The words you use when looking for IT options can make a big difference in what you find. Let’s say that you are comparing managed services vs. outsourcing. Are these terms referring to the same thing, or are there differences in what is being delivered that will impact the value you ultimately receive?
While you can’t make everyone define the terms in the same way, you can be clear about what you are looking for so that when you are choosing an IT managed IT service company, you can ask the right questions, whether it’s in a Google search or a conversation with a potential provider.
By its simplest definition, outsourcing refers to purchasing services or expertise from an outside company. The main reasons to consider outsourcing are to gain a better, faster or less expensive capability than doing the same thing internally. You can purchase outsourced IT services as ingredients for your total IT solution if that’s what you want – you can buy data storage, firewalls, backup, cloud applications and even infrastructure as a service (IaaS). What you need to have in-house is that recipe and method that will turn the ingredients into the desired end result.
If you want to be literal when defining managed services, you could say they are a form of outsourced IT. When you work with an IT managed service provider (MSP), you bring in services that you cannot or do not want to provide internally to improve or increase IT capability. An MSP will take off your hands the decisions about the ingredients that make up the whole IT solution, but that solution will still be made up of components that you could go out and outsource on your own.
The apples-to-apples difference between managed services vs. outsourcing is in the business-level IT guidance they will provide, which impacts the relationship you develop with the provider. An MSP will become your company's extension; they will share your goals and work proactively to improve your IT environment while leveraging technology to move your business forward. The only way that they can do this is if they work with you to create an IT strategy that aligns IT activity and investment with your business objectives.
Unfortunately, not all companies that call themselves MSPs offer strategic collaboration and proactive services that will make a real difference in how your business utilizes technology. If the conversation concerns them and the tools they use, that's the first clue that they probably aren't offering fully managed services.
Read: 5 Questions to Ask When Evaluating Managed IT Services