5 Myths About Managed Services

Posted by Jim Van on May 27, 2011 under entrepreneur, small business | 4 Comments to Read

Well, okay, they’re actually misconceptions rather than Myths, bit the headl= ine got your attention, right? The conventional wisdom keeps telling me nev= er to use the term ‘managed services’ to clients. I was going to call it Vi= agra, but the name’s already taken. So here goes:1. MANAGED SERVICES WILL CUT MY IT BUDGET - While we’ve had clients report= savings as high as 30%, the savings are generally due to inefficiencies tha= t were eliminated when they adopted the managed services model. For most bu= ssinesses, if your annual tech spend is, say, $6,000, your monthly costs wil= l be around $500.

The difference comes in improved productivity and processes, the results of w= hich are directly injected into the bottom line.

2. MY BUSINESS IS TOO SMALL TO LEVAGE A MANAGED SERVICE PLAN – This used to b= e true, but in recent years, companies such as Logicomm, offer plans to busi= nesses with as few as 3 systems.

3, MANAGED SERVICES ARE TOO EXPENSIVE FOR MY BUSINESS – Again, this used to be tr= ue, but by leveraging Software-As-A-Service (SaaS), which greatly reduces th= e cost of providing services. A plan from a qualified provider can be had f= or as little as $30 per workstation per month, and averages around $40, down= from $65 just 3 years ago, according to MSP Partners, an industry trade ass= ociation.

4. MY PPROVIDER DOESN’T REALLY DO ANYTHING – Your systems are up and running optimally, aren’t they? A qualified provider works very much in the backgr= ound, but is monitoring your network & system health and security, fixing pr= oblems before they impact users, updating applications and monitoring overal= l usage. If anything, providers do a horrible job of reporting all that the= y do (and prevent) to their clients. =20

Then there’s the issue of expertise. If your provider is a good one, he or s= he will be up to date on the latest tech and business trends, and can guide y= ou through updates and additions to your footprint.

5. MY PROVIDER HAS ACCESS TO ALL MY DATA – True, but consider this: A qualif= ied provider will provide a certificate of professional liability insurance w= ith coverage of at least $1million. Many are insured for more. Most are bo= nded as well. The best have adopted a code of ethics and belong to trade gro= ups such as MSP Alliance (http://www.MSPAlliance.org). Don’t be afraid to a= sk for credentials at anytime.

Managed Services aren’t for every business, but they are worth checking out. Providers range from behemoths such as Dell to firms that focus purely sma= ller businesses such as Logicomm. Search around and determine who is the be= st fit.

Bill Guertin said,

We used to debate the value of managed services, especially following visits by the tons of sales people who came in and presented their offerings to us.

This blog post is very well put, and reminds me of some of our concerns, especially the access issue, prior to our signing on with our managed services provider (you, incidentally).

I hope this post opens the eyes of those small businesses who are still operating without having their systems managed professionally. I for one can state that in retrospect, things were, technology-wise a lot uglier that we were aware of before we signed on. It’s definitely a worthwhile investment.

Bill Guertin
Operations
Manfredi Tool & Die
Gayla said,

Thanks. This answers some questions I’ve had for some time. My boyfriend’s company, which is MUCH larger than mine, uses a company to manage their network, but they are 20 times as large as I am, so I always assumed that this type of thing was meant for companies much larger than my 4-system shop.

Question – do most providers also do Apple products, such as Macbooks, iPads and the like?
Dave D. said,

Just an endoresement here: we’ve been using Logicomm for five years now, and, as Jim points out in his article, it IS often like they’re not there. But, I do remember how difficult it was before they cam in and straightened everything out, and from the reports that I’ve looked at, it appears that they’ve caught a lot of things over the years that would’ve been rather ugly for us if they haven’t.

Do we get a discount for endorsements?
Matt Misky said,

Managed services have certainly come down. We have a few people in here a couple of years ago pushing managed services at $110/month for a workstation and $350 for a server. We decided to pass, as it was a real budget buster for us, even with only 10 systems and one server.

At these prices, does one receive the same service(virus, disc, patches, cleanup, monitoring)?