A managed IT department keeps the wheels moving for a business’ technology. Communication and collaboration tools, hardware, software, security, and much more are handled by a managed IT department. They’re the mechanics that maintain the car that is your business, keeping it on the road and avoiding costly trips to the garage - i.e. downtime.
Downtime is expensive in both dollars and reputation. Customers are less likely to return to a service after a significant amount of downtime. Not only that, downtime is usually an avoidable expense when the right IT systems and support is deployed.
The average cost of downtime for businesses is $5,600 a minute.
Watch this video to learn more about the functions of an IT department, all the tasks that fall under the umbrella of managed IT, and the value of a high-performing network.
Learn how modern tech stacks can elevate your operations in Impact’s webinar, Evolving Your Business: A Report on Tech Stacks.
The Main Functions of a Managed IT Department
A managed IT department’s core functions are divided up into three main categories:
- Governance: Implementing operational parameters for the use of IT systems. These are the ground rules for how employees can use company technology. This prevents unauthorized or unnecessary access to internal systems and sensitive information. It also limits the volume of active security vulnerabilities in your systems.
- Infrastructure: All the equipment (computers, servers, IoT devices, wires, circuitry, etc.) needed to keep a business running is established, managed, and maintained by IT.
- Functionality: Creating and managing operational applications, storing data, and assisting employees with the use of software throughout the organization. In other words, functionality is helping your staff when they forget their computer passwords.
A Managed IT Department’s Responsibilities Within a Company
Smaller responsibilities of an IT department might fall into one of these larger categories, but it’s important to note that IT performs many critical tasks across an organization.
Here’s a look at some of these additional IT department responsibilities and how they fit into the larger picture overall:
Network Management
A managed IT department implements and operates computer systems within an organization. For large companies, this can mean entire teams dedicated to evaluating and managing the software and hardware necessary to keep the network online and functioning at a high level.
Network speed is vital for efficient workflows, processes, and operations – but its value doesn’t stop there. Network speed and load-time plays a critical role in user experience.
“Loading speed plays a crucial role in determining the overall user experience (UX) of a website or application. Users have come to expect instant access to information and fast-paced interactions, and the time it takes for a website or application to load has become a significant factor in determining its success.”
Because users expect an instantaneous and smooth online experience when they visit your site, you want to be sure that they don’t leave frustrated and disinterested because of lag-times, slow loading, or a clunky interface.
“Hogan provides the benchmark of 2 seconds as an optimal load time. She goes on to state that after 3 seconds, up to 40% of users will leave your site.”
Organization-Wide Communication
Communication is a major key in business and especially in the modern technological world. While communication used to be limited to letters, phone calls, emails, and faxes, it now takes on many more forms, such as comments in online documents or spreadsheets.
Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), for example, is a software solution that brings a wide spectrum of communication tools and mediums into a single platform. These solutions combine things like instant messaging, file sharing, video conferencing, and remote collaboration tools to help streamline internal communication and enhance teamwork.
By investing in a managed IT department, you are committing to a reliable communication strategy that enables your organization to operate efficiently.
IT department functions that fall under communication can be wide-ranging and include:
- AV tasks like setting up for conferences, webinars, presentations, and other events.
- Maintaining safe and effective email systems, instant messaging applications, phone and video calling platforms, and other devices on the network.
- Establishing your cloud environment
- Manage collaboration tools for data sharing and remote project collaboration.
Technical Support
The classic depiction of an IT department is technical support for employees. Whenever people need help with their hardware, software, passwords, access, or anything else, IT is called upon to fix problems and get the ball rolling again.
Technical support goes beyond helping people make sure their computers are working, though. Below are just some examples of the wide spectrum of support that a managed IT department provides:
- Hardware repairs
- Equipment orders
- Software patches and updates
- Employee training on new technology
- Troubleshooting hardware and software
- Setting up new technology
- Behind-the-scenes equipment and device management
Wrapping Up on Managed IT
A managed IT team works to support and enhance your strategies revolving around technology. By establishing a strategic partnership with a managed IT provider, your organization gets the benefit of a comprehensive and dedicated IT team, without needing to recruit, hire, and retain talent in-house.
On top of this, managed IT providers like Impact build client-centric contracts that operate on a predictably priced model rather than a break-fix model, which saves you money over time.
By working with a managed IT team, you can rest assured that your tech stack is as streamlined, updated, and interconnected as possible.
Learn about the modern technological landscape and how your business can stay up to date in Impact’s webinar, Evolving Your Business: A Report on Tech Stacks.
