In recent years, we’ve seen a rise in the number of organizations turning to Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to offload their IT processes and free up resources. By having a specialized team of experts handle different parts of their environments, organizations can benefit from more predictable expenses without sacrificing security, compliance, or the complications of managing and optimizing new technology. 

But in today’s business climate, that alone is not enough. We've seen the COVID-19 pandemic and remote work revolutionize IT environments, and Managed Services is adapting to keep up. As a result, new trends are emerging in Managed Services – here are some to watch in 2021. 

Organizations are turning to MSPs for cloud networking

Digital transformation used to be something organizations undertook largely on their own. Now, MSPs are being included in that journey from the beginning. Migrating to the cloud and setting up cloud networking requires advanced skillsets and experience in order to right-size and optimize. Rather than waiting until the network is up and running to bring in an MSP for maintenance and management purposes, organizations are seeing the benefit of including them during the initial planning and migration.  

For example, Vandis’ Managed Services are available in a number of Microsoft Azure Lighthouse offerings, which can help organizations move their networks to the cloud before setting up ongoing management and support. 

Improved security services

Managed security services are increasing in popularity , as they allow organizations to maintain exceptional security posture while still being able to dedicate IT resources to other priority areas. With more remote workers and constantly evolving cybersecurity threats, there’s a greater demand for advanced protection. That’s driven the rise in adopting managed security services in these areas: 

Security Incident Event Management (SIEM) as a Service - Having a security team to aggregate data from multiple technologies into a unified dashboard gives your organization a contextual picture of your current security posture. They can identify issues and initiate resolutions before they have a chance to negatively impact your environment. 

Security Operations Center (SOC) as a Service – Having a team of dedicated SOC analysts provide continuous environment monitoring and protection offers security for even the most evolved threats. A customizable alert system ensures reduced time to remediation and limits potential damage while creating new steps to prevent similar issues in the future. All of this occurs without any additional strain on your internal team, so they can focus on other strategic initiatives.  

Firewall as a Service – Providing implementation (when necessary) and continuous monitoring of your firewalls. Organizations receive comprehensive protection against threats for all incoming traffic with simplified and centralized management for better visibility.  

Managed Endpoint – With endpoints being a popular target for attacks, having eyes on your endpoints at all times is important. Managed Endpoint puts your network devices in the hands of experts who utilize the latest EDR and EPP solutions to monitor for and respond to any potential threats. 

All of these free up resources and reduce the complexity of managing network security. 

Adoption of turnkey managed network solutions to preserve IT resources and budgets

This year in particular, organizations are faced with the challenge of how to optimize their networks while being fiscally conservative and responsible in the wake of COVID-19. A turnkey managed network solution can preserve IT resources and budgets to focus on strategic objectives without compromising performance. 

Network as a Service (NaaS) allows MSPs to assume management of networking infrastructure including firewalls, switching, wireless access points, SD-WAN, and more. Everything you need for secure connectivity is supplied in one solution and managed by a dedicated team. These resources are bundled into payment options that enable financial flexibility, ranging from upfront purchases to monthly or quarterly payments for services, software, and hardware. 

Continued support of the remote workforce

Remote work isn’t going away any time soon. According to a study by the Harvard Business School, 1 in 6 employees will continue to work from home at least two days a week post-pandemic. Utilizing an MSP gives organizations more flexibility to adjust to other business changes brought about by remote work and frees up the resources needed to support those changes.  

For example, remote work creates unique cybersecurity challenges since many employees are using personal devices and internet connections. This is a great opportunity for organizations to engage with an MSP for around-the-clock cybersecurity protection no matter where team members are working from.  

Organizations need more from their MSPs

It's important to recognize that not all MSPs are the same, and they don’t offer the same experience. Organizations are learning this and are demanding more than just a menu of services.  

Vandis’ Managed Services prioritizes the organization and gives them full control of their experience, offering more than what typical MSPs provide. Here’s what sets us apart: 

Customization and Flexibility – We believe that our clients should choose what portions of their environment they want managed and choose the exact services they need – and nothing that they don’t. Our clients can make decisions on a very granular level. For example, if an organization signs on for On-Call support, they can choose how many hours they need. 

Transparency – Some MSPs keep their operations behind closed doors. We give full disclosure of the management platform so clients can see their own logs and dashboards. After all, it is their network and their data, so we want them to maintain full ownership even if we are the ones collating or analyzing the data. 

Experience – It's important to choose an MSP that handles all matters in house, without outsourcing. Otherwise, you lose the transparency and visibility that’s essential to your organization. Vandis has subject matter experts for every area of our services so we can tailor unique packages for organizations while keeping them in-house. 

Recognition – If your MSP is recommended by a major cloud provider, you know you can trust their services. Vandis is a member of prestigious programs such as the Azure Lighthouse program, as well as being a featured Professional Services provider in the AWS Marketplace. 

Stay ahead of trends with Vandis Managed Services

Managed Services is becoming an increasingly popular way for organizations to increase security, optimize their networks, and conserve resources. But not all MSPs are created equal.  

Vandis is already operating in line with these trends and working with our clients to improve their network security and performance. If you’re looking to free up resources or place your IT operations in the hands of experts, contact us to start a conversation with our Managed Services team today.