What is managed IT services?
The Managed Services model is a business model that has been around for years, in many industries, such as IT, HR and manufacturing. It has been gaining popularity in recent years and is becoming one of the more important and fastest-growing service segments. It can be used to handle a wide range of tasks, from different areas, and also has many advantages and will find its way well into many industries.
Definition of managed IT services
Managed IT Services is a model under which high-tech services or processes are provided on a continuous basis. It is a related concept to the very popular IT outsourcing, but the issues are not the same. Companies that opt for this type of service entrust an external company with, for example, a permanent service, a specific process or an entire area. Managed IT Services is about to become the dominant option for implementing IT business processes.
Opting for the Managed IT Services model allows for a significant degree of financial optimization. Companies do not need to create new departments or hire specialists to manage the service. Most often Managed Services involve IT services, the reason being the rapid development of new technologies. Internal IT departments are very often unable to keep up with the changes, there are staff shortages, and HR departments do not have enough training to hire the right specialists.
What services can be provided under managed IT services?
Although Managed Services is a related issue to the very popular outsourcing, but this service is much more specialized and comprehensive. We wrote more about IT outsourcing here: IT Outsourcing in practice - project management strategies and cost-effectiveness. Managed IT Services can include, for example, comprehensive support over operating systems or databases.
Managed IT Services are able to cover the entire IT infrastructure of an organization. This can include various types of applications (ERP, CRM), databases or Business Intelligence class tools. However, the services performed under it may cover a narrow area requiring specialized knowledge and experience. Support, in turn, can be based on the client's technological background, or based on a cooperation model, in which the IT partner is entirely responsible for providing and maintaining the proposed IT solution, as well as providing the environment and infrastructure.
What industries should benefit from managed IT services?
The Managed Services model is very widely applicable and will work well in many industries. The simplest indicator of the moment when you should consider introducing managed IT services in your enterprise is the degree of sophistication of the IT systems present in it. Even if you have extensive IT infrastructures and they are in operation, there is a need to maintain them. Then the ideal solution is to opt for managed IT services, whose task will be to take care of the entire area designated by the partner.
And what industries should benefit from managed IT services? This solution will work great for manufacturing, retail/commerce, automotive, as well as broadly defined financial and insurance services. The offer is very broad and gives the opportunity to take care of all IT processes in companies from different industries.
Benefits of managed IT services
As part of Managed IT Services, it is the partner who takes care of IT services, as well as any additional tasks related to their updating and maintenance. This unequivocally affects the proper functioning of IT solutions in the company and a positive image in the eyes of service users. This is because they will not experience any interruptions in their delivery, and they can make comments on current functionalities on an ongoing basis.
What benefits does this translate into for the company, not just the users, in practice? In the first place - entrepreneurs who decide to outsource managed IT services are able to fully focus on carrying out their company's main tasks, without having to monitor IT solutions. Thus, they give 100% of the responsibility to the cooperation partner, the implementation of the IT systems task rests entirely with them. So if you want to focus on carrying out the company's core tasks, transferring responsibility to the provider, as well as providing the company with constant and uninterrupted access to IT support, without the need for constant supervision - the managed IT services solution is just for you.
One of the key stages of Managed IT Services is the verification of systems and customer needs. This is the stage that allows us to discern the situation, establish initial relationships and verify the IT background. All this allows us to optimally tailor the development and support team in terms of both technical and soft skills. - notes Daniel Wojcikowski, Support & Maintenance Manager at Britenet.
The attractiveness of the Managed Services model can also be considered in terms of quality and financial issues. Managed IT services solve the basic problems of modern technology: the lack of properly trained IT specialists, with the necessary competencies, know-how, as well as the problem of the very high cost of maintaining an IT team. Entrusting technology facilities to an external partner eliminates unplanned costs and helps adjust them according to your budget. So if you don't want to build a new, dedicated department and team to be responsible for internal IT systems, as well as to create, develop and sustain new solutions - managed IT services are worth your attention.
Managed IT services in DACH and Poland - nearshoring of services
Managed IT services can be outsourced both to companies in the same country and abroad. Depending on how far they are from each other, we speak of nearshoring or offshoring. In Europe, nearshoring, in which outsourcing services are provided by partners in Central and Eastern Europe, is currently very popular. The costs of managed IT services in these countries are significantly lower than, for example, in the DACH region - Germany, Austria and Switzerland. They are higher, however, than, such as in the case of farshoring, in Asia. In this case, however, the price is linked to quality, which is significantly in favor of nearshoring. Polish programmers, for example, according to the Hackerrank report, are among the best in Europe and ranked 3rd, higher than countries such as Switzerland, Hungary and France. When deciding on nearshoring, the legal issue also comes into play, namely managed IT services to a country that belongs to the European Union and where the same regulations apply, if only in terms of security and data protection, is much more secure, and the risk of breaches, data leakage, etc. - decreases.
One of the countries with the most to offer in terms of nearshoring with DACH is Poland. In 2020, the country ranked third on the list of countries with the greatest investment potential (The CEOWORLD Magazine, 2020), and is the most attractive in the region, according to an EY report. Poland is also one of the most prominent locations for managed IT services. And what are the reasons for nearshoring a company from the DACH region to Poland? These include a significant number of IT specialists, which is growing steadily year by year, due to the increase in the number of IT graduates, very high English proficiency, cultural and geographic proximity, and above all - high attractiveness in financial terms combined with high quality of work. We wrote more on the subject in the article: Why should Germans cooperate with Polish companies in IT outsourcing?.
Summary
As part of Managed IT Services, the nearshoring partner contracts the cooperating entity to manage a particular service in the area of modern technology in its entirety. Companies in retail, manufacturing, automotive, fashiontech or financial and insurance services find themselves very well in this model of cooperation. Attractive in managed IT services is nearshoring between companies from the DACH region and Poland, as the country's specialists are among the best in Europe. Opting for this service is a number of benefits for both sides of the partnership.
