We’ve talked before about what managed IT services is and how it can benefit organizations. It’s remote technology management and monitoring, which can lead to improved IT stability, cost savings, budget predictability, and better security.
Now we want to go back to fundamentals: What types of managed services are there? What kind of offerings can you expect when you’re looking into IT management and monitoring?
Does Managed IT Services cover Everything?
Not necessarily. Every managed service contract is different because these services are often a la carte. You pick and choose which exact services to implement, based on the technology and systems you have, and which need to be managed. Also, not all managed service providers (MSPs) will offer every service. Since there’s such a broad range, some MSPs specialize in a few types of managed services, or even just one.
Types of Managed Services
You can break down the types of managed IT services in different ways. But you’ll often see them listed by the type of hardware or system (e.g., managed servers, managed firewalls) or by specific tasks (e.g., system monitoring, virtualization). For ease of understanding, at OXEN we prefer to categorize managed services offerings by the hardware or system. So these types of managed services include:
Managed Networking
Covers automating and monitoring network tasks and managing network equipment (like switches). It can also include managing storage and backups.
Managed Hardware
- Most commonly covers desktops and servers, monitoring the health of the hardware, storage space, and so on.
- Managed Print is also a subtype of managed hardware, to cover your printers and monitor their health and status.
Managed Security
There are multiple types of managed services that fall under the fastest growing category today: security.
- Managed Backup or a managed business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solution keeps your backups scheduled and timely, maintains your backup hardware, and tests backup restores.
- Managed Firewall covers your firewall service, including regular status reports and updating the hardware firmware.
- Anti-Malware, Anti-Virus, and Anti-Spam solutions are often bundled together and frequently included in other managed services like Managed Hardware, because they’re essential security measures. They include constantly monitored and updated security apps.
- Network Security Monitoring is continual monitoring of your network traffic and end devices to detect suspicious activity, vulnerabilities, and unintentional internal incidents that could compromise your system and data. As a service, this can also include regular vulnerability testing.
Managed Support Services
Covers services related to IT help, like troubleshooting or remediating advanced issues, or providing an IT helpdesk. Frequently another managed service or service bundle will already include this to cover labor for addressing issues.
CIO Services / IT Consulting
It has many names, like Virtual CIO (vCIO) or Shared CIO, but this service is consultative. A designated expert works with your organization regularly to provide IT leadership. They help you plan out strategies for technology and cybersecurity implementation that meets your business goals.
Managed Cloud Infrastructure
Involves cloud infrastructure management as well as handling virtualization services for apps, software, operating systems, or managing your virtual servers.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Typically involves management of software platforms like Microsoft 365, or other similar platforms that are frequently subscription-based.
Managed Communication Services
Covers monitoring and management of messaging software, Voice over IP (VoIP), data, and video, and in general communication apps.
There are many more subtypes you can drill down into. Almost anything can now be turned into a service, such as Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS), which often are ongoing services with monitoring and maintenance like managed services.
What about specific services?
The other way to think about managed services is to break them down by the types of tasks that are being offered and automated. In this case, you will often see items like the following described as managed services:
- Virtualization
- System Monitoring
- System Design & Solutions
- Vulnerability Assessments and Penetration Tests
- Lifecycle Management
- IT Leadership & Consulting
- Change Management
- Information Security Management
- Hardware Procurement
- Business Continuity
It’s important to note which tasks are included in the managed services offering or bundle that you are considering. The best way to choose the solution that fits you is to consider your IT environment and its needs first.
Want to talk about what monitoring and management solutions can help your organization? Talk to one of our experts today at 888.296.3619 or email us at hello@oxen.tech.
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