Understanding Managed IT Services

Managed Services is a term for handing off your day-to-day IT support to a third party IT vendor. When you hire Axiom as your third-party IT team, we partner with you and assume an ongoing responsibility for 24-hour monitoring, maintaining, and problem resolution for the technology systems within your business.

The latest trend in IT support for businesses is definitely “Managed Services.” It is becoming a bit of a “buzz word,” but for Axiom Solutions it’s more than a clever marketing tool; it’s about getting to know our customers and offering real benefits and greater peace of mind!

WHY MANAGED IT?

All businesses are completely dependent on IT in today’s environment and rely on technology to operate and compete. As reliance on technology continues to grow and resources become more limited, Managed IT Services provides relief, accountability, and more certain costs for your technology infrastructure.

How Can We Support You?

We like to help people. A consultation with us includes a free assessment of your current systems. It’s a great way for us to meet you and understand your workflow, needs, processes, and technical infrastructure.

At that time, we’ll also identify areas of weakness, security concerns, along with any outdated hardware and software so that we can develop the best plan to support your organization– whether that’s Managed IT or another solution. We believe we can change the way you feel about IT.

WHAT YOU GET WITH MANAGED I.T. SERVICES

We’ll support your company’s IT infrastructure through automated software, services, and a stable cost structure while you look to us for the following responsibilities:

  • 24-hour monitoring

  • Windows and 3rd Party Patch Management

  • Firewall/Router Management

  • Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware

  • Global IT Policies

  • Managed Software installation

  • ISP Management

  • Asset & Lifecycle Management

  • Detailed Reporting

  • Backup & Disaster Recovery Services

  • Problem resolution

  • Server Hosting

6 BENEFITS OF MANAGED I.T. SERVICES

  1. Reduced cost

  2. Significantly less downtime

  3. Increased operational efficiency

  4. One phone call to a local company with enterprise-level IT support

  5. Your employees do their job and don’t “learn” IT when things break

  6. Allows the focus to be on running your business, and not the technology

  7. Peace of mind from knowing that the network is monitored 24/7/365

Do Managed I.T. Services Cost More?

Actually no! Managed services cost less than the traditional reactive break-fix IT approach, especially when including the true cost of downtime. Our managed IT service plan will provide you with cost benefits you may have not even thought about.

We begin by assessing your company, then coming up with a custom package for you with all the services that you need (and nothing you don’t). It’s a flat, monthly rate. The costs are known so budgeting is a lot simpler. Remote monitoring, computer support, maintenance and prevention of major issues allow us to be more efficient and offer a better service without charging more.

In the old reactive break-fix approach, you address each problem individually after the damage has already been done, and it’s easy for the invoices to stack up. Maybe a specialist has to come out to your location and you pay by the hour, or a new hardware purchase … the old way of I.T can get costly. With your managed services package, you know what you’re getting, you know what you’re paying each month, and that’s that. Pretty simple. If adjustments need to be made, just talk to us. We won’t make things difficult.

Managed I.T. Services vs. In-House IT?

Previously simple IT tasks such as data backups, patches and security were done haphazardly whenever the IT person (who may also be your office manager) got the time to do them. When not maintained, these simple tasks greatly increase the odds of facing a system or network outage or another problem down the road that will negatively impact your business. That style of “when I have time” is no longer an option and your business can be shut down if a simple update is not installed in a timely manner. None of us can afford the downtime or the expense by being reactive instead of proactive!

Managed I.T. Services vs. Break-Fix?

Managed services are a philosophical change in the way that businesses maintain their technology. In years past, a break-fix mentality was to fix problems as they arise, meaning that something needed to go wrong before you would call the “IT guy”. This resulted in delays, unexpected costs and waiting and waiting for things to get fixed before you were back to normal. A business operating with a managed service focuses on the prevention of these issues before they disrupt employees and/or clients.

“Break-fix” maintenance is no longer an option! Managed services are proactive – we get alerts about your equipment’s health BEFORE things break. On many occasions, we get alerts that hardware is expected to fail – we place an order for the new part and show up to install it before you even knew there was a problem. Because we take care of everything – cable, network, servers, software, telephone, security, etc. so you are no longer responsible for trying to differentiate what vendor is responsible for different parts of your system. Your business simply doesn’t have time for this and we will make it SIMPLE again.