In 1919, Irish poet William Butler Yeats observed, “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.”
While Yeats was talking about doom and gloom of the world in the wake of The Great War, his words ring true to the core of even the mundane day-to-day things we have, we use, and upon which we’ve come to rely. It is the nature of a great many of these things, if not all, to tend toward entropy until they break down on us or become obsolete.
In making business purchases, however, “things falling part” is something smart owners and IT managers work hard to avoid. In today’s dire economy, companies need reliable technologies that will last. These savvy leaders know that keeping their doors open means protecting their investments from losing value, becoming obsolete, or breaking. When they’re taking the proverbial car off the lot, they want to know they’re not going to be stuck with empty pockets and a leaking pile of junk a year or two down the road.
Enter the booming managed services sector.
Why is it booming? Because managed service providers have found ways to deliver the same necessary business services, such as servers, software, and phone systems, without the risk, hassle, or loss of value over time that comes with traditional solutions. By taking hardware and maintenance out of the equation, managed services become exceedingly scalable, efficient, and cost-effective solutions for just about any aspect of your business.
Companies of all sizes are heralding managed services as revolutionary for changing the way businesses approach technology and for giving new businesses an easy way to break into the market. As the service providers take on the responsibility of keeping everything up-to-date and running smoothly, businesses can operate with a smaller staff and focus on growth rather than stability.
Here’s a list of top managed services we strongly recommend you check out for your business:
Servers and data storage: Amazon Web Services
Website hosting service: Media Temple
Business productivity software: Microsoft Online Services
Online invoicing service: FreshBooks
Business phone systems: FreedomIQ Hosted VoIP PBX
You also owe it to your business to also check out VMware for virtual machines and cloud computing. While it’s not a managed service, virtualization of computer hardware accomplishes a lot of the same goals and can help your business vault to the head of the technology curve.
