A managed service provider (MSP) is an external company that remotely manages a customer's information technology (IT) infrastructure and end user systems. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), non-profit organizations, and government agencies hire MSPs to provide a defined set of daily management services. These services include application and infrastructure management to provide connectivity, network monitoring, security, virtualization, and disaster recovery. Managed service providers offer their services under a service level agreement (SLA) and deliver them over the Internet.
Gartner defines managed services as the ongoing support provided by an IT service provider, for a fixed monthly fee. This involves proactive monitoring and maintenance, along with priority support and user and device management, to keep IT systems running at peak performance. A customer “rents” the MSP service on a monthly basis to maintain several systems and provide consultative services. Managed security service providers offer specialized types of services, such as remote administration of firewalls and other security-as-a-service offerings.
TechPath's managed solutions include managed IT, managed backups, managed antivirus, cloud PBX and cloud antivirus. 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 types of managed service providers may differ depending on the criteria chosen to classify them. MSPs that offer a subscription service model are based on the quality of service in an organization's network and generally bill customers on a monthly basis.
