Organizations, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), non-profit organizations, and government agencies are increasingly turning to managed service providers (MSPs) to manage their information technology (IT) infrastructure and end user systems. An MSP offers a defined set of services under a service level agreement (SLA), which documents the organization's expectations in terms of maintenance, security, monitoring, reporting, and other services. Additionally, the SLA includes response times, performance, and safety specifications. Managed analytics services involve outsourcing data analysis to a service provider to eliminate the need to develop and manage a proprietary analytics solution.
This allows customers to use a single platform to discover the data offered by their enterprise performance management (EPM) processes. Managed security service providers offer specialized types of services such as remote administration of firewalls and other security-as-a-service offerings. Executive summaries are a type of managed services report that provide customers with a high-level understanding of the services offered, an overview of the strategy, and some important key performance indicators (KPIs). The types of managed service providers may differ depending on the criteria chosen to classify them.
However, they all have ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications to ensure the quality of managed analysis services and the security of customer data. Managed IT services are based on demonstrating their value to customers, often offering them a high return on investment (ROI). Many smaller companies have limited in-house IT capabilities, so they may view the service offering of an MSP as a way to gain IT experience. The evolution of MSPs began in the 1990s with the emergence of application service providers (ASPs), which offered a level of service for remote hosting of applications.
With a wide variety of delivery model options, including fixed costs, sustained long-term competencies, and managed services, MSPs can provide a high-quality cost containment model that meets customer needs. Customers who have a clear breakdown of their expenses will be able to calculate their ROI, which will increase the likelihood that they will continue to offer their services.
