- What are “managed IT services”?
- What’s the difference between “managed” and “standard” IT services?
- What does a Managed IT Service Agreement cost?
- What is a typical term or length of a Beacon ITS service agreement with Beacon?
- What are the most common areas covered by a Beacon ITS services plan?
- What are the benefits of Beacon ITS managed IT services?
1. What are “managed IT services”?
Managed IT services vary depending on your needs. They can encompass a small portion of your business's needs such as maintaining anti-virus subscriptions or performance monitoring to complete proactive services. Proactive IT services ensure that your technology infrastructure is performing optimally and downtime is minimized by addressing issues before they occur.
2. What’s the difference between “managed” and “standard” IT services?
Perhaps the better question is “What is the difference between proactive and reactive IT services?” Under the reactive or standard scenario, companies set up their IT systems and once up and running, they ignore them until a problem arises. Once this occurs, they enlist the help of an IT firm to remedy the issue. This can result in costly downtime.
By contrast, a “managed” or proactive approach to IT services requires a consistent, routine maintenance to make sure that all systems are performing as expected. Patches and updates are applied before a significant problem can occur. Systems are monitored so even when a problem does present itself, they are detected early and catastrophic events or interruptions can be avoided.
The other significant difference is cost. Standard IT service agreements mean that the IT firm benefits from your misfortune. Your problem is their payday so there is little incentive to protect you from future service interruption. Managed IT service is all about avoiding such problems. The Managed Services provider is “on the hook” for resolving any problems, therefore saving your company time and money in the end.
3. What does a Managed IT Service Agreement cost?
That depends on the scope of services needed. However, one should understand that there can be a significant cost savings as efficiency and best practices ensure that a managed services agreement through Beacon (referred to as Beacon ITS) is often a bargain when compared to having a full-time IT professional on staff.
4. What is a typical term or length of a Beacon ITS service agreement with Beacon?
A majority of Beacon ITS contracts are for a 12 month term.
5. What are the most common areas covered by a Beacon ITS services plan?
Security is a top concern of nearly every business entity. Beacon provides a managed firewall, anti-virus malware suite and core services.
A business continuity plan involving online backups of all your business’ daily activity can ensure that your company functions continually, uninterrupted by unexpected computer or network issues. Dealing with individual backups and tracking them can be time consuming and expensive. A managed IT services agreement can provide seamless operation with behind the scenes backup activities, saving you time and money.
Best of all, a managed IT services agreement means the consistent monitoring and maintenance of your network and infrastructure. This typically includes the upkeep of your servers, internet connection, computers, and wireless access points. In addition, the agreement typically covers your network components such as firewalls, switches, storage devices and any important network equipment.
6. What are the benefits of Beacon ITS managed IT services?
- Affordable Business Class IT Services
- 24X7 proactive server and workstation monitoring and management
- Help Desk Support
- Guaranteed response times with real-time reporting
- A team of expert administrators are available for phone or onsite support
- Affordable and Predictable IT spending
- Increased network security
- Data backup and disaster recovery solutions
- Regular maintenance upgrades
- Business continuity
- IT accountability
Still need to know more? Contact us at 336-232-5687 to speak with a knowledgeable IT professional regarding your business goals and how Beacon's managed IT services can help you achieve them.