100 Words on Managed Services

I had to Google “Managed Services” to understand what it is. You may be more enlightened. Because I work for a company that offers managed services as a part of their service portfolio, I thought I should figure it out.

The Wiki defines Managed Services as the practice of outsourcing the responsibility for maintaining, and anticipating, a need for a range of processes and functions in order to improve operations and cut expenses.

Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or spontaneous activity that is, or could be done, internally.

Depending on one’s appetite for on-demand outsourcing, or hiring staff, it’s an opportunity to divorce an organization from those challenges. It’s also an opportunity to point to the managed service provider and declare, “it’s his responsibility”. It shifts the burden and, depending on how you feel about control, will either suit you or not. If I had to choose, I’m not altogether sure what side I’d come down on.

Good talk.