888.603.1033

Managed and Co-Managed Services

Managed Service Provider (MSP)

Allowing companies to focus on their business, not on their technology since 2017

It Takes Vision…

n The Cloud Technologies is a business process consulting and managed IT services provider. As an MSP, we handle common technology needs from high level strategies to IT support, security, disaster recovery, migration, and Teams/Teams Telephony.

We closely partner with you to let you focus on your business, not on your technology. We strive to have our goals and incentives perfectly aligned with yours, making technology simple and easy. Let us do the work, take on the responsibility. You have enough to do.

Let us deal with all the technical details. Process automation, security, uptime and reliability are the ways we manage your entire technical stack with fixed monthly rates and a 24×7 NOC.

Cost Savings and Easier Administrative Budgeting

Access to Multiple Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

Proactive Support and
Faster Response Times

Ready Coding & Resource Infrastructure

Experts focus on core
competencies/strategies.

 

 
 

What is a “Managed Service Provider”?

A Managed IT Services Provider (MSP) is used globally by all types of companies, big and small.  An MSP helps businesses improve operations by either augmenting their IT department or fully becoming their outsourced IT department.  This includes onsite IT support, remote IT help desk, infrastructure, and network maintenance, troubleshooting and so much more.  Not only will an MSP likely cut IT expenditures, but businesses that utilize an MSP will also see quickened response times, expertise in all technical areas.  They will also gain an IT partner that will guide them along the business technology journey.

24x7 Technical IT Support for Boston, Manchester and Nashua.
Microsoft Experts as Managed Service Providers, let us manage your IT Support, Security, Migration, Teams Telephony and Disaster Recovery at fixed monthly prices, per user.







Differences Between Managed and Co-Managed Providers?


·
Managed Service Description

Managed Services means that a service provider looks after pretty much all the aspects of your organization’s IT. This means that all IT, security, backup, telephony, migration and other services are handled completely by service providers like us, so your staff won’t need any training or additional duties. This is often a highly preferred option in smaller or less technical industries that can’t afford such high-level IT knowledge on a full-time basis, or for companies offloading specialty areas, like security and/or disaster recovery.


· Co-Managed Service Description

Co-managed IT, on the other hand, works with your existing in-house IT staff to fill in gaps, provide expertise, or even to cover support after-hours. Under the co-managed strategy, the service provider may primarily handle the more difficult projects that require specialist resources, or they may focus on pressing needs that the existing team needs help with, freeing them up to work on strategic projects. A co-managed outsourced IT strategy is highly customizable, affordable and works directly with your existing team. 

 

 

 

Managed Services, Managed Services for Small to Medium BusinessesPricing Models Vary for Managed and Co-Managed Services
How it Works and What to Expect

When it comes to MSPs and pricing models, there’s a solution for every customer.  It’s up to each individual provider to understand what they are offering, identify their likely customer prospects and then price accordingly.  From a very limited monitoring only offering, to an all you can eat approach, good Managed Services Providers realize that not all companies are the same and provide options that could prove the best fit.  In The Cloud Technologies caters to customers that provision multiple devices for each employee and offer a fixed monthly rate, based on per-user pricing. 

From a Provider perspective it’s pretty rare for us to find a company that has no IT resources in place, and it’s much more common to find an existing employee managing those efforts.  Sometimes a business already has someone in place, or even more than one person internally that perform some of the IT department roles, but they are not able to perform all of them. This could be due to them not having the time, or perhaps it’s that they do not have the skills. After all, that is a LOT of skills and they do change quickly and frequently. A business of this nature can initiate a co-managed IT support arrangement with a managed IT services provider, and in this scenario, the managed IT service company’s role is to support the internal staff and the IT department better.

Managed Services, Managed Services for Small to Medium Businesses
Co-managed IT support is where the managed IT services firm fills roles that are not filled internally, they support the internal staff to get all work complete and be able to provide full metrics to management. In this scenario, we are tasked to identify gaps, and to “augment” or supplement these needs with our own expertise.

In some cases, the managed IT services firm may support all the network and security work while the internal staff handles all the computer systems and user support. In other businesses, the managed IT services firm may simply provide help desk user support while all other tasks are addressed internally including business phone systems and small business cloud services. It can be any combination of tasks distributed in ways that make sense for the business.

Whether managed or co-managed, outsourced IT support can be highly beneficial to all businesses and organizations. These services make IT systems and processes more effective, allowing your operations to run more efficiently and securely, and often reducing costs at the same time.  If you need more help on these issues or anything else, we would love to talk to you and explain the many benefits that come from managed and co-managed services.  Feel free to call us at 888-603-1033.

 

 

Benefits, Reasoning and ROI with Managed Services

Microsoft Experts as Managed Service Providers, let us manage your IT Support, Security, Migration, Teams Telephony and Disaster Recovery at fixed monthly prices, per user.


A cost of having an in-house IT team (in this example) comes roughly to around $75,000 a year, but when using an MSP for your IT services, you can expect to find pricing similar to what we charge, in this example being just $18,000!  That is just under a $50,000 savings for arguably better service from expert sources.  This cost savings accompanies all the other benefits we’ve mentioned like highly skilled experts, up-to-date technology, advanced security, continuous monitoring and support, and even the  ability to scale up or down, which controls fluctuations in ROI.  In The Cloud Technologies delivers all-inclusive services at fixed monthly rates, so IT costs are predictable each month, allowing you to plan for future improvements.  We fundamentally provide cost savings and increased ROI, a reason why many companies have already chosen us as their solution for IT Support Services.

Understanding the Three Different Tiers of MSP Competence (Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3)

Tier I / Level 1 – Tier I or Level 1, is the first support level accountable for basic issues. It is also known as first-line support, level 1 support, support line 1 and others to denote basic support function. The job of a Tier 1 support is to gather the customer’s data and to determine the issue. This is done by examining the symptoms and finding out the fundamental problem.

Tier II / Level 2 – Tier II or Level 2, is in-detail technical support level. It costs more as the technicians are experienced and well-informed on a particular product. It is also known as administrative level support, level 2 support and many other titles. These titles signify advanced methodological troubleshooting and investigation methods. Technicians in this level are accountable for assisting Tier 1 personnel to resolve any technical problem. They examine raised issues by confirming the rationality of the problem. They also look for known solutions related to these complex issues. However, it is vital to a support executive to understand the accomplished tasks by the Tier 1 technician before beginning the troubleshooting progression.

The Tier 2 technician needs to know how long the Tier 1 technician has been occupied with the particular problem of a customer. This is a main component in fulfilling both the business and customer needs. This permits the specialist to rank the troubleshooting tasks and properly manage the allocated time.

Managed Services, Managed Services for Small to Medium BusinessesIn The Cloud Tech Offers Full, Tier 3 Level Services that Include:

  • IT Policies and Program Creation
  • Scoping / Evaluation Potential IT Solutions
  • Discovery and Road-mapping for Solution Implementation
  • IT operations, Network, and Security Performance Monitoring
  • Help desk Support and Ticketing System
  • Network and Application Monitoring/Management
  • E-mail, Archiving and Data Storage
  • Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
  • Software Installation, Updating, and Patching
  • Configuration Management and Optimization
  • IT Security for Networks, Desktop and Mobile Use
  • Automated Backup and Cloud Storage Integration
  • Migration and Professional Services


What Hiring a Tier 3 MSP Brings that Traditional Tier 1 and Tier 2 MSPs Do Not

Professional Services

Not every MSP offers or can handle Tier 3 level work.  In fact, it’s quite rare that an MSP can employee all the talent to handle any scenario that comes up.  We know this because we commonly work with Tier 1 and Tier 2 MSPs and IT groups to handle projects outside their expertise.  Imagine the benefits of having your MSP also be able to do most anything you need. Tier III or Level 3, is the uppermost level of support in a technical support model accountable for resolving the most difficult problems. It is also known as back-end support, level 3 support, high-end support and many other titles. The title denotes expert level support for troubleshooting. These technicians are specialists in their areas and are accountable for assisting both Tier 1 and Tier 2 personnel. They are also responsible for research and development of resolutions to unknown issues. Tier 3 specialists have the same duty as Tier II specialists in understanding the work order. They also assess the period already consumed with the customer to prioritize the work. They ensure that time is utilized sufficiently.

Managed Services, Managed Services for Small to Medium Businesses24×7 Proactive Management

Our fully staffed, remote help desk, service team and ticket system are all here to manage your IT systems with perpetual monitoring, asset management, scheduled security scans, automated patch deployment, website and database care, server health assessments, and much, much more.  If it’s important to you, then it’s important to us.  Our trained Subject Matter Experts are all Tier 3 proficient, with years, if not decades of experience in all platforms and aspects of technology.  Through our automated alert system, we know of issues within seconds of happening.   This allows us to provide immediate attention to any situation, as our distributed workforce currently spans across multiple time-zones and countries, leaving us fully staffed at any time of day.

Live Help

It seems like most IT companies go out of their way to avoid live interactions, preferring you to leave a message or wait and navigate an automated phone message that never seems to get you to the right person.  We don’t do that, as we actually answer the phone!  I know, crazy right? No!  It’s not. 

In our thinking, it’s just respectful.  It’s not uncommon for our President or COO to answer the phone, because we always enjoy talking to our clients and hearing the successes and failures that they commonly face every day. Chances are, if something affects one company, then it’s bound to affect another.  It’s this methodology that keeps us learning, and what provides such amazing value to our clients.  To us, it is very important to us that your call is answered by a human in our office and directed to the appropriate resource to resolve your issue. Optionally, support cases submitted online receive the same priority handling as phone calls and streamline your workflow.

Flexible Service Programs

From our unlimited, all-inclusive perspective, 100% of your on-demand support and comprehensive managed services components are delivered at a fixed monthly cost, where customized programs are built to suit your requirements. We have the flexibility to meet your unique technology needs.  Better yet, used in combination with our Professional Services department, In the Cloud Tech can handle every aspect of a company’s technology needs, which is fairly uncommon in the industry. 

Cloud eBook whitepaper - Top 10 Benefits of Unified Communications as a Service, register to download.

eBook: Predicting Unified Collaboration and Communication as an MSP

Throughout the pandemic era of 2020, communication and collaboration applications saw unparalleled growth as companies rushed to provide for remote workers. This unified communications eBook was developed to address these very issues and includes hybrid workplace changes. As these developmental stages took place, the timing coincided with the already growing acceptance and use of the cloud.  Notions of Unified Communications (UC), especially VoIP and traditional telephony, began to be examined regarding efficiency, usefulness, and providing the same user experience across multiple channels.

We examine this developing trend of porting communications and user functions to the cloud and ask will it as a service become the standard for years to come? Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS – Download here) is picking up speed and seeing great returns on investment, especially when combined with support and other service stack offerings.   This eBook begins by examining the current state of technology for remote/hybrid workers.