What do tech services mean?
Information Technology services, often referred to as ITS are professional services designed to facilitate the use of technology by organizations and their people. These services typically focus on anything related to computing technology and refer to the application of business and technical expertise to enable organizations to more effectively manage their technology.
Who are service providers?
Broadly speaking, service providers are individuals or entities that provide services to another party. Technology services are no different, and have their share of providers who offer everything from storage, processing and network services, to regular project management, design and development and enterprise architecture oversight.
Examples of IT services
ModernWhen talking about IT services, many will think of software updates and virus removal, however, these services only scratch the surface of those available. There are many options available to your business, here are but a few examples of IT services that cover most of the basic needs of a small to medium-sized business:
Managed IT Services
This is a wide all-encompassing type of IT service. Managed IT services typically deal with single or multiple IT services needs. Most commonly, these services help with remote server, desktop, device management and user support. Other common uses involve remote cybersecurity and compliance, backup and disaster recovery.
In all truth managed IT services are just that, managed technology services, which suggests that any technology function or activity can be proactively managed by an external provider who is specialized in the field.
Cloud Backup Services
The cloud is a versatile platform and encompasses a multitude of services, hence for the purpose of clarity, we will dissect only one sub-service – cloud backups.
This is an integral service allowing users and companies to store their important information on external servers, circumventing hardware failure. Such services are typically handled by service providers for monthly/annual fee. They are totally worth it, particularly when you are working with outdated legacy hardware or software.
VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol)
Often the barriers to modernization are both technical and financial, but these can be overcome, in part, by Advances in technology have opened a new dimension of versatile communications – over the internet. Voice Over Internet Protocol is an IT service that utilizes users internet in place of a traditional telephone line, allowing users to make and receive calls with their ISP. Modern VoIP phones also provide a variety of functions that enhance capture of field data. Typically, VoIP also requires a monthly or annual service subscription.
Data Backup and Restoration
Many service providers offer backup in a number of ways, physically on-site, using external data centers or cloud. Regardless of the method, data backup involves the preservation of information in case of unforeseen issues such as natural disasters, malicious intrusions, hardware failures or otherwise. This is often referred to as BDR strategy and for most organizations nowadays, is a mandatory practice.
Cybersecurity Services
Cyber security services is a broad category involving any and all service types which depend on it. In information technology it is the act of protecting sensitive data from attacks by deploying everything from network monitoring, firewalls and antivirus to layered networks, failover, backup and more. Non-tech businesses typically outsource this function to a highly skilled managed provider as the importance of cyber security cannot be stressed enough.
Office 365/Email
Office 365 operates as Microsoft’s flexible all-inclusive software package featuring programs like Word and Excel – an excellent option for businesses that need diverse software and are not ready to develop it themselves. An experienced MSP would manage your relations with the provider, help you install and modify your setup, train your users, and solve any software bottlenecks that may arise.
Business Intelligence
The constant downpour of information available to a given company is enormous and how it is acquired depends on tools and instruments used. Big data plays an important role in business success this is why services that encompass business intelligence are more are more welcome among expanding organizations.
BI includes analysis, extraction and transformation of information into meaningful insights. Anything from financial costs to click-through rates fall under the umbrella of modern business intelligence.
Remote Support
One service that can universally be attributed to managed IT is remote support. As the name implies, remote support allows for technicians to offer support services remotely, often from a different location and sometimes controlling the device via internet.
Support can be used for anything from IT assistance and software repairs to more complex issues involving the infrastructure of the business. In general remote support allows for flexibility when in-house experts are not physically available.
IT Development
IT development incorporates all the resources used to develop and manage a website, platform, or software. Typically if the organization lacks the skillset it will outsource development to a third-party that will be brought on to aid in the completion of projects, or any of the various tasks required for the completion of the project. Some of these services include: QA testing, business solutions, migrations, integrations, web and app development, IT support and maintenance.
Generally, when not handled by in-house staff, managed service providers take over. In development the MSP is typically onboarded for the short-term, sometimes referring to the outsourced team as ‘shadow developers’.
Should I use IT services?
The business world is becoming more and more reliant on IT, therefore many companies have realized that they can save on cost while staying ahead of the competition, simply by outsourcing to a managed IT services provider.
Why? Because, typically, a non-tech company does not have the skills necessary to produce such outcomes, hence they outsource to an MSP. Big companies caught on to this early in the century, hence why you see multinationals like Google themselves outsource niche development to their partners.
There are multiple reasons why companies choose to outsource corporate IT services, here are but a few: it’s cost-effective, you have access to the latest tech knowledge, you have limited downtime, you have access to 24/7 service and lastly your data is protected, well-stored and accessible.