4 Steps to Transition Your IT Infrastructure to a Managed Services Model
Moving away from a break-fix model to managed services will free IT teams to focus on tasks that can help the company grow. If you’re looking for ways to improve your business’s infrastructure and increase cost efficiency and productivity, consider using managed services like those offered at https://www.worksmart.com/managed-it-services/. They provide scalable solutions that can support your business needs.
When the new MSP takes over, they will change the network, administrator, and hardware passwords to eliminate access from the old provider. Then they will conduct a backup and restore.
Conduct a Needs Assessment
Conducting a needs assessment is one of the most effective ways to determine how to improve your IT infrastructure. A needs assessment allows you to analyze your current IT landscape and user requirements, enabling you to unlock your business’s full potential.
A needs assessment can be conducted using various methods, including surveys, interviews, focus groups, and observations. The method you choose will depend on the types of data you are looking for and how much time your team has available.
When conducting a needs assessment, be sure to involve a diverse range of community members who are experiencing the identified issues. Whether they are local neighborhood residents, passionate caretakers of young community members, or colleagues at your organization, their input is vital to understanding the issue and developing unique recommendations. It is also important to consider how the results of your needs assessment will be communicated to your community.
Conduct a Budget Analysis
Conducting a budget analysis is important if your company is considering transitioning to a managed services model. This will help you determine what IT-related goals are most important to your business in the short and long term. It’s also a good idea to review and audit previous IT budgets to understand the different types of expenses that your organization often incurs.
Once your in-house IT team has someone else handling ongoing network monitoring and tech support, they can focus on other projects to help your business grow, such as software and app development. In addition, an MSP can offer strategic IT guidance for your organization and implement data-driven improvements over time that can dramatically improve IT performance.
Conduct a Vendor Assessment
A successful managed services transition relies on the right partnerships. Unrecognized or unmitigated risks in these relationships can result in data breaches, service disruptions, regulatory fines, lost revenue, and lawsuits.
To determine the best way to move forward:
- Consider evaluating all of your current vendors. You can obtain their previous quarterly updates and check their status.
- Make sure they follow the latest compliance protocols for their area of expertise.
- If not, cut ties with them.
You can also assess the level of risk a vendor poses by determining their impact and probability of occurrence. You can do this by analyzing their internal processes, assessing the information they handle, and identifying their physical security measures. For example, you would want to evaluate a healthcare IT provider’s processes for complying with HIPAA regulations and a retail IT vendor’s ability to protect customer data by GDPR. These evaluations can help you identify any issues that need addressing before moving forward with a contract.
Schedule a Consultation
Having the right technology infrastructure in place allows companies to focus on their core business goals instead of having to manage break/fix tasks. By outsourcing IT, businesses can save time and money and avoid the risk of downtime.
Once you’ve narrowed your list of potential MSPs, schedule a consultation to discuss your priorities and expectations. Then, have them audit your IT environment, focusing on hardware and software resources. Once the new MSP fully understands your IT environment, they can begin to create your contract.
For example, a basic managed services offering may include a combination of managed antivirus, backup and firewall solutions, remote monitoring, and proactive desktop/server/network maintenance for one monthly rate. This way, your staff can access a team of IT professionals to resolve problems. Alternatively, you can customize your offerings to include specialized services such as security or DevOps capabilities. This helps you stand out from the competition.
