let’s take our hypothetical situation one step further and assume that both Laverne and Shirley have some inefficiencies in their business processes. After all, even if they’re hypothetical, they’re still only human.

Shirley can do her best to identify and resolve these inefficiencies as they become apparent, but remember: she’s a business owner, not an IT expert, so there are a lot of signals that she frankly doesn’t know to look for.

As Laverne has Digital Seattle on her side, she has a resource that will actively seek out and identify any shortcomings and otherwise optimize her business’ network for her. This leaves Laverne more time to run her business, with better tools to use and a better method of doing do.

Vendor Management

Of course, there is no such thing as a store that sells all of a business’ needs - at least, not in a reasonable scale for a business to use. This is why businesses rely on vendors to procure the materials and technology needed for their operations.

Let’s say that Shirley really does have a good idea of what her business needs, and she has found vendors to serve these needs. However, she also needs to commit time to working with these vendors, making sure orders are placed, invoices are paid, and all the rest.

Laverne, on the other hand, can entrust her managed service provider to handle her vendors, and be confident that everything that needs to be handled will be. Furthermore, there’s a good chance that the managed service provider will be able to get Laverne a better deal, as they have likely built up a working relationship with their vendors.

Managed Services Put You in Touch with Your Best Options

One of the most useful resources in any business is expertise, and that’s something that a managed service provider can deliver. When you’re in need of an IT solution, you can trust a managed service provider like Digital Seattle to be your advocate when dealing with vendors. As a result, you get what you need, without paying more than you need to.

We still aren’t finished exploring the benefits of managed services, so don’t miss the rest of this series. If you’d like to learn more about what Digital Seattle has to offer, reach out to us at (206) 709-9556!

How a Managed Service Provider Provides Support

If you read the first part of this series, you may remember that we touched upon the many differences between a more traditional service provider’s methodology, and the experience that could be expected when working with a managed service provider.

You may also remember, specifically, that the managed service provider had a particular advantage over the break/fix approach. Namely, the fact that they didn’t necessarily need to be onsite in order to provide support.

Remote Support Capabilities and Help Desk Solutions

Let’s say Abbott is sitting at his workstation when he comes across an issue. Across town, Costello is hard at work for the competition, when he also has a problem with his workstation. The major difference? Abbott’s company utilizes both in-house resources and a managed service provider, while Costello’s has stuck to just an in-house team.

Let’s assume that both internal IT teams are swamped, and simply can’t get to resolving the issues anytime soon. This puts Costello in a tough spot, as he simply can’t continue with his work until his computer issue is resolved.

Abbott, on the other hand, also has his managed service provider’s help desk to lean on. All he has to do is submit a ticket, and someone will look into the issue in short order. Abbott is soon contacted by a technician, who asks a few follow-up questions to better understand the issue. The technician decides that he needs to see things for himself, so he remotes into Abbott’s workstation. Having done so, the technician quickly realizes Abbott’s problem, and resolves it right then and there. As a result, Abbott is able to get back to business, the entire ordeal taking up just a few minutes of his day.

In the meantime, Costello is still waiting for his internal team to get to his issue.

Onsite Support Services

What would happen if Abbott’s issue wasn’t something that could be resolved remotely?

In that case, the managed service provider would send a technician onsite to diagnose the issue. Thanks to the remote work already put in, however, this process can be completed much more quickly because many possibilities have already been ruled out. Abbott is therefore still able to get back to work fairly efficiently.

In fact, the managed service provider would likely have recommended that a spare workstation be kept in the business, to eliminate even more of the downtime that Abbott experiences. Once the device is booted up, the managed service provider could remotely configure it to Abbott’s needs, allowing him to continue his work while someone is en route to see to the original workstation.

Costello isn’t quite so lucky. He either waits for his internal IT team to get to his issue, or he calls in another IT provider. Since he has never worked with this provider before, they are completely unfamiliar with his technology - so when a technician gets there, they have to spend a lot of time troubleshooting the issue before it can be resolved. A lot of time, mind you, that Costello still can’t get any work done, and that the company will have to pay him for.

Managed Services Can Help You Keep Your Business Going

Time is one of a business’ most scarce resources, and if any of it is wasted, there’s no recovering it. Every moment is therefore valuable, so you can’t afford to wait around for your IT issues to be resolved. Managed service providers like Digital Seattle are here to ensure that you don’t need to, assisting you in maintaining your crucial technology solutions.

This is far from the end of how leveraging managed services benefits your business. Keep an eye open for our next post on the subject. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions you have! Give us a call at (206) 709-9556 to talk to one of our experts.