For years, managed service providers helped businesses manage technology that largely lived inside an IT closet or server room. Servers, storage, network equipment and applications were installed onsite, and an MSP could monitor, maintain and periodically replace that infrastructure.
Today, that picture looks very different.
Your business may still operate servers and network infrastructure onsite, but it is not uncommon for employees to rely on Microsoft 365 and other SaaS applications. The workloads that ran on aged servers may now run in Microsoft Azure or perhaps are hosted by an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) private datacenter operator.
While it was not your intention to create a hybrid IT environment. When the line-of-business application moved to SaaS, or a server replacement created an opportunity to migrate that workload to the cloud. Over time, the business infrastructure that once existed within your building has become distributed across multiple providers and platforms.
That raises an important question when evaluating managed IT services:
Does an MSP approach still provide value when much of the infrastructure is no longer in your building?
It can, but the role of your MSP needs to evolve with the environment. Managing hybrid IT isn’t about managing technology in multiple locations. Instead, it’s about managing dependencies between those technologies, providers and services.
If you’re comparing MSPs for a hybrid environment, here are (5) areas to evaluate.
Saying an MSP “supports the cloud” doesn’t tell you much.
A hybrid environment can include onsite infrastructure, Microsoft Azure, private cloud or IaaS workloads, and SaaS applications. Each requires a different management approach.
Azure workloads, for example, the MSP needs to manage configuration, performance, consumption, costs and employee access while understanding where Microsoft’s responsibilities end and yours begin.
With an IaaS provider, there are additional operational questions. Who is responsible for each layer of the environment? How does the MSP engage the datacenter operator when there is an issue? What happens if the operator experiences an outage?
SaaS creates another variation. Most software vendors will include help desk for the contracted application, but your MSP will still play an important role. If employees cannot access a critical SaaS application, someone needs to determine whether the problem is the application, identity, the endpoint, your network or Internet connectivity. If the SaaS provider needs to become involved, who coordinates that escalation?
Questions to ask an MSP:
The objective isn’t to find an MSP that controls every component. It’s to find one that understands the dependencies across the environment and can establish clear accountability when something goes wrong.
While technology may have moved out of the building, your employees still need support.
Password resets, application access, connectivity problems, printing issues and other everyday technology challenges don’t disappear because workloads have moved to the cloud. When comparing MSPs, look beyond whether a help desk is included. Understand how the support experience actually works.
Who answers when an employee needs assistance? What are the normal support hours? How are requests submitted? What response should employees expect? And what happens when a problem requires expertise beyond the MSP’s help desk?
The depth behind the help desk matters as well. Hybrid environments can quickly turn an apparently simple support request into a problem involving identity, networking, cloud services and third-party applications.
Questions to ask an MSP:
The answers help you compare whether support is available when you expect and whether the MSP’s model best aligns with the expectations of your employees.
A help desk’s normal operating hours tell only part of the support story.
What happens if your Internet connection fails late in the evening? What if a critical system becomes unavailable over the weekend? Some problems simply cannot wait until the next business day.
This is where 24×7 emergency response becomes an important consideration.
Be careful with the terminology, however. “24×7” can mean very different things among managed service providers. It might describe a help desk staffed around the clock, automated monitoring, a Network Operations Center (NOC), or access to an on-call technical resource for business-critical emergencies.
Those are very different services.
Questions to ask an MSP:
The important comparison isn’t simply whether “24×7” appears on an MSP’s website or proposal. Make sure you understand exactly what happens when you need help at 11:00 p.m.
Most established MSPs deliver managed IT services through a defined service catalog. Standardization helps make support consistent and predictable, but no two managed-services programs are exactly alike.
That’s why evaluating program fit matters.
Consider where your employees and facilities are located. If infrastructure fails and someone needs to physically be onsite, can the MSP dispatch a technician? Or is its service model primarily remote?
Look at the range of expertise available within the organization. Does the MSP have resources across networking, infrastructure, cloud and other technologies your business depends on, or will multiple providers need to become involved?
You should also understand what’s included in the managed-services agreement, what’s outside its scope, and how those boundaries align with your internal resources.
An organization with an experienced IT manager may need an MSP to supplement its internal capabilities. Another business may depend upon the MSP to function as its primary IT department. The same program does not necessarily align or fit for both.
Questions to ask an MSP:
Program fit isn’t about finding an MSP with the longest list of services. It’s about determining whether the people, processes and delivery model align with the way your organization consumes IT to operate.
As infrastructure becomes more distributed, cybersecurity needs to follow it.
Employees may access SaaS applications from laptops outside the office. Business data may reside in Microsoft 365, Azure, a private datacenter and several third-party applications. Identities and credentials can provide access to resources that no longer sit behind the traditional network perimeter.
An MSP’s cybersecurity approach needs to extend across the hybrid environment.
That can include endpoint protection, multifactor authentication, email and DNS security, identity and access management, security awareness and controls protecting both cloud and onsite resources. Just as important, the individual technologies should be part of a coordinated security strategy.
Ask how the MSP evaluates security maturity and whether it uses an established cybersecurity framework to guide recommendations. Also understand how responsibilities are divided among the MSP, cloud and SaaS providers, and your organization.
Questions to ask an MSP:
The goal isn’t simply to add more security products. It’s to identify and then reduce the gaps that can emerge when users, applications and data are distributed across multiple environments.
Hybrid IT Changes What You Should Expect From an MSP
Moving your workloads to the cloud doesn’t necessarily mean there is less IT to manage.
There may be fewer servers sitting in your building, but there can also be more platforms, providers, identities, contracts and dependencies that need to work together. Managing an increasingly complex environment requires a different mindset than simply maintaining traditional onsite infrastructure.
That’s why choosing an MSP for a hybrid environment should go beyond comparing product lists or monthly fees.
Look at how the provider manages across cloud and onsite environments. Understand its help desk and emergency-response models. Evaluate whether its managed-services program fits your organization. And determine whether its cybersecurity strategy extends across the entire environment.
The infrastructure may no longer all live in your building. Responsibility for making it work together still must live somewhere.
What Would Managed IT Services Cost for Your Business?
Once you’ve identified what you need from an MSP, the next question is often cost. Continue reading about how MSPs can save your organization under our content library. Then use our interactive Managed IT Services Calculator to explore the factors that influence your potential investment and build an estimate based on your organization.
