Break Fix Versus Managed IT Services

 

As a Managed Service Provider, the obvious answer is that managed services are better. But are they better?

We have both MSP & Time & Materials clients.

We believe that our clients should be able to choose the method of IT support that they are comfortable

with.

It's not our business model to force our clients into year long engagements unless they make that choice.

And the reason they make that choice is because there is a level of insurance achieved with our MSP

contracts.

What's the difference between the 1990's & today that changes the break fix model?

With current technology, we can proactively automate the management, maintenance, &

monitoring of our clients' environments for our break fix or Time & Materials clientele.

Ninja Remote Monitoring & Management

Ninja monitors all of our clients' endpoints - physical & virtual servers, workstations & laptops -

which creates custom alerts based on the systems' health & performance. In other words,

if a hard drive on your server fails, we receive automated email alerts of the failure from Ninja.

We use Dell IDRAC Enterprise Card to remotely gain access to the server, verify the failure, & contact

Dell for the part under warranty. We always tell the client, in advance, of our actions. And our clients'

servers are always under warranty so a part can be replaced with Dell.

Veeam Backup Software

Back in the day, if your backup was not successful, we were not aware of the failure until the next

onsite visit which, in some cases, was months. Today, with Veeam software, we provide a local & Cloud

backup that is air gapped & immutable. If the backup is not successful, we are immediately notified,

& that day, we fix the issue. Still break fix but with proactive IT support.

Barracuda Software Advanced Email Security MSP for MS Exchange & M365

Barracuda proactively secures our clients' Exchange and M365 environments & sends quarantine emails

for suspected problems. Very little is done on our end with this solution. This software provides

advanced threat detection, spam filtering, robust encryption, & secures email gateways.

We provide our clients the best defense against cyber threats, guaranteeing the safety & confidentiality

of their valuable data.

Barracuda Email Complete Protection

In addition to providing email security for M365, it also includes an automated Cloud backup service

for M365, Sharepoint & One drive. The software provides proactive IT support.

Sentinel One Endpoint Protection

This solution is next generation. I literally geeked out at a sales presentation to our client.

We closed it btw. This solution uses AI to monitor your network 24/7/365 - to determine normal activity

within your network. If abnormal activity is detected, that device is immediately quarantined &

isolated from the network.

Their 24/7/365 Security Operations Center is notified of the quarantine & immediately determines

whether it is a false positive or the threat is real. If real, they kill the threat. In the meantime,

we are emailed of the threat management & progress made. 4 to 5 emails are sent from their SOC.

If our involvement during the threat remediation is required, they walk us through what needs to

happen on our side.

These are just some of the ways that we proactively manage & maintain, protect & secure all of our

clients' network environment & data. This is part of our cookie cutter approach to technolgoy that

we have for all of our clients, regardless of size & type of contract. We value all of our clients & provide

the same automated, proactive solutions to them regardless of size or contract type.