Understanding Managed Application Services
Managed application services involve a third-party provider taking responsibility for maintaining, monitoring and managing a company's business-critical applications and related infrastructure on an ongoing basis. The service provider handles all routine maintenance, upgrades, backups and other day-to-day administration tasks so the applications and underlying systems run smoothly without interruptions. This allows internal IT departments to focus their time and resources on more strategic initiatives that drive business growth.
Benefits of Outsourcing Application Management
Cost Savings
By outsourcing application management to an experienced MSP, companies save significantly on the high costs associated with maintaining in-house IT resources. Managed Application Services providers achieve economies of scale by centrally managing applications for multiple clients, allowing them to take on the overhead at a lower overall cost. Companies avoid expenses related to hardware refreshes, software licenses, infrastructure upgrades and recruiting qualified staff.
Reliability and Uptime
Experienced MSPs have stringent SLAs in place to ensure application availability exceeds 99%. They monitor systems 24/7 with deep visibility into performance. Proactive maintenance and rapid response times to issues minimize downtime risks. Rigorous backup and disaster recovery plans provide an additional layer of protection against data loss or outages affecting business continuity.
Access to Technical Expertise
Attracting and retaining top talent is very challenging for many organizations. MSPs, on the other hand, employ large teams of certified engineers specialized in various applications and technologies. Their experts stay up to date with ongoing training and hold advanced skills to handle even the most complex issues. Clients benefit from access to this pool of specialized knowledge and manpower at a very competitive price point.
Scalability and Flexibility
Managed services allow scaling IT resources up or down quickly on an as-needed basis to match changing business demands. During growth phases, MSPs can rapidly provision additional servers, storage and services without lengthy procurement processes. They also offer flexibility to modify service scopes through simple scope changes rather than overhauling in-house infrastructure.
Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory compliance requirements continue evolving at a rapid pace across industries from GDPR to PCI DSS. MSPs simplify compliance for customers by taking ownership of security patches, access controls, activity monitoring and reporting according to regulations for their specialized applications.
Modernization of Aging Systems
Many organizations operate with legacy applications and outdated server environments that are difficult and costly to maintain. MSPs can assess these aging systems, strategize a migration path to newer platforms and manage the modernization process. This helps transition off unsupported or inefficient technical debt.
A Holistic Approach to Managed Services
Advanced managed service providers employ a holistic, consultative approach centered around understanding each client's unique business objectives and pain points. Along with managing core applications, their services may also encompass:
- Infrastructure Management: Server, storage, network and desktop management
- Security Management: Managed firewall, IDS/IPS, endpoint protection, vulnerability scanning
- Cloud Services: Public/private cloud migration, management and optimization
- Service Desk Support: Single point of contact for all user issues and requests
- Consulting & Advisory: Strategic roadmaps, assessments and project assistance
- Reporting & Analytics: Actionable usage and performance reporting
This all-encompassing model relieves internal IT teams of mundane operational responsibilities so they can instead play a strategic role. Meanwhile, a single provider takes on a cohesive "as-a-service" ownership of the entire application ecosystem.
Choosing the Right MSP Partner
When selecting a managed service partner, crucial factors include application expertise, security processes, infrastructure scalability, service availability guarantees and financial stability of the firm. Outstanding customer service, regular communications and transparent reporting are also important to build long-term trust. References from similar-sized businesses can prove the provider's ability to deliver consistently on commitments. Careful due diligence paired with strong cultural fit helps businesses achieve maximum value from their outsourced managed application services investment.
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