The rise of remote managed IT services
The move to remote and hybrid working has had dramatic impact on most organisation’s technology stacks. Surprisingly, it is also impacting the way IT services are delivered. By 2025, it is expected that 68% of IT managed services providers will provide their services remotely.
The rise of managed IT services
The outsourcing model is an ideal solution to IT management for many, many companies. The growing IT skills gap makes it increasingly difficult and expensive to attract and retain IT talent. At the same time, new and developing technologies require an increasingly diverse skillset of multiple specialist technologies – from cloud architecture through AI integrations to specialist cybersecurity capabilities.
Outsourcing IT management gives companies an opportunity to access the specialist technical skills and knowledge they need in a way that is affordable and available 24/7.
The rise of remote and hybrid working
During the pandemic, organisations were forced to move quickly to enable their people to work remotely from home. For organisations that had already invested in cloud solutions this was an easier move than for those businesses that still relied on a lot of legacy technology and on-premises solutions.
The pandemic, therefore, hastened a migration to cloud that was already underway. It delivered a rapid lesson in the user-centric benefits of cloud: the ability to work from anywhere. It also highlighted another benefit of cloud solutions: the reduction in the need for the IT team to be “hands on”. Software and operating systems are updated automatically by the service provider. Using remote provisioning tools, even the setup and distribution of laptops could be managed remotely.
As companies had a fast-track lesson in what was possible, the viability of remote IT managed services suddenly became very clear.
The rise of remote managed IT services
Coming out of the pandemic, the demand for remote IT services has continued to rise and businesses of all shapes and sizes cotton on to the benefits.
These include:
- No need for a large inhouse IT team.
- A cost-effective way to provide 24/7 coverage and IT support for users.
- Consistent support and coverage across multiple geographies and time zones.
- A scalable solution that can grow and adjust rapidly in response to the business’ needs.
- Access to a team of remote experts who specialise in the latest technologies and can offer proactive advice and recommendations for best practice solutions, processes and practices.
- Access to strategic IT guidance.
- Businesses can focus their activities and resources on their core and value-adding activities, leaving IT management to the experts.
How to get the most from your remote managed IT service provider
With companies increasingly choosing to work with remote managed IT service providers, it is worth considering the conditions which make such an outsourcing choice desirable and successful.
These include:
- A remote agreement depends on an infrastructure that lends itself to remote management. Migrating from on-premises solutions to cloud-based solutions is a prerequisite to this. Listen to your IT services partner to understand the best, most effective and secure way to make this move, if you haven’t already transitioned.
- Lean into your remote IT partner’s cybersecurity expertise to take a proactive approach. This way, your business systems can be protected against the latest threats.
- Work with your IT partner to identify opportunities to continually improve and secure your IT environment. Taking a proactive approach is especially important when it comes to cost management. It is too easy to allow your cloud storage costs to continually increase if you don’t take a proactive approach to cloud policies, infrastructure and cost management.
- View your remote IT managed services provider as a strategic partner. Organise regular (virtual) meetings to update them about your business goals and any changes. This way, they can help you take a more proactive approach to readying your IT environments to support your business goals and the change you want to see.
The rise of remote managed IT services
Using remote managed IT services makes increasing sense for an increasing number of businesses, especially given the new IT infrastructures to which many businesses have transitioned as a result of the necessity to enable remote and hybrid working models during the pandemic.
With the right partner and the right strategic, proactive approach, using remote IT managed services can deliver significant benefits to organisations of all sizes.