Managed service provider is the process of outsourcing the task of anticipating demand for, maintaining, and taking care of a number of functions and processes in order to enhance overall organizational performance and cut costs. A managed service provider typically deploys an internal or external service team to take care of most IT functions. The advantages of using this service model are the simplified administration and management procedures, as well as the cost savings that accrue from the elimination of various departmental personnel. But even the best managed services providers face a number of challenges, as detailed in the Managed Exchange Server Guide.
Installing Exchange and other Microsoft enterprise solutions involves a number of steps:
* Licensing – One of the key components of managed service providers involves licensing. Microsoft offers several options for IT administrators who want to offer hosted Exchange and other solutions. Existing administrators may also opt to upgrade to a newer version of Exchange. To comply with licensing requirements, an administrator must be knowledgeable about the format, scope, and licensing restrictions of each specific solution. In addition, experts can provide the best options for upgrading infrastructure, as well as providing advice on the best licensing options for the organization. For Exchange Server Support click here.
* Efficient Infrastructure – Running and maintaining a small business enterprise requires a highly optimized infrastructure. This includes network infrastructure, server infrastructure, backup infrastructure, testing infrastructure, and the like. To meet this demand, many IT administrators hire third-party companies to develop and maintain their own private or shared servers and storage systems. However, in some cases, these professionals may lack experience or expertise in deploying and managing Exchange servers. As many users of Exchange are corporate customers of large companies, small businesses may face difficulties in hiring the expertise necessary to properly utilize Exchange.
* Functional expertise – The ability to deploy and use Exchange is dependent on the technical expertise of the managed service provider. When a business decides to purchase Exchange, they should ensure that the provider has extensive experience with Exchange and other virtualization technologies. A managed service provider should be able to demonstrate examples of recent customer success. A good example of such proof is when a third-party company deploys Exchange and sees significant increase in profits.
Functional expertise
An experienced technician is critical to the success of any deployment and the management of a complex IT infrastructure. The ability to follow msp and ssl level agreements is also a key factor. For example, an administrator should be able to successfully handle issues with passwords, authorization, or other security considerations. An experienced technician should also be able to update the Exchange server with the latest security patches and upgrades.
* Compliance requirements – A large number of companies have compliance requirements in place, including those from government agencies. In-house employees may not have the knowledge or expertise required to comply with Exchange and other virtualization requirements. Some managed service providers offer virtualization solutions built into their managed services plans, which can significantly reduce the cost of implementation.
Good human resources
The ability to recruit and retain talent is critical to the success of any business. An experienced technician can greatly enhance the quality of human resources. Furthermore, the right in-house staff can help a company reduce their staffing costs while freeing up valuable internal staff to work on cloud computing and other strategic initiatives. Many cloud service providers also have highly trained human resources professionals available to help with the deployment and management of data.
* Extensive cloud network experience – A third-party managed service provider can bring extensive cloud network expertise. They can leverage their prior experience in deploying and managing various technologies and applications, while minimizing the time required to train their own staff. A good technician should be familiar with the major networking technologies and appliances. Additionally, they should have considerable experience configuring and maintaining VPNs and other out-of-the-box infrastructure-based solutions.
* Ensured security and compliance – A managed service provider should employ rigorous security practices, including ensuring that all authorized users have access authorization and that they are granted permission to enter the internal networks. They should also take special measures to ensure that only authorized employees have access to the most sensitive data and that there is strict adherence to data security guidelines such as encrypting data at rest and transmitting it securely over the internet. In addition, an msps has the expertise to monitor the health of the organization’s cloud services so that security threats do not emerge early and unnecessarily. This can be done by regularly monitoring the health of the APIs and determining when there are problems such as security vulnerabilities, improper authentication or data loss.
These are just a few of the benefits of choosing a managed service provider (MSP) to manage your cloud services.
- A cloud-based architecture makes them a great choice because the costs are lower. However, it doesn’t mean that there are no costs associated with using an authentic Microsoft SQL Server in order to build and manage your cloud services architecture.
- Your expert management team will also need to make sure that you are notifying appropriate parties when changes are made to the MS SQL server database.
- Only by employing these best practices will your company be able to effectively manage its MS SQL Server environments.