what are managed it services

Managed IT services refer to the practice of outsourcing IT tasks to a third-party vendor, who is responsible for providing a defined set of business technology services to its clients, either proactively or as the MSP determines that services are needed. The third-party vendor is called a managed service provider (MSP), and they can be useful for ensuring 24/7/365 coverage of IT duties and can contribute specialty knowledge or expertise that may not otherwise be available. Managed IT services can range from general to specific, depending on the needs of the organization, and can include the monitoring and maintenance of equipment, IT systems management, remote monitoring and management of servers, network monitoring, and other support services. Some of the benefits of using managed services include increased IT efficiency, improved uptime management, and the ability to set contractual terms for IT tasks that include service level agreements (SLAs), which means that organizations don’t have to spend time recruiting, hiring, or training IT staff. Common types of managed IT services include network and system monitoring, security, hosting, cloud computing, and data backups.