3 Long-Standing Managed Services Myths Busted

You just have to get to know Managed Services in order to love them. That’s one of the takeaways of CompTIA’s 4th Annual Trends in Managed Services study. The data shows companies have become increasingly familiar with Managed Services in recent years and overall adoption rates have followed suit. It also shows those who’ve gotten on board haven’t been disappointed.

In this year’s survey, a little more than half of respondents said they are “very familiar” with the idea of Managed Services while roughly 41% said they are “somewhat familiar.” Just under 10% claimed to have only “heard of” Managed Services or to be “totally unfamiliar” with them. Those numbers stack up positively when compared to CompTIA’s 2013 results. The 2013 survey found only 36% of respondents felt highly familiar with the idea of Managed Services.

In addition, CompTIA’s research showed 37% of companies who use Managed Services have been doing so for five years or more. However, 55% have been Managed Services users for between two and five years, depicting an upward trend in adoption.

The study also investigated usage habits of adopters, relationships between existing IT teams and Managed Services providers, and cost – and in doing so, it toppled a few myths about Managed Services.

‘Managed Services are all hype’

Most organizations went in to their Managed Services agreements expecting to save on their bottom lines. In fact, a closer look reveals:

  • just 4% expected a cost increase
  • 12% didn’t believe they will see any financial benefit
  • 54% expected modest savings
  • 30% expected significant savings

And the majority of those companies weren’t disappointed. Almost seven in ten met their cost-savings expectations while just shy of a quarter were able to exceed their expectations. Only 6% fell short of their initial projections. This demonstrates the real-world benefits that can be achieved by partnering with a Managed Services provider.

‘That’s going to put me out of a job’

Perhaps the biggest reason why companies – and more accurately, some folks in IT – had been reluctant to embrace Managed Services in previous years had to do with the fear that they were designed to replace traditional, on-premises IT teams. That’s not the actual experience of customers using Managed Services according to CompTIA’s study.

The research shows six out of ten Managed Services customers see their engagement as a “collaborative arrangement” between the service provider and their internal IT team. On top of that, in 72% of companies with 100 or more employees, a Managed Services partnership had no impact on IT’s headcount. Existing staffers were simply reassigned to other, oftentimes more strategic, projects.

‘Managed Services don’t cover what we need’

There’s almost no limit on what a Managed Services partner can do for you. If you can envision it, there’s a pretty good chance your provider can handle it.

What are the leading ways in which business are utilizing Managed Services? (Key: multiple answers were accepted.)

  • Repair/troubleshoot IT- 70%
  • General consulting around IT- 51%
  • Deployment/installation/integration of IT- 48%
  • Cybersecurity-related- 47%
  • Web design- 47%

This shows the flexibility Managed Services partnerships can deliver to organizations. One Managed Services partnership can cover multiple projects and specialty areas, the relationship growing and changing along with the customer’s needs.

The time has come

If you’ve been considering making the transition to Managed Services, now’s the perfect time to do so. Arraya’s Managed Services offerings go beyond keeping the lights on. They’re designed to expand upon the capabilities of existing IT resources to provide a helping hand or guidance whenever the need should arise.

Arraya’s knowledgeable, experienced and personable team can handle anything from lower-level maintenance and update duties to more strategic roll outs and implementations. Whether you need help with infrastructure, help desk, cloud deployments or beyond, Arraya’s Managed Services team stands ready to help.

To learn more about Arraya’s Managed Services or to set up an appointment with an Arraya Account Executive, please visit www.ArrayaSolutions.com.

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