Professional services and managed services are quite similar, and sometimes you may need both; however, they are not quite the same. These two approaches are powerful for meeting a business’s needs. Nonetheless, a lack of understanding of these two terms can prevent a business from selecting the right solution and hamper innovation, mitigation of risks, and using technology to enhance customer experiences.
Importance of Professional and Managed Services
Sometimes a business may lack the budget to hire every professional in the IT department. Therefore, outsourcing becomes an option that is important in saving money and time. The money that would have been used in setting up an entire IT department can be used elsewhere in the small business where it’s much needed.
Every company requires the help of IT as we are living in a technologically driven era. A lot of operations in the business, including back-end security and servers, require IT expertise. Therefore, IT services become a necessity when dealing with such issues. When outsourcing IT, you may be wondering which one between professional or managed services is suitable for your business.
Managed Services
Managed services are very critical for any business. They are the people who will fix any IT problem at that moment you need it. They are usually 24 hours accessible to help with solutions. These professionals ensure that everything in the company is running smoothly and also perform maintenance tasks. Every business requires technology that works throughout the day, tomorrow, and in the future. With managed services, you can achieve your company goals at all times. Every managed service package is tailored to fit your business needs. One advantage of managed services is that you get 24/7 availability and various services, although your business may not need the full support given. If you own a small business, you may only need occasional IT services, therefore managed services might seem costly. Some of the options offered with managed services include:
Preventative maintenance for monitoring equipment for any issues and managing replacement schedules. Preventative maintenance helps your business get rid of the surprise elements such as equipment breakdowns.
Provisioning
If you have new staff or the business is undergoing any change that needs provisioning, these services can help in supporting access control based on roles to reduce security risks.
Unified communications
Managed services providers may also provide support for communication tools and the underlying network necessary for effective deployment as the company invests in collaborative communications.
Professional Services
Professional services are based on on-demand solutions. With professional services, an IT professional may be hired for one project on a short-term basis. For instance, if there are expansions and new hardware rollouts in the company, the professional services can be involved in the processes right from the beginning to the end. In addition, professional service providers may also offer ongoing support like maintenance and troubleshooting after completing the project.
Although the projects may be extremely comprehensive, the services are one-offs and can be quite varied. The advantage of professional services is that they address particular IT challenges in a business.
They help a business overcome any challenge through dedicated projects such as cloud migration. Such one-off projects are usually very comprehensive, and their scope may extend from planning until further support even after project completion. Professional services ensure that the cybersecurity is up to date, any data recovery operation has been performed, and all business continuity support has been done, thus leading to better scalability. Since the business will not require a data center, the costs are therefore reduced.
Choosing What is Right for you
So, you may be wondering which type of IT service is best for you. If you need someone always available to answer any IT question, assist you with changes, update the security, train your personnel, among other tasks, then you probably require managed services for your business since you will get a full-service IT solution.
If your business already has some technical expertise, and maybe you only want to handle the daily issues, professional services will be right for you. Professional services will assist you with an ending contract with experts when scaling your business or picking up new technology. There are numerous sources to find the best professionally managed IT services in Toronto to assist you in achieving your business goals and ensure the smooth running of your business.
Final Thought
Before you decide which IT solution is suitable for your business, it is important to list down the services you would like to have in your business. With a list, you can choose whether to go for managed or professional services. Whatever service you decide to go for, your business will still get the benefits.
