5 Steps for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses to Successfully Leverage Managed IT Services

A White Paper
for Executive
Decision-Makers



The Top Five Steps for
Small- and Mid-Size Businesses
To Successfully Leverage
Managed Services





An independent analysis by THINKstrategies, Inc., published on behalf of mindSHIFT Technologies, Inc.

© THINKstrategies, Inc., 2006 www.thinkstrategies.com White Paper The Top Five Steps for Small- and Mid-Size Organizations to Successfully Leverage Managed Services
Table of Contents

Executive Overview...................................................................................................................................... 3
Why Managing IT Can Be a Frustrating Task for SMBs ................................................................................ 4
Defining Managed Services.......................................................................................................................... 5
Managed Services Technologies........................................................................................................... 5
Managed Services People..................................................................................................................... 6
Managed Services Processes ............................................................................................................... 6
Case Study: Rutherfoord, Inc. ...................................................................................................................... 8
Case Study: Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America......................................................... 8
Calculating the ROI of Managed Services .................................................................................................... 9
Selecting the Right MSP .............................................................................................................................10
Summary and Recommendations................................................................................................................10
About mindSHIFT Technologies, Inc. ..........................................................................................................12
About THINKstrategies, Inc.........................................................................................................................12

© THINKstrategies, Inc., 2006 www.thinkstrategies.com p.2 White Paper The Top Five Steps for Small- and Mid-Size Organizations to Successfully Leverage Managed Services
Executive Overview Even as information technology (IT) systems, software and networks become more sophisticated, they are also becoming more complicated and difficult to manage in a cost-effective fashion. And, as IT becomes more pivotal to the day-to-day operations of organizations of all sizes, it has also become imperative that organizations optimize the availability and performance of their IT in order to gain the greatest economic value from these investments. Even more importantly, it is critical that they minimize the risk of any IT failures which could adversely impact their business. This IT management challenge can be particularly daunting for small- and mid-size businesses (SMBs)—commercial and non-profit organizations of 30-400 employees—that typically lack enough in-house skills and resources to systematically manage today’s technologies and business applications. Market researcher Gartner estimates that 80% of the dollars companies spend on IT is dedicated to "keeping the lights on" and represents "dead money" which does not contribute directly to business growth. Compounding this problem is the escalating number of Internet viruses threatening to disrupt businesses that either don’t have the right security systems in place or fail to regularly update their anti-virus, spyware, malware and other security software with the proper patches. As a consequence of these growing challenges, many SMBs feel like they are not getting the return on their IT investment (ROI) they expected and are often at the mercy of their IT rather than fully leveraging it to achieve their organizational obje... [download for more]