Cloud Management and Managed IT: What You Need to Know

The phrase "managed IT services" sometimes appears alongside other terms like "cloud services," but what's the difference?

Managed service models allow companies to offload general tasks to experts in order to decrease costs, improve service quality, or free up internal resources to focus on business-specific tasks. Small and large businesses, new and established, can both benefit from managed IT services.

As a general rule, cloud services are software offerings managed by vendors and delivered to customers on demand. The services usually include managing data, applications, and platforms, but not the workload of customers, while managed IT services focus on managing the customer's workload.

The paradigm of break/fix is an older approach to providing IT maintenance to organizations in a fee-for-service model. Managed services have traditionally followed a break/fix approach, which means that there is constant monitoring until there is a problem that needs fixing. A proactive approach is generally taken by modern managed service providers when it comes to maintenance and management, and this can include patch management and proactive maintenance.

Depending on your needs, managed IT services can range from general to specific. The services typically include monitoring and maintenance of equipment, IT system management, remote server monitoring, network monitoring, and other support services.

These services can save you money on staff and training. Pricing for other managed services is usually included in a fixed monthly charge. A managed service provider can often be more cost-effective and less unpredictable than building an in-house IT department.

Managed services can be beneficial for teams that lack the time, skills, or experience to manage specific business functions internally, or choose to focus on other initiatives. Relying on an expert to provide a service allows your teams to focus on innovation without getting bogged down in routine tasks.