how managed services can transform the productivity and ...€¦ · according to comptia, a...

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How Managed Services Can Increase Productivity and Efficiency for Your Business

A White Paper by CMIT Solutions

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Table of Contents

Introduction...................................................................................................................... 3

IT Industry Statistics ...................................................................................................... 4

The Top 10 Benefits of Outsourcing IT Services Through a Managed Services

Providers .......................................................................................................................... 5

Reactive IT: A High-Cost, Low-Value Solution ........................................................ 8

The Drawbacks of “Break-Fix” ................................................................................. 10

Managed Services: A Breakthrough in IT Support .............................................. 12

Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 14






Introduction

Owners and managers of small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) have to juggle many priorities and daily demands. Acquiring and retaining customers, avoiding technological tricks, delivering differentiated products and services, managing costs in today’s competitive environment, hiring employees, arranging capital, meeting government regulations, and keeping current with industry trends are just a few of the areas that demand attention.

Technology also represents a key strategy for SMBs to streamline their processes, improve employee efficiency, and maintain competitiveness. But technology comes with its share of challenges, especially as the industry rapidly expands and evolves.

That’s where managed services come in. Defined as specialized IT-related services and support delivered according to a clearly described service-level agreement over a fixed period of time for a low and predictable cost, managed services continue to catch on in today’s tech environment. This white paper details the growing trend toward proactive as opposed to reactive IT services.






IT Industry Statistics

According to CompTIA, a non-profit association that advances the global interests of IT professional and companies, spending on the global IT market reached $3.6 trillion in 2012, with the United States accounting for 26%, or $950 billion. Meanwhile, Gartner, one of the world’s leading IT research and advisory companies, estimates that 44% of that spending comes from small to medium-sized businesses. According to a recent survey by the National Small Business Association, 70% of small businesses say that keeping up with new technology is very important to business success — and 50% believe their business has become more dependent on the use of technology.

So how can a managed services provider help your small business keep up with the fast-changing state of technology while also putting its IT dollars to best use?






The Top 10 Benefits of Outsourcing IT Services Through a Managed Services Providers

As of mid-2013, when the National Small Business Association surveyed 845 small business owners, 76% reported that their tech support was handled in house. Yet none of the challenges facing small to medium-sized businesses as they navigate the IT world are going to disappear — if anything, they’ll continue to raise their heads. Below are 10 general areas where a Managed Services Provider (MSP) can provide real advantages.

1. Stabilize IT Costs Outsourcing converts variable IT costs tied to the break-fix or reactive mode of support into the stable costs of proactive IT support. This allows business owners to budget effectively and pay what they can afford on a set schedule rather than being hit with unexpected bills when tech problems affect computers or servers.

2. Cut Labor Costs Of that 76% of business owners that handle their tech support in house, 40% reported that they performed the work themselves, while 32% had a staff member handle it. Why? Because hiring and training an IT staff can be very expensive. Outsourcing lets business owners focus their human resources where they are needed most.

3. Ensure Trained, Experienced, and Certified Staff of Tech Experts On top of hiring and training an IT staff, the cost of ongoing education and certification can break a small business owner’s bank. And if you’re not well versed in the IT world, how can you ensure an IT employee is actually qualified? Don’t let undertrained tech "experts" fool you into thinking they can solve all of your problems.

4. Certification Doesn’t Always Equal Experience Certifications like the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) program are important, but so is experience. Leading MSPs encounter very few problems they haven’t seen before, while an in-house IT employee often leads an isolated existence narrowly focused on a small set of problems no matter how much they train. You’d rather an experienced doctor solve your physical ailments, right? The same goes for an IT company.

5. Boost Efficiency and Competitiveness






Organizations that try to handle all IT services in house can incur much higher research, development, and implementation costs, all of which cuts into a business owner’s bottom line. And those increased costs are ultimately passed on to customers, who are prone to look elsewhere when prices go up.

6. Stay on Top of New Technology Trends A high-quality Managed Services Provider will have the resources available to implement new projects right away. Handling the same project internally might involve either weeks spent hiring, training, and supporting the right people, or pulling an existing team member away from other key tasks. High-quality IT companies will bring years of experience to the table at the start of the process, saving business owners time, money, and productivity .

7. Avoid IT Problems and Remain Focused on Your Core Business Small to medium-sized businesses often have limited resources to work outside the confines of their companies’ respective comfort zones. And every manager has limited time and attention at his or her disposal. Outsourcing IT work to an MSP provides assistance with complex technological decisions and allows you to stay focused on what matters most: running and growing your business.

8. Reduce Risk Since market trends, competitive advantages, government regulations, financial conditions, and technologies all change quickly, every business investment carries a certain amount of risk. Working with a trusted MSP that can assume and manage much of this risk for you is a major advantage that comes with specific industry knowledge and years of experience.

9. Level the Playing Field Most small to medium-sized businesses can't afford to match the strong in- house support services that larger companies enjoy. Working with an MSP, however, gives small companies enterprise-level solutions by providing the kind of access and expertise that large companies enjoy. Managed cost structures and economies of scale like that can give your company a fierce competitive advantage.

10. Take the Guesswork out of Compliance Is your firewall capable of fending off attacks? Do you audit your workstations and servers regularly? Has your company implemented PCI security standards and worked to maintain those standards? Small to medium-sized businesses have more ways than ever to handle commerce via credit and debit cards, e- commerce, wire transfers, and more. But with this increased transaction sphere comes a stronger need for due diligence. Employing a managed services provider allows your business to minimize the risks associated with maintaining client data and other sensitive information, the misuse of which can cause






serious harm to your business.

Reactive IT: A High-Cost, Low-Value Solution

Earlier, we mentioned the fluctuating costs of reactive support, often provided by smaller IT companies that work in what’s called the “break-fix” sphere. Many small firms deal with IT this way: only when email is working, access to the Internet is slow, or workstations are freezing up does the business react to trouble. The response to IT drama can take one of several forms in the small to medium-sized business:

o “Hey Margaret!” This support scenario occurs in smaller companies

where there isn’t a dedicated IT Support Specialist. Rather, the company’s controller or marketing specialist or sales administrator is fairly comfortable with technology, can figure out why someone’s email is not working, and has successfully restarted the server several times. It’s not that Margaret ever asked for this role — it just evolved in her direction. She isn’t really trained in IT support, but she has an interest in technology and is analytical and determined enough to try to help out. The impact of Margaret being interrupted by her co-workers to fix their urgent technology problem is not often calculated; nor is the likelihood that Margaret’s lack of formal IT knowledge can lead to more expensive repair bills in the future.

o “I got a guy.” Small companies that have recognized the alarming flaw in the “Hey Margaret!” support strategy attempt to solve the problem by engaging an experienced technical support specialist on a part-time, non-employee basis. The company pays this independent contractor a fixed hourly rate and has him or her on speed dial for emergencies. Yet the “I got a guy” guy may maintain upwards of a dozen part-time clients in order to make a decent living, and he may not always be available when a business owner absolutely needs him. In this scenario, the company does get a more technically competent solution. But it’s also at the mercy of an independent operator with competing demands for his time and attention as the “I got a guy” guy might not be ready to handle one client’s crisis until he’s finished resolving another client’s.

o “Geeks, Nerds and Techies, Oh My!” Since the business owner






usually only sees the “I got a guy” guy when there is a problem, mayhem ensues when frantic calls go unanswered. Then, the business owner has no choice but to open the yellow pages and look for help. With no end to the listing of businesses named Geek-this and Nerd- that, the business owner often has to settle for the first company that can respond to the immediate need. While these techies may indeed provide relief for failed hard drives and other desktop issues, they often do not have the skills to support complex networks or industry-specific software. More importantly, though, these technology specialists rarely have the trusted advisor acumen to offer more specialized assistance that the small business owner needs.

o “Call IT and get them up here fast!” When the lack of immediate availability and subject-matter expertise becomes an issue (or when the “I got a guy ” guy tires of the instability and extra costs of running his own business and gets a job back in the corporate world), the company finally decides to hire an in-house resource that can respond to user complaints. The new hire is immediately handed a long list of issues to resolve — after all, users have been under-served to this point and the new tech person is seen as the solution to all that ails the company’s technology systems. Unfortunately for both the internal IT resource and the company, the list never gets shorter and the internal IT support staff is forever in “react” mode, responding to the most severe problem and seldom getting ahead.






The Drawbacks of “Break-Fix”

In all of the above examples, small and medium-sized businesses are failing to proactively manage their technology infrastructure. Instead, they’re taking a reactive approach that falls into the general category of support called “break-fix.” When technology breaks (or becomes slow, or fails to perform), effort is put forth to fix it. While this reactive mode of supporting the IT infrastructure of the business has a long list of disadvantages, the top six problems with “break/fix” are:

1. Reactive instead of proactive. Problems are not recognized, prioritized, or

addressed until it’s too late — often after end-user productivity has already been diminished.

2. Resolution at crescendo. Many issues reach the “white-hot” phase before the

scarce IT resource is summoned to diagnose and correct the problem. This strategy means that any given issue will inflict the maximum negative impact prior to resolution.

3. Inefficient delivery of the highest-cost resource. While some problems may

be resolved over the phone via help desk, remote support, or even the “I got a guy” guy talking the user through the issue, many IT scares require an on-site visit from a qualified technician. Such visits incur costs above and beyond the technician’s labor: namely, the cost of lost time and productivity while users wait for the technician to arrive and solve the problem.

4. Uniform application of a sub-optimal resource. Even in the most

straightforward small to medium-sized business environment, there are a large number of specialized technologies at work. Servers, PCs, operating systems, routers, wireless devices, application software, broadband connections, and the underworld of Internet adware, spyware, and viruses constitute a landscape about which few technicians can boast comprehensive “black-belt” knowledge and experience. This profusion of evolved and evolving technologies lengthens the time it takes for the small business owner’s scarce IT resource to understand and diagnose the problem.

5. Slow response due to competing levels of crisis. Technicians are obliged

to resolve issues in order of priority, dealing with the most urgent tasks first. As a result, end users with persistent but non-mission-critical technical issue overtaking their machines will languish at the bottom of the queue until and






unless their issues escalate to crisis levels. In the meantime, they suffer continual (albeit low-level) diminishment in productivity.

6. End-user productivity not considered in cost equation. While the “hard”

costs of hardware, software, and a technician’s hourly rate can be easily tracked, the “soft” costs of end-user productivity are seldom considered in developing the IT support strategy of a small to medium- sized business. The value of a sale lost by an account executive because his hard drive was corrupted, the overtime cost of assistants preparing their boss’ presentation because their PC was slowed by malware, and the inventory impact of a late email notice to favored customers due to an internet service provider connection failure are costs not usually considered by SMBs in determining their best IT support strategy.

The break/fix approach to IT support has not only failed to meet the needs of SMBs, it has damaged the relationship between technicians and the small businesses they serve. Small businesses feel vulnerable because they don’t understand their technicians’ jargon-heavy language, heavy workload, and unpredictable costs. Meanwhile, technicians feel overworked and underappreciated, locked in a loop of repetitive, high-stress tasks as they run from one crisis to the next, unable to work on more satisfying projects that could offer lasting value to the business.

Only a radical change in IT support philosophy and delivery can make the break/fix model obsolete and deliver greater efficiency and productivity to SMBs at a lower, more predictable cost.






Managed Services: A Breakthrough in IT Support

The managed services model turns break-fix on its head, offering specialized IT-related services and support that can be delivered according to a clearly described service-level agreement (SLA) over a fixed period of time for a low and predictable cost to the business owner.

CMIT Solutions has developed several different packages of services and support to address the most significant needs of SMBs:

o CMIT Marathon: Proactive monitoring and maintenance o CMIT Guardian: Secure backups and disaster recovery o CMIT Anywhere: Reliable email hosting and cloud services

o CMIT Anti-Spam: Efficient and secure inbox management

CMIT Marathon, our flagship offering, keeps a business’ IT infrastructure, including servers, workstations, Internet connectivity, and more, performing optimally, which in turn minimizes the impact of unscheduled maintenance. CMIT Marathon is a customizable solution that can easily be tailored to the requirements of individual businesses.

The major elements of CMIT Marathon are:

o Monitoring Software. Installed on each device on the SMB’s network,

monitoring agents “alert” qualified domain engineers whenever an “out- of-tolerance” condition is observed and needs to be handled.

o Network Operations Center (NOC). Staffed by over 300 engineers looking to outsmart tech problems, the NOC is available 24/7 to remotely remediate issues and respond to alerts. NOC engineers also perform a comprehensive preventative maintenance schedule and apply all appropriate “white-listed” software updates. A detailed log is maintained so problems may be diagnosed and corrected in the context of a company’s complete IT history.

o Help Desk. A fully staffed US-based help desk responds to a wide range of end-user issues and questions. From helping to get a new printer set up to helping a novice spreadsheet user solve a problem, this phone resource is responsive and service-oriented.

o On-Site Support. The above three elements of CMIT Marathon dramatically reduces the need for on-site support. But when the problem






demands an on-site technician, a local tech is dispatched to save the day. Once onsite, the local tech is backed up by both the NOC and Help Desk staff.






So, in contrast to the break-fix approach, CMIT Marathon is:

1. Proactive instead of reactive. Our monitoring software checks its crystal ball for problems before they affect the end-user’s productivity.

2. Resolution before crisis. Problems are detected and resolved before

they turn into “white-hot” emergencies.

3. Efficient delivery of the lowest-cost resource. The lowest-cost, most highly credentialed resources are applied to recognized issues first. In most cases, the remote technicians and engineers (Help Desk and NOC) are able to resolve issues in a timely manner without the additional labor and travel costs of an on-site technician. However, when an on-site technician is required, the diagnosis and expertise of the NOC and Help Desk are there to leverage the local technician’s productivity and effectiveness.

4. Uniform application of the optimal resource. CMIT Marathon’s service

delivery strategy moves the problem to the skilled resource that is best equipped to quickly resolve the issue. Necessary escalations are performed in a fluid and seamless manner, with the complete diagnosis and repair history forwarded in the escalation.

5. Fast response regardless of priority. With multiple IT support personnel

available in the form of a fully staffed NOC, Help Desk, and individual technicians, problems can be addressed simultaneously rather than in sequential order. The proactive approach also ensures the ultimate in responsiveness: resolving issues while they’re still disguised and before they’re detected by the end-user.

6. End-user productivity maximized. The “soft” costs of end-user productivity

are weighted heavily in the design of CMIT Marathon. By giving end-users a responsive Help Desk to call, even the most minute questions are quickly and courteously answered. The immediate impact is improved productivity; the longer-term impact is a more technology-literate SMB staff that’s better able to leverage the company’s technology investment.






Conclusion

None of the issues SMBs currently face — competition, technological complexity, the never-ending need to do more with less — are going to disappear anytime soon. So the value of a high-quality, low-cost solution to these issues will only grow. That’s why CMIT Solutions has spent years tailoring a variety of managed services that can help boost efficiency and productivity for your business.

Technology is integral to the success of a small to medium-sized business. Combine that critical nature with a tech industry that’s speeding through past innovations and future advances at a record pace and the benefit of employing an outsourced IT company to provide managed services becomes clear.


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