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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between managed services and break-fix IT?
Break-fix IT is reactive — you call a provider when something breaks and pay per incident. Managed services are proactive — the provider monitors your infrastructure continuously, performs preventive maintenance, and resolves issues before they cause downtime, for a fixed monthly fee. Managed services typically reduce IT incidents by 40–60% and provide predictable IT costs vs. unpredictable break-fix expenses.
What should a managed services SLA include?
A comprehensive managed services SLA should specify: response time (time to acknowledge an incident), resolution time (time to restore service), availability guarantee (uptime percentage), escalation procedures, measurement methodology, reporting frequency, and financial remedies for SLA breaches. Watch for SLAs that measure "best effort" response without financial penalties — these provide no meaningful protection.
What is remote hands service?
Remote hands is a data center service where on-site technicians perform physical tasks on your equipment — racking and stacking servers, cabling, power cycling, media swaps, and visual inspections — without requiring you to send your own staff to the facility. Remote hands is typically billed per hour or per task, with response time SLAs ranging from 15 minutes to 4 hours depending on the service tier.
Key Terms
A company that remotely manages a customer's IT infrastructure and end-user systems, typically on a proactive basis under a subscription model.
A centralized location from which IT professionals monitor, manage, and maintain telecommunications networks and IT infrastructure.
A contract between a service provider and customer that defines the expected level of service, including uptime guarantees, response times, and remedies for service failures.
An evolution of SLAs that measures the quality of the user experience rather than just technical metrics like uptime and response time.
Buyer\'s Guide
Questions to ask when evaluating managed services solutions.
Why it matters: SLAs without financial penalties are marketing documents. Service credits of 5–10% of monthly fees for each hour of downtime beyond the SLA are the industry standard minimum.
Red flag: SLAs that offer only "best effort" commitments or service credits below 5% of monthly fees.
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