Shared Services vs. Managed Services: What Suits Your Business the Best?

Every company needs a robust system of support to assist its success. Whether you manage a vast IT firm or a small independent business, assembling a solid team of qualified experts to support your organization may help it reach new heights. Shared services and managed services are two of the most prevalent services available. Each choice has a distinct purpose that can help your company achieve its objectives.

When deciding between shared and managed services, examining your individual needs and goals is critical. The more detailed your business plan, the more equipped you’ll be to make the best decision for your firm. You must first comprehend the significant distinctions between shared and managed services before choosing between the two types of businesses. Here are the essential details regarding each sort of service.

What are Shared Services?

Shared services is a business strategy that enables organizations to leverage their most-used capabilities across many departments. This is often accomplished by recognizing and noting the most frequently utilized and vital services. These services are then resourced and funded, and they are separated into needs for each specific department. 

In essence, shared services result in establishment of internal service provider divisions. They assist in ‘sharing’ resources with the rest of the firm. These internal service providers are accountable for meeting KPIs, controlling costs, and providing high-quality services.

The objective of shared services is primarily to deliver high-quality, non-core, yet mission-critical operations to the corporation at a lesser cost and much more effectively than the firm could do on its own. These services include both common recurring operations and highly specialized technical services.

What are the Perks of Using a Shared Services Model? 

A compelling shared services model offers the following advantages:

• Culture– People with the knowledge and attitude to enhance the model outside the back end.
• Cost Effectiveness – Back-office functions consolidate when used by several departments of the same business and do away with duplication.
• Scalability– With only a small incremental cost, the shared services model may be expanded for both acquisition/geographical and service scope growth.
• Decision Assistance– Information based on data analysis and delivery that is trustworthy and useful.
• Focused and Unimpeded– Operating divisions can concentrate on their core competencies and external clients. This is due to the dependency here on shared services architecture for support.

How Do You Implement Shared Services?

A shared service unit functions as an internal customer service business rather than as a centralized operation of an enterprise. The unit’s employees are responsible for offering top-notch customer service to other team members. Yes, you must begin addressing your teammates like consumers if you are serious about enhancing your business.

Frequently, a shared service unit bills departments and divisions for its services. They will also use service level agreements, which are written as contracts that specify the service’s price, turnaround time, and calibre. This gives individuals who work in operations the information they need to gauge performance.

What is a Managed Services Model?

When a business offers IT services to clients via a different service provider or outsources the services to a service provider, this is known as a managed service model. Instead of paying the vendor, the client pays the service provider individually. This enables the client to concentrate on other commercial endeavours while the service provider handles all the technical concerns.

What Advantages Can Managed IT Services Offer?

• High-security IT infrastructure: MSPs give your company a secure infrastructure that allows you to feel confident about the security of your data and apps. Businesses that use managed services 24/7 enjoy the benefit of better risk management and reduced downtime.
• Centralization: By centralizing your servers and apps as a component of a managed network infrastructure, you may do so with a managed network. Consequently, staff productivity is increased, backup infrastructure is available, and virtual services are potentially available.
• Expertise: By using a managed IT service, you may hire and train IT professionals at the expert level without spending a lot of time or money on the process.
• Modern technology: By working with a managed service provider, you can make sure that your company is always utilizing the most recent technology. IT-managed service providers, often known as MSPs, keep your technical services up to date to guarantee that your business is prepared for the future.

Types of Managed Services

IT-managed services come in a wide variety and can impact all facets of a company’s technical infrastructure. Business and IT executives can mix and match various services to best meet their needs. They commonly select a fully managed IT solution in which most IT-related duties are assigned to a managed service provider.

• End User Services
• Infrastructure Support
• On-site Services
• Cloud Services
• Security Services
• Technology Support

The Core Differences between Shared Services and Managed Services

Difference	Shared Service	Managed Service
The Nature of Your Company	It may or may not be possible that you possess the equipment and expertise necessary to effectively administer and maintain your IT systems if your business is in the tech industry. In that situation, a shared services model can provide the tools you require to advance your organization.	Working with a provider through a managed services model will for sure provide you access to unparalleled talents and capabilities to operate your company successfully if you are a store or healthcare firm.
Scalability	Shared services architecture may be sufficient to address present (and future) business objectives for organizations with modest scaling requirements.	However, enduring the drawn-out process of acquiring, educating, and maintaining additional resources may become incredibly taxing for companies that must scale up rapidly and regularly. In these circumstances, having a managed services provider offer on-demand availability to knowledgeable and skilled personnel – whenever and wherever you need them – may help you quickly achieve your scaling requirements.
Response Time	With a shared services paradigm, you may be required to accept slower response times if your company users or customers need immediate attention to their problems and inquiries. Your internal IT team members probably have a lot of duties to carry out, so they won’t have enough time to reply to every issue or deal with every issue that arises.	However, suppose you delegate your IT to a managed services operator. In that case, you may benefit from rapid reaction times and open the door for both enhanced staff productivity and greater customer satisfaction.
Round-the-clock support	A shared services approach can only provide a limited amount of help when it comes to needs for constant support. Uninterrupted assistance is not always achievable since your in-house IT department has other responsibilities and is often headquartered within the same standard time as your company.	However, if you choose a managed services approach, you may get assistance 24/7. Whether you experience problems during regular hours of operation or after hours, a managed services business can quickly find a solution and make the required adjustments to ensure that the problem doesn’t recur in the future.

Why are Managed IT Services a Favourite Option?

A managed IT services company delivers a wide range of services at a single set charge. As a result, you will not be concerned about unforeseen expenses. Additionally, it implies that there won’t be any additional fees. You are fully aware of what you are purchasing.

Utilizing a managed IT services vendor also clarifies the time and effort required to manage your IT system. To analyze and manage your IT infrastructure, managed IT services companies often employ cutting-edge tools and technology.