The current trend for modern businesses of all sizes is to actively focus on what they do best, their core business, and then outsource the rest. It is the rise of the managed service; this article will look at four of the top managed services that your business must know about.
The concept was primarily related to IT services, and the term outsourced services used to describe the other elements that were needed to be brought in to efficiently run the business. It is now accepted that the managed service as a concept includes any services that can be brought into the business and will be managed by an external service provider.
Information Technology
It makes sense to start with the description of the top managed service that there is: information technology. No longer do businesses of any size have an IT department. Instead, they follow a ‘pay as you go,’ or ‘pay as you need IT’ service, which will cover the various components of the IT function and be called upon when required.
Whether it’s hardware, software, or infrastructure or all of them, securing professional IT professionals to manage, maintain and upgrade your IT and tech is a common means of having the best IT services that your business needs and that you can afford. The cloud technology that is now available has also made outsourcing the entire IT set-up a much more accessible and affordable process. Software providers specifically, as well as hardware support and infrastructure design, can be based anywhere in the world, making for a much more competitive system and making it a buyers’ market. Your business can be at the cutting edge of technology and computing power by simply having the right managed IT service on your side.
Legal/law, data protection, branding
In an age when data is the new gold, and its collection, storage and use are determined by strict laws, it has become a growing trend to have a corporate law firm on hand, able to step in as you need for services and issues that we know will arise. It is a newish trend in that we are now in an age when protecting your brand and the data that is related to your business is perhaps more paramount than even sales. Commercial and corporate litigation is a specialist field – learn more here – and as such, having the expertise available when you need it may be the difference between a successful business and one that struggles to survive. Having the ability to discuss your business and the specific business risks with legal advisors and experts is a fantastic way to ensure that they understand the business, and are able to develop a relationship, which makes it much easier to then be involved in any legal issues regarding the business.
Human Resources
Managing the recruitment process, payroll and employee/talent wellbeing is a complex process. Although there may be mobile and internet-based applications available for payroll and holiday calculations, it’s accepted that the best way to keep the talent you have and recruit the best in your sector is to leave it to the professionals. Employee benefits is a complex yet incredibly important aspect of talent retention and is the prime example of a business function that can easily be neglected by those not schooled in the psychology of human resources and staff motivation. For both financial savings and the strategic advancement of the business, outsourcing human resources will be a key decision to consider and implement.
Mergers and acquisitions
Business growth in certain sectors is all about being able to join with the competition to increase market share. There are professionals out there who specialize in this type of strategic thinking and planning to allow your business to grow. It has become a trend, especially in the tech sector, for innovative businesses to have access to professional services that will monitor, advise and implement a process of growth through mergers and acquisitions. The managed merger and acquisition service is a somewhat new one to think about as your business looks for growth in a highly competitive business environment.
Managed services have made a serious comeback in all fields and sectors. The business sector has had previous attempts at flexible specialization and efforts to specialize and focus the business on the key elements of the brand. However, the managed service has democratized this system of outsourcing and made it more flexible. Initially used just for IT, this flexibility, premised on the idea of pay as you need as service, is making for a much more precise way of conducting business. All the skills that you need to run a business are out there, on the internet and can be found easily. Thus, the best advice for growing businesses is to have done your research and to have had the discussions with those that you will need to drive the business functions that you can’t.
