What is a managed service provider and how would you ever need one? Keep reading to learn why you would need a managed service provider. In a nutshell, a managed service provider works as an external IT department. They manage or monitor all or some of your computer systems for you. You can work from home or a remote location because a managed service provider offers you the ability to use telecommuting and desktop collaboration software.

By managing your systems from remote locations, you can obtain a variety of benefits. For instance, you may find that you are able to obtain a lower cost solution to your infrastructure. You may also be able to obtain bandwidth, network reliability, system scalability, reduced support cost, greater flexibility, reliability, and accessibility to your infrastructure at any time. On the other hand, with a managed service provider, you have the ability to gain access to these benefits when you need them, not just when your business needs them.

Perhaps the greatest benefit that a managed service provider can provide to your business is called “in-house” tech support. Many companies simply cannot afford or do not have the expertise to troubleshoot a problem on their own. When you employ a managed service provider, they take care of everything. The technicians take care of anything that needs to be done remotely and they often maintain a presence in multiple locations, which means that they are available whenever you need them. This means that when a problem arises in your own company, it does not take them long to reproduce the problem on the remote infrastructure, troubleshoot it, fix it, and then make the necessary adjustments to your own network infrastructure. This is especially helpful if a problem occurs in the middle of the night when you are not easily accessible to troubleshoot.

In addition to its ability to “in-house” technical support, an managed service provider also offers disaster recovery services. If you consider the devastation that a few hurricanes, floods, or even the terrorist attacks can cause to a business, it should be clear that this type of disaster recovery is very important. Businesses do not want to have to close down because they did not engage in disaster recovery planning. By using a managed services provider, you have the ability to have services such as incident response begin immediately. You can also rest assured that any information technology systems that you may have put into place are secure and that they are protected from damage or destruction.

Another way that a managed service provider can help your business is through the implementation of information technology policies. This is because you will want to keep abreast of what threats are out there and how you can protect your company against them. By having information technology policies in place, you are able to decide in advance how you will react to a particular threat or vulnerability. This means that the company is able to take a preemptive step to address the issue before it becomes a problem and allows it to be addressed before it causes the information technology system to break down completely.

These are some of the ways that you can utilize the services of a managed service provider when it comes to disaster recovery. For a smaller company, it may not always be necessary to have specialized technicians in place who are trained in these types of matters. As a matter of fact, many small businesses can get along just fine without hiring professionals who are specifically trained in disaster recovery. In this case, outsourcing your tech support is the best way to go.

There are many remote service centers that can provide you with highly trained and experienced personnel who can provide you with the help that you need in this area. Since most of these companies do not have a large overhead or employee count, they are able to pass on the savings to you in the form of lower prices for your disaster recovery needs. While there is nothing wrong with this in general, you may not want to cut corners when it comes to your employees as well as your budget. This is where a managed service provider comes into the picture as a cost-effective solution to your disaster recovery needs.

One of the most important things to think about when it comes to managed services is the monitoring component. Many companies are working hard to improve their ability to monitor the status of their servers so that they can make sure that everything is operating as expected. A good managed services provider will work hard to monitor the servers in question so that you know that your servers are always running smoothly and are not experiencing issues. In this manner, you can be sure that your business will be able to continue running smoothly even during periods of high or low server activity.