After working in the technology profession for about 15 years I started to see a pattern of the outsourcing of functions within IT and began preaching about the death of IT as we knew it. First it was bringing in outside consultants to provide expertise in specific job functions such as security, software development, etc. Companies came around to IT organizations offering to reduce overhead by providing remote desktop support services. Then we started to offload our software and infrastructure services to the cloud. Now our more inclined users can go out and get those services for themselves, and so can you. I surmised that IT organizations would have to transition to data analytics and internal consulting services in order to survive. However, there are still some pieces needed in order for you to gain access to those services.

Internet Access. While you can go and get the pipe yourself, ensuring that it is available, secure, and providing the services you require often times takes the services of a network manager or engineer. Making sure no one can penetrate your network, while allowing your users access to the services on the Internet that they need can be a fine balance.

Local Area Networking. You can buy and install many low cost solutions for your local area network, however an unmanaged network can lead to issues with call quality (for VoIP), and transaction processing (for retailers using the Internet for credit card authorization), not to mention malware, ransomware, and viruses.

Wireless. I know what you are thinking, my Internet provider gave me a connection device that routes traffic and has WiFi capabilities. Unfortunately, that device locks you in to only the capabilities that it came with. Technology changes rapidly, and with the number of wireless devices connecting at any given time you want to provide the best experience for your employees and customers. Managed mesh wireless gives you balanced access and advanced features allowing you to segment traffic between critical business functions and your free guest WiFi, providing an improved experience for all users and reducing downtime.

Power. The key to remotely managing your systems is being able to access them like you are on-site. Cloud-based management dashboards take us part of the way there, but what if the device has a configuration error or locks up and the only solution is a hard reboot? There is no power switch in the cloud, and no way to pull the power cord out of the wall. What do you do when you want to turn on your lights at home, or change your thermostat? If you can have a Smart Home, then why not a Smart Business? Manage your environmental footprint, and provide administrators the most basic of troubleshooting options, the hard reboot.

Conclusion. The promise of technology as a utility is on the horizon. Solutions are available today from managed service providers that take all of the stress of managing your IT systems off of you as a business owner, and leverage the scale of enterprise class IT professionals with cloud managed services. From your Internet access gateway, all the way down to the devices connected to your workstations, a managed service provider can keep you on the cutting edge of technology, reduce downtime, and reduce costs.