While we are all aware of the constant evolution of technology, sometimes we don’t stop to think about how we can take advantage of the associated improvements in our day to day business. For example, traditional IT support methods required a technical consultant/engineer to go onsite and sit in front of a server or workstation to perform reactive or preventive maintenance. Until remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools were developed, this was really the only option available to service providers.
RMM tools provided the platform for service providers to evolve from the onsite time and materials engagement model to the Managed Services provider (MSP) support model to perform the preventive maintenance. The reactive work is done by a service desk, which often alerts the customer to an issue rather than waiting for a customer to contact the service provider. There are many benefits associated with a Managed Services model. Below are a few that stand out the most.
Valuable Conversations
Face-to-face interactions have shifted from maintenance and repair to more strategy and digital business transformation. Instead of your staff preparing a list of items to fix for the next site visit, your executive staff can work with our team to outline company initiatives. The speed of disruption across all industries over the next five years will require every business to digitally transform and find ways to better deliver products and solutions to their own clients.
Fixed Fee Model
What makes the managed services model so attractive to customers is that it can be provided as a fixed price engagement. New Era Technology will help ensure the technical environment is performing optimally within the expected budget instead of the time and materials (hourly) model. New Era Technology proactively trains, alerts, and introduces advanced endpoint protection to prevent reactive scenarios.
Automation
The RMM tools enable a level of automation that can minimize the need for a resource to be physically present at a customer site for many tasks. The RMM tools allow service providers to monitor and alert system health and utilization, patch operating systems and applications, manage anti-virus/anti-malware, and automate software deployments, amongst many others. The need for hands-on support is still relevant but significantly reduced.
Proactive Repair and Scripting
Is this title a contradiction? Maybe, but let me explain. The best RMM tools aren’t worthwhile if you don’t have a competent administrative team behind the wheel. New Era Technology’s staff are well-trained and experienced individuals who can create and maintain custom scripts or procedures that can be deployed either reactively or proactively to keep systems running without impact to the user.
Reduced Staff Management
With a managed services provider, this model embraces outsourcing and minimizes the need for onsite support and the management of in-house staff. This allows the customer point of contact to work with New Era Technology to discuss the success of the engagement and accomplish items on a technical road map.
Timelier Resolution
The legacy support model required a technician to come onsite for either a proactively scheduled or reactive visit, which was limited to staff availability and technical competency. Any requests for support outside of scheduled visit would either have to wait for the next scheduled visit or come with a price tag associated with a special visit or call. With the managed service model, the customer has access to a service desk. The customer also benefits from a deep pool of expertise staffed at a central location and not running around from site to site for pre-scheduled onsite visits.
These are just a few of the many benefits of the managed services support model. New Era Technology is committed to providing our top resources for the customer’s benefit while delivering a higher-quality service than former traditional models. Upgrading to a managed services provider model can be a significant change. However, it is a beneficial support model that allows you to worry less about technology and more about advancing your business objectives for a fraction of what it would cost to expand your team.
To learn more about this service, please email solutions@neweratech.com.