Friday, September 17, 2010

Benefits And Advantages Of Managed Service Provider Software

To choose or not to choose has always been a dilemma since ages for mankind. The great bard had mentioned it in his classics albeit in a different fashion. Yet, the same holds true when we have to select between objects that offer similar facilities. With the information technology throwing up varieties in abundance on every conceivable issue, how to choose the best managed service provider software also has its share of selection dilemma.

The straight forward response or answer to that question no doubt would be that it is dependent on the benefits that one desires to achieve from this selection. There are however certain basic features that all MSP claims to be inherent with their product. Every MSP provides information about the network as a complete entity. They also are capable of percolating the solution to a problem of the network from one single access point. Customisable to the ever changing business process which is directly linked to the changing market scenario is also one more feature that every MSP claims. How these features are adapted to suit the business house's needs and how these features are implemented that it makes the task of network management an easier task to be performed are the factors that need to be looked into while replying the query of how to choose the best managed service. It has to be remembered that managed service is a system where a third party is maintaining and motoring a clients resources. In turn the client pays money to the Managed service provider for the service. It is therefore essential that the chosen MSP is a proactive one. Meaning, the service provider should not wait for a defect to occur for fixing it, rather be able to sense the defect before hand, indicate and initiate corrective or preventive measures. If Murphy's Law is to be accepted, then it is a well established probability factor that a breakdown of the network is inevitable even with all proactive agents at work. The MSP in such a case should be able to respond quickly to the situation and restore the network back to its normal function swiftly.

A network without the data and the application programs running on it is of no use. In case of a crash or break in the network there would be need to restore the complete system to a point where everything was clean. For this reason the MSP should have been taking regular backups which would be used during the restore process.

IT field is a volatile and ever changing field. Market changes being brought to the notice of the management as well as advising how the same could be implemented on the existing enterprise wide network is also another factor to be considered while choosing the best managed service provider. Data in the correct hands is wealth and when it lands into wrong hands is the primary reason for the company or organisation's ill health. The MSP therefore should have a robust security tier in place, sniffing and guarding the system from any malicious threats.

Last but not the least, how efficient is the service provider itself and specially if referred by other sites where the provider has implemented some MSP would be a factor in favour of selecting a particular MSP. As a check off list the ideas stated here could help to choose the best managed service provider.

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