Process Matters: Don’t Abandon Your Critical Infrastructure!
For many IT organizations, balancing daily operations with critical project work can feel like a juggling act. Too often, projects aimed at advancing business objectives are delayed or put aside because the IT team is bogged down with day-to-day operations like maintaining servers, managing networks, and addressing user issues.
As businesses grow and technology becomes increasingly complex, more organizations are considering managed services to offload these operational burdens. However, choosing the right managed services provider is not always straightforward. This white paper aims to reveal the essential processes and controls that a reliable managed services provider should demonstrate mastery over. With the right provider, you can free your internal IT team to focus on driving the business forward, while ensuring your critical infrastructure remains stable and secure.
Why Operations and Projects Conflict
In any IT department, work can generally be divided into two categories: operations and projects. Operations involve running and maintaining the IT systems that are already in place, such as monitoring servers, applying patches, and troubleshooting network issues. On the other hand, projects are initiatives that help the business grow or adapt to changing market conditions, such as implementing new software or expanding digital services.
The problem is that operations can often take up a significant amount of an IT team’s time. According to some estimates, up to 70% of an IT budget is dedicated to operations, leaving little time or resources for projects. When operations demand most of the attention, projects get delayed, and the business can’t innovate or respond to new opportunities as quickly as it needs to.
The Promise of Managed Services
This is where managed services can make a real difference. By outsourcing routine operational tasks to a trusted provider, your internal IT team can focus on high-priority projects that align with your business goals. However, not all managed service providers (MSPs) are created equal, and many fall short of delivering the value they promise.
To make sure you choose the right provider, it’s important to understand the processes and controls that drive high-performance IT operations. These include preventive, detective, and corrective controls, which together ensure your systems run smoothly and can recover quickly from any incidents.
Preventive Controls
Preventive controls are designed to stop issues before they happen. A good MSP will have processes in place to regularly maintain your systems and ensure they are running optimally. For example, they should offer a comprehensive patch management service, where they routinely apply security patches and updates to all systems.
Change management is another critical preventive control. Since human error is one of the leading causes of IT outages, a provider must have a formal change management process to ensure that changes to your environment are tested, reviewed, and approved before they are implemented.
Detective Controls
Even with the best preventive controls in place, things can still go wrong. That’s why detective controls are essential. These are processes that monitor your systems for signs of trouble. For instance, your MSP should have real-time monitoring tools that can detect when a server is under strain or if there’s unusual activity on the network.
A good MSP will have the ability to detect unauthorized changes to your environment, which can help identify and resolve security breaches quickly. They should also monitor system performance closely and provide regular reports that detail any issues or potential risks.
Corrective Controls
When an issue does occur, the MSP’s corrective controls come into play. Corrective controls are processes that aim to fix issues quickly and minimize the impact on your business. This could involve everything from restoring data after a hardware failure to deploying additional resources to address a sudden spike in traffic.
An effective MSP will not only fix issues but will also perform a root cause analysis to ensure the problem doesn’t happen again. They should document every incident, analyze the cause, and use that information to prevent future issues.
The Importance of a Process-Driven MSP
What separates a mediocre MSP from a great one is their approach to processes. High-performing MSPs have well-defined processes for every aspect of IT management. These processes ensure consistency, reduce downtime, and provide accountability.
For example, a high-performing MSP will have processes in place for end-of-shift audits. This means that when one team finishes their shift, they must hand over the data center in the exact condition it was in when they started. Any changes must be documented, and any issues must be reported. This level of rigor ensures that nothing falls through the cracks.
Conclusion
Choosing a managed service provider is not just about finding someone to take over your IT operations. It’s about finding a partner who can help your business grow by allowing your internal IT team to focus on strategic projects while ensuring that your critical infrastructure is managed effectively.
By understanding the preventive, detective, and corrective controls that drive high-performance IT operations, you can select an MSP that will deliver real value to your business. With the right provider, you can rest easy knowing that your infrastructure is in good hands, and your business can continue to innovate and grow.