The dynamic technological environment makes it near-impossible to keep pace with competitors while juggling resource management, cost optimization, and operational efficiency. That is why most modern-day organizations are shifting towards managed services as a means to stay competitive and achieve sustainable growth.
What are Managed Services?
Managed services refer to the practice of outsourcing the responsibility for maintaining and anticipating the need for various processes and functions to improve operations and cut expenses. It is an alternative to the on-demand outsourcing model where the service provider performs on-demand services and bills the customer only for the work done.
A Managed Service Provider (MSP) is responsible for the management of a client’s ERP and CRM. The MSP typically provides continuous support and proactive maintenance to ensure the client’s systems are running smoothly, secure, and up-to-date, allowing businesses to focus on their core operations rather than the complexities of ERP and CRM management.
What are the Types of Managed Services?
At present, the managed service industry is tapping most of the key technological dynamics, some of which have been discussed below,
CRM and Digital Platforms: A Managed service provider offers access to CRM and other digital platforms, ensuring that your digital platforms are always up-to-date, secure, and optimized for performance.
By continuously monitoring and optimizing the CRM system, MSPs help improve the speed and responsiveness of your digital platforms, leading to better customer experiences. Additionally, you can enjoy enhanced scalability to accommodate your growing data and interaction volumes.
ERP Solutions: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions integrate various business processes, improving efficiency and providing a holistic view of operations. Managed Service Providers ensure that your ERP system seamlessly integrates with other business applications, such as finance, HR, and supply chain management, enabling smooth data flow and unified operations.
Moreover, MSPs help optimize workflows within the ERP system, reduce redundancies, and improve process efficiency.
Training and Managed Services: Effective use of technology requires ongoing training and support. Managed Service Providers (MSPs) provide regular training sessions for your staff, covering new features, best practices, and troubleshooting techniques.
This ensures that your team is proficient in using the technology effectively. These service providers offer proactive support, identifying and addressing potential issues before they impact your operations. This includes regular health checks, performance tuning, and preventive maintenance.
Cloud and Infrastructure Management Services: Flexera 2024 State of the Cloud Report revealed that cloud usage continues to expand in the year 2024 with 49% of organizations facing challenges from the absence of a dedicated DevOps team to manage cloud operations.
IT Consulting: Managed IT consulting offers numerous benefits, helping businesses stay ahead of technological advancements. Through strategic road-mapping and goal-setting, managed service providers ensure compliance with industry-specific regulations and provide network maintenance and advisory services to optimize resource utilization.
By leveraging these types of managed services, businesses can enhance their operational efficiency, security, and overall performance.
What is the Role of Managed Service Partners?
The role of managed service partners goes beyond traditional IT service provision, expanding to resource optimization, profit maximization, and sustainable revenue generation in the long run. Let us dive into some of the key advantages of managed services in modern-day business scenarios,
Smoother IT Budgeting
A concrete framework laid down by experts in the CRM and ERP domain guarantees not only an edge over technological developments but also ensures that the incurred expenditure doesn’t make your pocket sink.
From maintaining existing systems to upgrading hardware, there are numerous additional costs associated with managing an organization’s evolving infrastructure that often go unplanned.
Rock-Solid Data Protection
MSPs often support service-level agreements (SLAs) or service-level objectives (SLOs), stipulating the appropriate response time to specific IT events. To maintain client accountability, managed service providers frequently conduct quarterly CRM and ERP performance and satisfaction reviews, ensuring all aspects of their agreements are met and goals remain aligned.
Lightning-Fast Response Time
Managed services guarantee reduced downtime, decreased vulnerabilities, enhanced data protection, and proactive support to tackle disruptions. By associating with a trusted managed service provider, organizations enjoy start-to-end support from initial IT setup, to technical training
Scalability
60% of business data now resides in the cloud (Spacelift, 2024), allowing companies to scale resources up or down seamlessly as needs fluctuate. Managed services offer greater scalability than in-house teams. For businesses that have outgrown their current resources but cannot justify a new in-house hire, managed services can bridge the gap.
Managed services can provide varying levels of support to meet evolving needs, facilitating smoother growth phases. They possess the resources to minimize growing pains and scale quickly and efficiently.
Hassle-Free IT Vendor Management
Managing hardware, software, and infrastructure can be challenging for in-house platform admin or system admin teams. Despite hiring a dedicated and talented team of professionals, organizations often find it difficult to manage these applications while focusing on the key profitability aspects of business.
A professional consulting company can unlock access to competitive enterprise-level pricing, negotiate favorable terms for services, and ensure there are no duplicate charges.
Technology Access
Overworked internal resources, responding to emergencies, and performing routine tasks may struggle to keep your company as innovative as possible. Great managed service providers stay current with industry developments and can save your in-house employees time.
They are familiar with the latest technological advancements and can recommend which software technology is worth investing in and which isn’t.
Reduced Costs
By outsourcing the management of your CRM, ERP, and other key platforms, you can significantly lower your operational costs. Managed services eliminate the need for large operational costs of having in-house staff and resources and reduce ongoing maintenance expenses. MSPs often operate on a subscription-based model, providing predictable and manageable costs.
Optimal Value
With the help of a managed service provider, you can get rid of all the operational costs and overheads while managing digital platforms online.
MSPs ensure that your systems are always updated and performing at their best, allowing you to get the most value from your investments. This involves regular system updates, performance optimizations, and strategic planning to align sales, operations, and technology with business goals.
De-Risking
Managed services prevent the concentration of critical knowledge with specific staff members, reducing risks associated with employee turnover and ensuring continuity. MSPs document processes and maintain comprehensive knowledge bases, ensuring that vital information is accessible and transferable.
This gives organizations peace of mind, knowing their operations are resilient to staff changes and disruptions.
Choosing the Right Managed Service Provider
Seeking the right managed service provider requires you to delve into your business requirements and align these needs with the services expanded by the managed services. You can start by asking yourself the following questions,
Does the managed service provider cater to your long-term needs?
Make sure that the service provider offers compatibility with your, future goals, and business policies. It is important to note that the MSP not only solves your immediate software needs but also offers a future-proof solution to sustainable growth.
Does the MSP have experience or specialization in your business domain?
A managed service provider might have a rich portfolio of projects and an impeccable client success rate. However, this can all be in vain if the service provider does not possess industry-specific experience and expertise.
Does the service provider cover all the services you require?
As an organization seeking cost-efficient CRM and ERP management, you don’t want to associate with different managed service providers for different service requirements. Ensure that the scope of the project extended by the service provider covers all your resource requirements at the decided budget.
Is the technical support up to the mark?
You would also want to assess support specs like average response time, resolution time, and support structure. Make sure that the service provider offers multi-channel support, priority-based ticket resolution, and on-site support as required.
Does the service provider support your future business expansion?
Another important consideration when seeking a managed service provider for your business is to ensure that the service provider supports your scalability needs. This includes an evaluation of the pricing model, flexibility of the service plan, and an in-depth analysis of the service agreement.
Are the managed services secure?
Data privacy and security are the top-notch priority for any business. Make sure that the managed service provider offers streamlined security measures, such as data encryptions, privacy protocols, and regular security audits to monitor the health of your IT infrastructure.
Conclusion
If you are a growing organization struggling to keep costs intact while staying ahead of the competition, a managed service provider is what your business needs. By taking off the burden of ERP and CRM management off the shoulders of your in-house team, an MSP lets you focus on what you do best.
Managed service providers align your long-term goals and industry-specific requirements with your existing resources to reap sustainable growth. The next step is to list down your objectives and on-board an efficient managed service provider to manage your ERP, CRM, and other systems efficiently.