RSMUS.comEmerging technology is increasingly becoming a part of every facet of business, and its proper integration and optimization is critical to an organization’s success. The consistent increase in technology’s complexity has made it difficult for middle-market companies to keep up and retain expertise in-house. Organizations are also finding they don’t have the IT coverage they need, considering staffing constraints and potential regulatory pressure.
Many organizations are implementing managed services for technology infrastructure to best capitalize on technology advances. This approach leverages experienced external resources and new innovations, increasing capacity, productivity and security while minimizing the dependency on internal hardware, software and personnel. The key objective is to refocus resources back to your everyday business, allowing IT to become more utility in nature.
It is important to note that while organizations typically relate managed services to increased security and cost savings, the magnitude of those benefits is striking. Recent studies show:
- More than 90 percent of IT problems can be discovered by remote services before they become performance problems, downtime, data losses or security breaches.
- More than 95 percent of organizations experience technology cost savings with a managed services agreement, with 59 percent reducing their IT budget by at least a quarter.
Cost savings and proactively remediating IT problems are two key reasons to consider managed IT services. However, these solutions also have several other features, attractive to every business. They include:
Virtualization: Virtual technology has expanded, bringing middle-market companies more access to new technology. You can host your technology environment in a smaller footprint, providing more capabilities in areas such as disaster recovery and availability. With a smaller engine, your business can go further.
Co-sourcing: A managed services platform often utilizes co-sourcing, supplementing your existing IT staff to fill in knowledge and resource gaps. You still need your internal personnel, but managed services compliments your staff to combine skill sets and develop a solution to fit your unique needs.
Consistent cost: A managed services contract gives you a consistent monthly IT cost, instead of a number of unexpected expenses as needs arise. You can budget for monthly IT expenses with new and reliable technology.
Operational expense models: Managed services allow you to transition to an operational expense model, rather than capital expenditures. Basically, rather than purchasing hardware and software as needed, you have a subscription-based model such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) or Software as a Service (SaaS) with more predictable performance and expense.
Flexibility: With recent data breaches and virus threats, many organizations are cautious about storing data off-site or in the cloud. However, a managed IT services platform offers the flexibility of keeping your technology within your environment or moving it to a provider. Solutions are designed to fit your needs, as well as your risk appetite.
What business are you in? – that is the bottom line. You want your business to be able to focus on its core competency and its day-to-day operations instead of dabbling in the IT business. Managed services takes your technology responsibilities and moves them to a provider with technology as their primary function.
For more information on RSM’s managed services solutions, please check out our website. You can also contact RSM’s technology consulting professionals at 800.274.3978.
