What Does a Managed Service Provider Do for You?
Breaking Down the Value Proposition for Managed Services
Is hiring a managed service provider (MSP) just a euphemism for outsourcing? Outsourcing has a bit of a negative connotation, but it shouldn’t. Hiring a managed service provider to help with technology infrastructure is a business decision that must make sense strategically and financially. It is not solely about potential cost-saving through outsourcing but has everything to do with finding a better way to keep up with and manage an organization’s technology needs.
Managed services are much more than simple outsourcing. Managed service providers serve as technology partners to help organizations plan, manage, deploy, and support essential technology infrastructure. Let's explore these aspects in more detail below and how they can help your organization, whether in Tempe, Arizona or across the country.
SEE ALSO: 3 Critical Ways Managed Services Improve Your Company’s AV Infrastructure
Definition of Managed Service Provider
Sometimes it helps to have a baseline definition of what something means. What is a managed services provider? Gartner, one of the world’s premier IT research firms, defines MSPs this way:
A managed service provider (MSP) delivers network, application, system and e-management services across a network to multiple enterprises, using a “pay as you go” pricing model. A “pure play” MSP focuses on management services as its core offering. In addition, the MSP market includes offerings from other providers — including application service providers (ASPs), Web hosting companies and network service providers (NSPs) — that supplement their traditional offerings with management services.
This definition is very IT-focused, and managed services are most often associated with IT. So, let’s break this down into more specific things that MSPs offer. Not all companies avail themselves of all these services; some may only want help with parts of these. Every organization is different, and the best MSPs tailor their services accordingly. Further, as an audio-visual services company, we’re going to give this an AV slant.
Deploy Updated AV Technology Faster
It’s tough to stay current on technology. And to do so requires big capital outlays, staffing for deployment and ongoing support, and migration and project management. MSPs can supply all those services on a pay-as-you-go subscription model. As experts in AV infrastructure, we research and evaluate new technology against your organizational needs. We recommend solutions, install them, deploy them, train your staff, and maintain them over the life of the agreement. As a result, you can leverage our investment in the latest monitoring and support systems, while they might not make financial sense for your organization to purchase or license.
Design Consistent Experiences
Many organizations tend to invest in various hardware, software, and applications over time as technology and needs change. Overlapping operating lives between different technology often results in numerous user experiences depending on what tool or system you adopted. Migration and unification of systems can be an expensive and painful process. An MSP can design systems that will offer consistent AV functionality and user experiences across an organization, being responsible for all aspects of migration, deployment, training, and support.
Provide a Better Staffing Model
Design, deployment and support of AV infrastructure require specialized expertise. Your organization can leverage the MSP investment in people and training without maintaining staff that is not core to your business differentiation. The result is better support of your AV infrastructure, increased uptime of AV systems, and better use of your internal resources.
What Pain Points Do MSPs Solve?
In the end, MSPs should solve problems. Your meeting spaces should be easier to use, with few staff complaints about how hard it is to start a videoconference or the video and audio quality. Your systems should experience very little or no downtime. Your costs for outfitting your AV needs should be reduced on a per room basis. You should also have excellent analytics and data that inform you about what AV infrastructure is getting used and how to make better decisions in the future. And your budgeting for AV requirements should be far less complicated.
Want to know more about managed service models for audio-visual infrastructure? Level 3 Audiovisual is ready to help. Reach out to us here or click the chat box below to connect instantly. We look forward to working with you.
