The following article discusses Co-Managed IT Support, and why internal IT teams are choosing Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to help meet the IT support demands in their organization.
Is Co-Managed IT Support the future of IT?
Is Co-Managed IT Support the future of IT?– Why IT Departments are Choosing Co-Managed IT Support for their organization
Technology management today is not an easy task. Businesses are faced every day with the complex demands of their industry and clients, and they depend on technology to meet them. They need fast, reliable and secure networks to be successful. The need for adequate computer systems to support their clients, maintain productivity and protect their information is essential. The cost, however, to deliver effective and efficient technology to match their growing needs continues to rise. The runaway evolution of technology, stacked against the daily increase in cyber threats, has left many businesses challenged to keep up, rather than compete.
“Businesses continue to place increasing demands on their IT departments, expecting them to bridge an ever-widening gap between business needs and the technology department capacity. As a result, more technology departments are fatigued and discouraged, unable to keep up with the demands, and powerless as technology budgets are stretched thinner and thinner”
– Daniel Stockman, President and COO / i-Tech Support, Inc
Technology departments are reporting an increasing challenge with balancing heavy workloads. The result of time or monetary constraints can lead to grave security breaches, data loss, or even a complete disaster.
How Much Support Can Your IT Department Handle?
Business owners need to understand the capacity of their IT department and explore cost-effective options to bolster their IT team with the advanced support necessary to support and protect their organization and the crucial data assets. For this reason, more organizations are turning to Managed Service Providers to supplement their IT department and organization.
What is Co-Managed IT Support?
The concept of shared support, or co-management, is not a new one. Mid-sized and Enterprise level organizations have relied on this approach to meet the various technology needs of their organization while managing tight budgets.
“Co-Managed IT Support refers to a hybrid system of technology management where an internal IT Department shares the IT support workload with a Managed Services Provider (MSP). The MSP works directly with the IT department to provide support in areas that are missing internally.“
– Daniel Stockman, President and COO / i-Tech Support, Inc
The Managed Service Provider does not replace an existing IT department, but instead, works in tandem to ensure issues are solved as quickly as possible, for the greater success of the organization.
Managed IT Services is a growing industry, with about 60% of IT Support, a whopping $200 billion in the USA alone, being handled by a managed IT provider.
“Co-Managed IT Support is becoming more prevalent, not just to resolve complex issues with minimal downtime, but also to cover gaps in technology availability, such as peak hours, holidays, weekends and after-hours. IT departments are relying on Managed Service Providers more than ever for remote monitoring and management, onsite issue resolution, project design and deployment, help desk Tier 1, and cybersecurity protection.”
– Daniel Stockman, President and COO / i-Tech Support, Inc
Structuring Your IT Support Team
Co-Managed IT Support can take many forms, such as Time and Materials, Large Block Hours and Managed Services. Co-Managed IT Support can be layered or tiered into four levels of support for clients. Each tier comes with a certain level of expertise and requirements, such as time to respond and resolve the issue, Tier 1 being the lowest, and Tier 4 the highest. Higher tiers have more specially-trained technicians, require more information and solve more critical problems.
Multi-tiered support systems are particularly suitable for clients who already have an IT department in place since it allows them to escalate the issue to a third party, whose experience and expertise will augment their internal department.
Tiers are generally broken down into the following tiers:
- Tier 1: is the first line of IT support for the organization fulfilled by a helpdesk. The helpdesk can be part of the internal IT department, or this may be where interaction with the managed IT service provider starts. A wide variety of issues can be resolved at Tier 1. Many clients prefer dealing with a live person to address concerns. Staff operating at Tier 1 have standard training in IT and can solve many of the internal problems that arise more frequently. Anything outside of this scope is escalated to Tier 2 support staff.
- Tier 2: support addresses more complicated issues that go beyond the capabilities of Tier 1 support to resolve. Support at this level requires more training, certification, and expertise. This is most often where the Managed Service Providers becomes involved, working in tandem with the internal IT department to resolve issues. The internal IT department can rely on the deeper technical knowledge and expertise from certified engineers. TheManaged Service Providers offers a second line of support to resolve difficult issues.
- Tier 3: Support resolves even more complex issues. In the event of Tier 2 being unable to rectify the problem, it is escalated to Tier 3. At this point, the information gleaned by all previous levels would call for a specialist to be assigned to the case. Most issues are typically solved at this level of support before further escalation.
- Tier 4: The highest level of support an organization may require. This level covers issues such as manufacturer and 3rd party vendor hardware and software support, machine maintenance, depot support, and other outsourced services. This role is most often fulfilled by either the managed IT service provider, or the manufacturer of the hardware or software. At this point, the issue may require extremely specialized personnel and training to ensure that it is ultimately solved, even if it means significant changes to the network and team.
Why are IT Departments Choosing Co-Managed IT Support?
Managed Service Providers offer a few distinct advantages to IT departments under the Co-Managed IT Support:
- Balanced Workloads: Under the Co-Managed IT Support approach, teams stay focused on their daily workload, which is easily performed in a reasonable amount of time. Regardless of which tier is interacting with a user at any point, this system functions as a single point of interaction and issues are resolved with minimal downtime, and without overwhelming internal IT departments.
- Collaboration: Managed Service Providers employ engineers trained in more advanced technology such as network security, phone systems, collaboration, unified computing, backup and disaster recovery, cloud management. This diversity in various areas of technology can be applied to construct better solutions.
- Higher Expertise: Managed Service Providers offer a range of knowledge in various areas of technology, from management to security. This range can be applied to resolve any level of technology issue.
- Stability: Managed Service Providers have a consistent group of trained staff who can provide stable support with little interruption. They are typically well-staffed, with a relatively low turnover.
- Better Tools and Software: Managed Service Providers have investments in better technology, monitoring software, and diagnostic equipment. Clients benefit from their resources without having to make substantial investments themselves.
- Cost-Effective: The costs of working with a managed services provider is small compared to the cost of building a massive technology team and the large investment of the necessary monitoring and management tools and software.
- Job-Security: The goal of Managed Services Providers like i-Tech Support is to help the organization function more efficiently as a whole. The role of the IT department is just as vital and the partnership. Rather than replace the internal department, the two work together fluidly to meet the short and long-term technology demands.
Interested in Learning More about Co-Managed IT Support?
If your organization is growing and you need the support of an experienced technical support partner, contact i-Tech Support, Inc. to learn more about our Co-Managed IT Support services for business.
i-Tech Support, Inc. – The Technology to Achieve More
Established in 1999, i-Tech Support, Inc. offers world-class technical support to help businesses achieve more. With divisions dedicated to managed IT support, advanced technology, cybersecurity, cloud services, network assessments, software and consulting, our full-service capabilities enable us to be a versatile technology partner for IT departments and businesses in Florida. We support you with the technology to achieve more.
Does your business need IT support? Contact i-Tech Support:
i-Tech Support, Inc.: D: 407-265-2000 | W: www.i-techsupport.com | E: info@i-techsupport.com
