Managed service providers (MSPs) offer a range of IT services to their customers in exchange for a monthly subscription fee. This provides businesses with a reliable and cost-effective way to access the latest technology and services, while freeing up their internal resources to focus on core business activities. MSPs take responsibility for one or more of their company's IT services, such as email, help desk, cybersecurity, networking, data warehousing, cloud integration, backup and restore, patching, and more. They remotely monitor, update and manage the service while reporting on the quality, performance and availability of the service. MSPs can help businesses purchase software and hardware, and then track and report on hardware assets and software licenses.
This makes it easy for a company to get the exact service it needs, without paying more than necessary. According to a Kaseva survey, 54% of managed service providers reported an increase in cloud management revenues last year, and 65% increased their revenues from cybersecurity services, even during the global economic depression. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), nonprofits, and government agencies hire MSPs to provide a defined set of day-to-day management services. This allows them to focus on improving their services without worrying about prolonged system downtime or outages. MSPs can also provide cutting-edge applications to accelerate adoption, even when they don't have the staff to use or deploy those technologies. Key services offered by MSPs include data center management, network management, mobility management, infrastructure management, backup and recovery management, communications management, and security management.
When a managed service provider is asked to meet an organization's business objectives, it is often expected to fill some gap or function in an IT system or staff.
