A Managed Service Provider or MSP is a service provided by an IT company primarily to small and medium-sized businesses, and sometimes to large organizations, nonprofits, and governments. These companies typically do not have a full-time in-house IT staff member.
An MSP charges a monthly or yearly recurring fee. Usually, there is a service level agreement (SLA) that is tied to the contract. The contract will list all the items and tasks that will be included. The task list can include 24/7 network monitoring of servers, laptops, desktops, and endpoint devices. It will also specify other items and how they are to be arranged. Hours of operation will be listed, such as regular business hours Monday through Friday or a business that requires 24/7 support. The service provided may also include patching devices to keep them up to date and repairing any issues that arise when detected while these systems are being monitored.
MSP provides great value by being proactive in solving problems before they occur. They continually help with optimization of the IT environment to prevent and lessen the need for regular outage/repair issues or none at all. Most of the services provided by the MSP are usually remote. Problems can be remotely monitored and fixed using a remote monitoring and management (RMM) system. They typically have access to the environment they will be monitoring and are prepared for any emergency issues that require attention. MSP helps provide peace of mind.
MSP has technicians who help with IT tasks and most are trained in the area to fix most IT problems. There are different levels of technicians like Level 1, 2 and 3 or higher. The MSP may choose to provide a different billable rate for each technician assigned to work on the issue. They can help you save cost as some issues are not that complex and only require a Tier 1 technician to be dispatched. Make sure this is mentioned in the order if this is what you want or just a one time flat fee for all technicians .
Businesses that decide to use an MSP greatly benefit from not having to deal with the daily operation and tedious tasks that are required for their IT infrastructure. This allows them to focus on managing the other, highest business priority to increase their business objectives and results.
