MSP Overview: Management & Security

By ManageEngine Guest Blogger

A recent survey of IT professionals found that 59% of organizations have adopted managed service provider (MSP) services to oversee and monitor their network infrastructure. A quick glance at the MSP sector prompts the basic question: Why do organizations outsource their IT control to service providers? The reasons include trimming costs associated with IT network maintenance and receiving better IT support for network issues when they arise. This corresponds to the definition of managed services: The MSP assumes an ongoing responsibility for 24-hour monitoring, managing, and problem resolution for the IT systems within a business.

There are three major reasons why an organization would entrust IT network management to MSPs.

Every business changes over time, and IT organizations need MSPs with the ability to expand with their device management needs. Work from home and the pandemic has increased the dependency on MSPs since more devices move more frequently in and out of the network. With new types of devices introduced into the network, organizations depend on MSPs to be prepared at all times to extend support and security to all the devices and meet their service-level agreements (SLAs) on time.

Security is always the underlying factor when it comes to managing an IT network. Managing the IT involves keeping security threats at bay despite the increasing complexities in the network. A quick-fix solution to simplify network management or temporary vulnerability remediation often results in a reduction in IT performance in the long run.

The dependence on MSPs is due to the assurance that service providers take a proactive approach to managing the technology infrastructure. With a team of experts, issues are presumed to be identified and corrected before they become problems. Further, this approach is expected to rule out risks and uncertainties because reliable IT network support is readily available.

‌On an average, organizations save millions per year by outsourcing their IT monitoring to MSPs. From a cost perspective, one of the key benefits of managed services is that it lowers labor costs by eliminating the cost of hiring and training new IT staff. Procuring the services of IT experts on a scalable basis is incredibly compelling as it helps organizations address their unique IT needs with a cost-effective solution.

Most MSPs allocate a dedicated team of specialists including technical, functional, architectural and training consultants to keep devices and the network up and running.

MSPs need to identify and completely understand the clients’ requirements and the IT network to manage it effectively. This includes analyzing the key challenges in network management and the technological complexities involved, and developing a support plan that eliminates them.

To enhance clients’ experience and meet SLAs promptly, service providers need to overcome a few basic challenges that arise due to multiple client network management.

Here’s how:

Obtain visibility into multi-client networks.

Network visibility refers to being aware of all the different components within the client network and to analyze key aspects like network performance, traffic, applications, and resources allocation.

As the number of clients a MSP supports grows, It becomes increasingly difficult to have in-depth visibility into all the client networks simultaneously. Total visibility into multi-client network environments is necessary to eliminate network blind spots. When coupled with real-time network monitoring, multi-client network visibility enables MSPs to quickly understand the status of all the IT infrastructure devices in their client networks.  Click on Page 2 to continue reading…

Reduce manual overheads.

MSPs need to ensure optimal usage of resources, near-zero SLA breaches and 100% client satisfaction. One solution is to switch from a reactive approach to a proactive approach to network management and monitoring with the right set of tools.

Also vital is maximizing MSP staff productivity by automating standard and everyday processes like network discovery, patch and software updates, fault management, device performance monitoring, oversight of IT assets, and report generation. MSPs improve the quality of their service delivery by executing remote operations faster; they can do this by automating functions such as OS updates and other network maintenance tasks across client environments.

Identify the right monitoring mix.

Network and device monitoring largely depends on obtaining the correct data and analyzing critical metrics. MSPs depend on network monitoring tools to identify clients’ data, past performance incidents and the critical devices used in the client’s IT operations. Based on this, a network management plan can be customized for each client’s network. Some of the critical metrics that need to be monitored include network performance, resource utilization, alert monitoring and fault management.

Ensure remote and dedicated support.

MSPs thrive by providing excellent client service and satisfaction in managing organizations’ IT. This is achieved by delivering dedicated support and instant troubleshooting for client devices. To simplify this mechanism, service providers depend on instant remote access within device management tools. These tools, integrated with help desk software, minimize response time to the client queries, and automatically update request and support issue details.

To balance all the responsibilities and overcome the challenges, MSPs need comprehensive remote monitoring and management (RMM) solutions that can cater to all their needs. RMM solutions enable IT administrators to manage all customers’ endpoints and perform all network monitoring capabilities from a single console. RMM solutions are the key to successful IT management for MSPs, and choosing the right tool is essential to accelerate an MSP’s growth and ROI.

ManageEngine RMM Central enables MSPs to discover, manage, monitor and secure their clients’ entire IT infrastructure. This solution unifies network monitoring and endpoint management, and provides a holistic view into all managed clients’ networks. It enables MSPs to overcome all their challenges in client network management.

Globally, the MSP market is expected to grow to $329 billion by 2025. On average, most MSPs report a profit of 35% to 45%, and the margin has been increasing steadily. The dependency and growth of MSPs can be accelerated with RMM Central.

Want to learn more about RMM Central? Start exploring the product with a free, 30-day trial.

This guest blog is part of a Channel Futures sponsorship.