What Are “Managed Services” in a Data Center?
There’s no shortage of responsibilities in most data centers, and sometimes, the best way to manage them all is to outsource tasks to someone else. Managed services providers are one option for IT departments that are short on resources, time and money. From managed website hosting to data backup and recovery, these providers take the burden off of your IT personnel so they can be freed up for more important tasks, such as new product and service development.
Managed services providers typically offer pay-as-you-go or subscription-based services that allow you to choose a package that suits your needs and budget. At the most basic level, these services will provide monitoring to notify you of problems in your data center that you can resolve on your own. More comprehensive packages will offer fully managed services that include alerts and problem resolution. Most managed services providers will conduct an initial assessment of your data center environment to determine the best package for you.
As technology advances, so do the needs of IT departments, and managed services can help to take the burden off of personnel who are struggling to keep pace with the business’s evolving needs. Your data center can’t afford to get behind on backups, patches and security updates. Imagine if your email server, customer relationship management system, financial applications or network goes down unexpectedly. Your business could face financial setbacks, customer relationship damage, productivity loss and other undesirable outcomes. With managed services, your data center is much more likely to be kept intact.
Managed services providers are not designed to replace your IT department, but rather to extend their available resources. When your IT personnel is off the clock or focusing on other projects, your managed services provider is still available, monitoring and managing your data center 24/7. Your provider will help you to quickly resolve problems as well as head off problems before they arise.
You also have the freedom to pick and choose the services that you want your provider to manage. Whether it’s storage and related management services or desktop management and help desk services, you can simply let your provider know what you do and don’t want managed. Discuss your needs with any potential managed services provider, shop around, and choose the one that best meets your requirements and budget.