What Is a Fully Managed IT Service?

For any business that doesn’t specifically specialize in IT, managing IT infrastructure can be a major drain on time, money, and labor. Without the right IT tools and a robust strategy for maintaining them, it’s all too easy to fall behind the competition.

However, who said that you have to manage your IT resources all on your own? There are services out there that can help you manage your IT infrastructure—helping you curate and maintain a list of technology tools to help your business meet its goals.

What Is Managed IT Service?

IT managed service refers to a type of outsourcing for technology-related matters that businesses can leverage. These managed services can be broken down into a vast array of specific service categories—and the specific services offered may vary from one managed service provider (MSP) to the next.

Managed IT services can include things like a remote support/help desk, data backup and disaster recovery solutions, network operations center solutions, cybersecurity management, and more.

What Is a Managed IT Service Provider?

A managed IT service provider, or managed service provider (MSP), is a type of B2B company that provides IT service management solutions to other organizations. Different MSPs have different modes of operation and may approach service delivery in different ways.

For example, some MSPs may proactively address issues in your tech stack by working to assess all of your existing IT resources and providing advice or even directly optimizing things to prevent issues. This is more common for MSPs that offer fully managed IT solutions than it is for ones the work primarily as remote helpdesk services.

Other MSPs may work more like emergency service technicians—waiting for their clients to report a problem or for a critical failure to occur before investigating and fixing it. This is sometimes referred to as a “break/fix” approach to IT management.

The variability in services and service quality is part of why it’s so important to look for the right IT management company to work with!

What Makes a Fully Managed IT Service Different?

So, what separates a “fully” managed IT service from other services? The difference between a true fully managed IT service and other kinds of IT service management is that the MSP assumes all responsibility for your IT so that you don’t have to worry about it.

The fully managed service provider isn’t just there to answer tech support calls and fix things when they break—they’re there to offer proactive services that look for potential flaws in your IT platform and fix them before they become something that obstructs your business workflows.

A fully managed MSP offers enterprise-level IT support to businesses of all sizes—proactively handling problems so you can focus on getting things done instead of worrying about managing your team’s tech tools.

Why Choose a Managed IT Service Provider That’s Fully Managed?

So, why would you want to partner with a vendor that offers fully managed IT services over another MSP? There are a few reasons to go with a fully managed service provider over one that doesn’t offer so much support:

1. To Get a More Satisfying IT Management Experience

Did you know that the average customer experience (CX) score for B2B organizations (which includes, but is not limited to, MSPs) is below 50%? (Source: Forbes) This is indicative of a problem with B2B businesses: a lack of consistent service quality.  

Fully managed service providers go the extra mile to make sure that you’re taken care of—providing a level of service and quality that leaves you with less stress and more time to focus on your core business objectives.

2. To Help You Make IT Labor a Predictable Monthly Expense

Keeping IT personnel on staff can be difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Even a relatively junior IT expert can command a hefty salary (about $71,542 on average)—and that cost only increases as they earn more certifications for in-demand IT skills.

In the last few years, more and more employees have demonstrated a willingness to walk away from their jobs—a phenomenon referred to as “The Great Resignation” by several news organizations and pundits. The reasons vary from dissatisfaction with their work/life balance to frustration with workplace stress factors and a desire to switch to a workplace that offers more flexibility in the form of remote work or time off packages—among other reasons.

High-demand IT experts are especially susceptible to “voluntary churn,” as their skills are always needed by other companies. In fact, Tech Republic reported that “3 out of 4 IT teams are facing critical skill gaps” in their organizations. When IT staff leave, that forces you to try to fill that gap as quickly as possible—making you a buyer in what is essentially a seller’s market.

This all combines to make finding IT labor an expensive variable cost since you can never be too sure if and when you’ll need to go recruiting (or renegotiating compensation packages with your IT staff).

Fully managed IT services help to make your monthly IT costs more predictable by providing access to a pool of IT experts who can support your technology needs. This helps to reduce the need to maintain an extensive IT staff in-house so you can skip the tedious process of finding and vetting qualified IT experts.

3. Because You Want to Be Able to “Set and Forget” Your IT Goals

For many organizations, partnering with a fully-managed IT vendor is a great way to offload a large set of tasks that distract them from their core business. Having to find the right technologies to empower business processes, assembling disparate IT solutions into a cohesive whole that isn’t confusing for users, and ensuring that it all runs stably is like trying to take on a whole different business model on top of your core business.

This adds an extra level of complexity to your day that detracts from your ability to meet critical business goals. By partnering with a fully managed IT service provider, you can get away from the need to personally manage your IT infrastructure, staffing, and strategy minutiae. Instead, you can leave that to your MSP and focus on what you need to do to keep your business moving forward.

Are you ready to get proactive with your IT management? Reach out to IT Proactive now to get started with a fully managed IT solution that provides peace of mind, consistent costs, and professional service!