Which is better for your business, a managed IT package or an a la carte IT solution?

On the one hand, your choices are preset, but you have a comprehensive solution that your technology partner fully supports. On the other hand, you have a fully customized solution, but the system may be tougher to support or omit valuable components.

In this blog, we’ll explore managed IT packages, a la carte IT solutions, the pros and cons of each, and their costs.

What Is a Managed IT Package?

A managed IT package or managed IT bundle is a combination of IT solutions and services engineered by a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to provide a comprehensive IT solution for your business.

Managed IT Packages vs. A La Carte IT Solutions

Think of a managed IT package like a value meal, complete with the IT solutions every organization needs to manage and secure their business. MSPs create managed IT packages with best practice requirements, providing holistic peace of mind in knowing your IT environment is secure, your employees are supported, and your business reduces the risk of downtime.

Though actual included services will vary by MSP, coupled with an easy-to-understand pricing structure and Service-Level Agreement (SLA), managed IT packages can consist of:

  • Proactive maintenance like patching, system monitoring, and alerting for your servers, workstations, and network infrastructure
  • Basic security solutions such as email threat protection and anti-virus
  • Cloud-to-cloud backup for Office 365 solutions
  • Data backup and disaster recovery
  • Long-term technology strategy and planning
  • Help desk support
  • Hardware and software procurement and license management
  • Remediation services

A La Carte IT Solutions

With an a la carte IT solution, you select unique technology solutions to construct your business’s overall IT strategy and plan. An a la carte IT solution offers flexibility in building a custom solution for your business; however, without the proper guidance, a piecemealed IT solution has significant disadvantages.

A la carte IT solutions often result in gaps in coverage regarding security, important proactive maintenance, holistic system health, and monitoring. In terms of support, providing help desk services to your employees for an a la carte IT solution can be complicated since the overall system is made up of individually supported IT components. A la carte IT scenarios typically equate to less efficient support services, resulting in more downtime for your business’s IT.

As you can imagine, an inefficient, ineffective solution can be more expensive to operate in the long run. Omitting a few components from an a la carte IT solution can have dire and costly consequences, especially when considering cyberattacks, data breaches, and ongoing system support. Remember, when you choose a managed IT package, you’re working with a technology provider that supports many other successful clients using a similar strategy and structure. Your MSP knows the system and can quickly pinpoint common errors and engineer the system for long-term success.

9 Benefits of Managed IT Packages

1. Transparency

When you purchase a managed IT package, you will clearly understand the technology as well as the MSP’s responsibilities for supporting your system. With a la carte services, you have a variety of providers with different support expectations—not all support-related interactions will be cut and dry.

2. Efficiency

Managed IT packages are expertly engineered by experienced MSPs. The system’s components are compatible with your business’s IT system, and the MSP’s support team knows how the individual parts work together. You can expect less downtime and more efficient support when your organization’s IT is fully supported.

3. Personalized relationship with MSP

Your MSP has a direct interest in the success of your organization and its managed IT package. By engineering a comprehensive IT solution, there’s an agreement that the relationship is mutually beneficial for your organization and your MSP.

4. Flexibility

As your business grows, your technology grows too. Business technology needs are further complicated by how quickly hardware and software evolves. Your MSP can provide strategies and technology consulting as your managed IT needs change.

5. Easy-to-understand pricing

Managed service packages offer straightforward pricing based on the size of your organization. There are typically fewer unexpected support and repair costs, and support may even be included in the package. The price of an a la carte solution depends on the individual system components and the indirect costs of supporting and repairing the system.

6. Clear Service-Level Agreement (SLA)

An SLA defines the level of service and support your organization will receive from your MSP. Your SLA will include important information about your technology partnership with your MSP, including support priorities, client requirements, terms, conditions, and exclusions.cybersecurity

7. Can work in tandem with in-house IT

Managed IT packages come in different shapes and sizes. With the right solution, you can supplement your existing in-house IT team or free them up to work on more specialized tasks while your MSP handles regular system maintenance and help desk support.

8. Improved cybersecurity

To be effective, your organization needs multiple layers of cybersecurity coupled with active monitoring and alerting. If cybersecurity is included in your managed IT package, your MSP has dedicated resources focused on the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape. A managed IT package is a smart choice if you can’t dedicate resources in-house to concentrate specifically on cybersecurity, updates, and patching.

9. Proactive account management

Managed IT packages are comprehensive—your MSP knows how your system works inside and out. As part of your SLA, your MSP should provide regular guidance on the health of your system to ensure your system is constantly up-to-date and protected from vulnerabilities. They’ll also be able to offer advice in terms of technology upgrades.