The Many Roles of the Managed Service Provider
When you think of the definition of a Managed Service Provider (MSP), what comes to mind? The debate on exactly how to define the role of a MSP has gone on for years. MSPs are mostly seen as Information Technology (IT) service providers. However, with the growing dependency between IT and business, technology itself may not always be the most important aspect of the MSP's business model.
Defining the Roles
Many businesses and IT professionals (typically Managed Information Systems or Industrial Technologist graduates) would say that MSPs rely more on technology than anything else. However, the terms Information Technology and Information Systems are so intertwined that they are often mistaken for sharing the same meaning. Recently, a certain idea piqued my interest. In theory, if I were to ask any business IT professional to list the components of an information system, I should get a similar response.
I asked multiple business IT professionals from different organizations across the country to tell me their definition of Information Services as a whole. The response that I heard most frequently consisted of People, Process, and Information Technology. Below are the common definitions of the components of an information system.
The individuals or groups directly involved in the information system. We can consider these to be the end users, employees, or managers that are receiving the service.
A specific series of ordered steps that is performed to complete an activity.
The physical hardware, software, and communications equipment used. The backbone to any
modern day information system.
As you can see, each component is a necessary aspect of the MSP business model, and is an important pillar in the services that MSPs provide. If one of these pillars is not as well developed, the other pillars are weakend. Technology is not the only component that makes up an MSP. The process followed in order to implement technology and the personal resources needed in order to do so are just as important to end users as the technology itself.
What component of the system do you believe is the most critical? How do you think the industry should define the role of the MSP?
David Lasecki is a Technical Support Engineer at Datto, Inc.
Questions? Comments? Send them to blog@dattobackup.com.
