Managed IT service is the practice of fully or partially outsourcing the migration, implementation, maintenance and upgrade of parts of the IT infrastructure — backup and security included — to a third-party vendor who typically operates remotely or from an offshore location. The solution delivered is a managed IT service, and the provider is a managed service provider (MSP).

What characterises a managed service

Proactive IT management

MSPs monitor systems, identify potential issues and work to prevent problems before they disrupt business operations.

Predictable costs

Subscription-based pricing lets organisations budget for IT services with greater predictability, and removes the surprise expenses associated with traditional break-fix support.

Scalable solutions

Services are tailored to each client. Whether a business needs basic IT support or complex cybersecurity solutions, an MSP scales accordingly.

24/7 support

Around-the-clock support ensures critical IT issues are addressed promptly, even outside regular business hours.

Expertise and specialisation

MSPs have teams with specialised knowledge across cybersecurity, cloud computing and network management.

Security operations, as a managed service

We run a SOC on the same subscription model as the rest of the managed estate. Monitoring, detection and response sit with a team whose whole job is security, rather than with an administrator who also owns the servers, the backups and the phone system. For most organisations in the region that difference is the one that decides whether an intrusion is caught in hours or discovered by a customer.

What a subscription covers

Infrastructure management, including patching and capacity
Backup and disaster recovery, tested rather than assumed
Network management and monitoring
Security monitoring, detection and response through the SOC
Reporting an auditor will accept

Managed services