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A managed IT services partner can provide the strategy, security, solutions and support you need to be successful – no matter the size of your business.
Keeping your data secure is crucial to your business and requires a proactive technology strategy that helps to eliminate unpredictable costs and disruptions. Here’s how a managed IT services partner can help.
Fully Managed vs. Co-Managed IT Services: Which Is Better for my Business?
The size and IT capacity of your business may determine whether fully managed or co-managed IT services are a better fit.
Fully Managed IT Services
Small to medium-sized businesses of 20 to 100 employees often do not have the capacity to hire the full breadth of IT expertise needed to set-up, monitor and troubleshoot all of your technology management needs. Additionally, those businesses lose breadth of knowledge and experience that is needed to leverage technology properly. Working with a fully managed IT services partner allows you and your staff to focus on your main business initiatives and maximizing profits – without the worry of network and device security or technical problem-solving. A fully managed IT services partner will work hand-in-hand with their client to provide strategic guidance in creating and implementing a sound technology management plan.
Co-Managed IT Services
Larger businesses of over 100 employees may have their own IT team. However, there can be times when it is more economical to outsource project work, solutions, security, or strategy to fill in the gaps based on expertise or project size. A managed IT services partner can assist your IT team with a variety of projects. Common examples include network infrastructure refreshes, updating firewalls at multiple locations or implementing a new VoIP phone network for all of your employees.
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How to Conduct a Security Assessment
Most people think a security assessment is about using software to scan your network and identify any security gaps. It is, but for a managed IT services partner, this is only the first step in the security assessment process.
A managed IT services partner will take the time to sit down with business owners/executives to ask the important questions and better understand how the business works. Topics of discussion will include security needs, characteristics of the data that needs to be protected and the risk tolerance of the business.
The answers to these questions will help to form the strategy necessary to construct a comprehensive security package and implement these solutions within the business.
Which Technology Solutions Should I Choose?
Endpoint protection alone isn’t enough anymore. In today’s business environment, the sheer amount of network attack vectors has grown exponentially. This has changed the data security landscape. Gone are the days when anti-virus software and a firewall was all that was needed to keep your business network safe.
Today, business security is a round-the-clock battle. That is why businesses need security solutions that are proactive and monitor network activity 24/7 with a multi-layered, security approach. A vigilant effort such as this is a better method to keep your business protected.
How to Build a Holistic Managed IT Services Program
The key to building a complete managed IT services program is to be proactive and to provide a comprehensive solution set for the network security needs of your business.
At Elevity, we are continually evaluating and re-evaluating our solution set to be certain that it is comprised of the best solutions currently on the market for our fully managed IT clients. Again, these clients are typically businesses with 20 to 100 employees.
Our internal Emerging Solutions Evaluation team is comprised of Elevity vCIOs and Engineers. They sift through the hundreds of security software options available and meet twice a month to discuss their research findings.
We do the security product research for you so you can be assured that your security solutions fit your business. Contact Elevity and ask. We’ll explain why our research points to the product mix in our solution set and why competitive software solutions are not the correct fit for our clients.
RELATED: Can My Business Afford Outsourced Technology Management?
Searching for a Managed IT Services Partner
IT security is complicated; Elevity can make it convenient. For small and medium-sized businesses, working with a fully managed IT services partner will remove the burden of technology management and will allow your staff to focus on what makes your business most profitable. Elevity brings the experts directly to you with best-in-class, industry-leading solutions that are designed to evolve along with your business.
Working with a fully managed IT services partner will also help your budget. Having a standardized, monthly service bill for all of your technology solutions will make budgeting more predictable and convenient. And you can be certain that your fully managed IT services provider is in alignment with your goals for a true vendor partnership.
Large businesses also enjoy working with Elevity as a co-managed IT Services partner. When larger projects arise, Elevity has the skill and expertise to partner with your internal IT team and seamlessly work together to reach your goals.
Elevity is here to be your partner and to assist your business to become more profitable – because your success is our success.
Our technology management tools and processes provide a more comprehensive level of solutions and support for the technology infrastructure of your business. Contact Elevity to discuss your managed IT services needs. We’re here to help.
Wondering what’s the difference between Traditional IT vs. Technology Management? Click the link below to download a free infographic with a side-by-side comparison.
