ITCreation

When the term “IT help desk outsourcing is used,” it typically refers to only help desk support instead of the complete services that a managed service provider (MSP) can provide for a more comprehensive solution to support your in-house team. In either case, the help desk tech service provides 24/7/365 support from an external vendor. The techs who take these calls (or chats or tickets) do their best to fix the immediate problem of the caller. The tech support for your team includes: Running diagnostics Escalating the issue to someone with a higher level of expertise Installing, repairing and/or making changes to computer hardware and software Followup with customers to ensure issues are resolved When the help desk is part of an MSP, instead of a standalone, the help desk team becomes intimately knowledgeable about your business and IT infrastructure and in essence becomes a part of the team actively working to prevent issues. As a standalone IT help desk outsourcing provider, the tech team assisting you usually does not have that level of insight into your business or the ability to help prevent similar issues from coming up.

IT project outsourcing is similar except it’s for a specific job within a given period of time and therefore has limited scope of your IT needs. The project might include the development of products, services or solutions and involve multiple parties within and outside of your organization. Examples of IT outsourcing projects are migrating from an in-house service to the cloud, migrating email from G-Suite to Microsoft 365 or integrating multiple systems together. Because internal IT teams don’t have the expertise or bandwidth to take on the project, IT project outsourcing is often a company’s first experience. Some managed service providers also offer IT project outsourcing while others only complete IT projects for existing managed IT clients.

A managed service provider (MSP) supports your company’s network, infrastructure and other technology needs. To use a metaphor, it does the heavy lifting so your in-house team can focus on improving and growing your business. Some offer an all-in-one platform and others customize the services to fit the client’s business. MSPs proactively work to keep your network up and running 24/7/365 without interruption. MSPs can fix breaks and create solutions for avoiding them. Partnering with one will get the most productivity out of your business. Managed Service Providers: Start with the setting up of your ITIL (internet technology infrastructure library) Monitor and protect all your endpoints (devices, computers), data and infrastructure (servers) Proactively monitor and patch manage to prevent disruption Trains your team about cyber security Gives you technology leadership guidance

Co-managed IT service, sometimes called hybrid IT services, is when your business keeps an IT staff in-house but supplements its internal resources with some services from a managed service provider (MSP). When your business is large enough to maintain an in-house IT team, co-manager services can be the best of both worlds: you decide what you want from an MSP and what you want from your in-house team. There are many ways co-managed IT services can work. Here are three: Your in-house IT team leans on the expertise of a managed service provider for advice and assistance but handles the day-to-day IT maintenance The MSP becomes your outsourced CTO (sometimes called a virtual chief information security officer or VCISO) while your internal IT team executes plans and manages your systems Your IT leadership is in-house but directs an outsourced managed IT team to execute strategies