9 Types of IT Services You Should Know
From law firms to lunch bars, manufacturing to financial institutions, every business relies on IT to stay connected. But what types of IT services does your Practice or business need? There’s much more to IT services and IT support than troubleshooting internet outages.
As an owner, Partner, Practice Manager or Internal IT Manager being familiar with the type of computer support you need to achieve the best business outcomes helps you select the right IT Provider and get the most value from your IT spend.
IT services you should be familiar with
1. On-demand IT
On-demand IT gives you the flexibility to pay for IT services as and when they are required. On-demand support is also referred to as ad-hoc, or ‘break and fix’ support. A purely reactive service, you only pay for support that you request as you need it, and you retain full responsibility for managing your IT risks.
The ideal time to have on-demand IT support is when you have invested in new devices and infrastructure, such as servers, firewalls and data backup systems. With new equipment covered by manufacturer warranties you have less risk of issues occurring that cause bill shock. However unmanaged, ageing network systems and unmonitored devices are highly vulnerable to cyber-risks and catastrophic failures, such as server failure or data theft, which require significant investments of support time and your money to fix.
2. Managed services
Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are responsible for managing both the maintenance and improvement of your IT systems for a fixed monthly fee. A good MSP is essentially your outsourced IT team. Depending on your organisation’s size and complexity, managed support services include:
- Cyber Security;
- Communications (on premises and virtual);
- Internet connectivity
- Managing third party relationships
- Purchasing or renting IT equipment
- Automated, monitored device updates
- Network monitoring and testing
- Onsite and remote support
- On-premises and cloud-based data storage and backup
- Managing on-premises and virtual servers
- Strategic planning
Charged at a fixed monthly rate, managed IT services work on a different business model to on-demand support. By engaging an outsourced IT team, you are transferring the complexity and risks of managing your IT to them. An example of proactive MSP support is having RMM (remote monitoring and management) agents installed across your devices and infrastructure for 24-hour monitoring and automated updates that maintain your cyber security and productivity.
High-level Melbourne managed service providers like itro proactively manage the risks and headaches of IT for Legal Firms, Financial Institutions and SMBs for a fixed monthly cost.
3. Hardware support
IT service providers manage all hardware in circulation at your company. That could mean anything from negotiating leasing terms for hundreds of computers and mobile phones or keeping front-of-house equipped with the latest telecom systems. And, of course, IT support is there to fix device faults or breakdowns.
4. Software support
Basic software support involves maintaining licences and installing software patches from developers. More capable MSPs will play a role in streamlining licence costs, upgrading software, installing scalable solutions and managing security and connectivity of your software solutions.
5. Cloud computing
More than 50% of Australian businesses subscribe to cloud computing for their infrastructure and software solutions, and host their data. In specialist fields such as Legal and Financial Institutions, good IT support involves managing the complexity of your cloud-based practice management software, ensuring your industry compliance regulations are met and maintaining the integrity of your sensitive data, on premises and in the cloud. The right IT service provider proactively helps you get the most value and flexibility from your cloud subscriptions, such as Microsoft 365 and Practice Management Software, keeps your data secure, accessible, easily transferrable and backed up on an affordable cloud storage platform.
6. Communications
Communications covers a range of hardware, software and network services, including:
- VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) where calls are made over the internet using virtual handsets instead of a physical desk phone and line
- Videoconferencing suites
- Communication software like Microsoft Teams or Zoom
- Chatbots and AI to interface with customers
With more people working from home, remotely and using BYO devices, IT communications solutions and procedural policies are crucial to maintaining your business productivity and security.
7. Network management
Network infrastructure includes all the visible cables and wires around the workplace, and many you can’t see: internet, Wi-Fi networks, servers, printers, plus the firewalls, remote support and two-factor authentication for network security. Our main goal as Melbourne IT infrastructure experts is to keep your business stable, secure and productive.
8. Help desk
Help desk services is your team’s lifeline when facing IT issues that impact their productivity and ability to work from any location. Outsourcing help desk to an overseas remote support provider can cut costs. However, partnering with a Melbourne IT company means your outsourced IT team is local and answerable to the same Australian laws as you. Also local specialists have no time or travel impediments when you need immediate on-site support to fix mission-critical outages.
It’s a good idea to check the range and accessibility of Help Desk Support offered by an IT Provider. Qualify what is defined as ‘support’ by an MSP, their SLAs (service level agreements), and avenues they offer your team to request help. Standard help desk includes phone and email support, with high-level Melbourne managed service providers like itro also providing dedicated Customer Service portals.
9. Cybersecurity
Every successful cybercrime attack costs small businesses on average $9,000. For medium-sized companies, that figure leaps to $33,400. The role of IT service partners in cybersecurity is to proactively install and manage firewalls, anti-malware software, multi-factor authentication across your cloud and on-premises accounts and apps, security patches and network security upgrades. Every business is at risk of cybercrime: it’s our job to keep you protected.
Get the best IT support in Melbourne
itro is a Melbourne-based Managed Services Provider that has been proactively managing the risks and headaches of IT for Legal Firms, Financial Institutions and SMBs since 1999.
We give business owners, Partners, Practice Managers and CTO/IT Managers the security of knowing our all-inclusive, fixed price Support Plans give them the best value and cyber security for their IT spend.
We have been built from the ground up as customer-service centric. Knowing you and your team is happy with our support is what motivates us to come to work! Our comprehensive IT services cover everything from on-site IT support to procurement, software installation to backup and disaster recovery, and more.
In conclusion, we are specialists at what we do and we care about delivering the right outcomes to you. Please see what our small business IT support plans include then get in touch to discuss how will can manage your IT requirements.