Managed services has become one of the latest buzzwords to hit the communications business and increasingly, it relates as much to the telecoms sector as it does to other areas, such as IT.

Managed services promise to provide a single source of contact, increased reliability, flexibility and scalability.

In particular, where the person in charge of IT is increasingly also the person in charge of telecoms, managed services enable them to access far more sophisticated services than were previously possible.

Moreover, with IP technology, a whole range of features such as recording, conferencing, video, unified messaging and advanced call handling are being opened up to the smaller budget through IP technology. By having the technology embedded in the service provider’s own core network, rather than a box on the wall in the customer’s premises, new features become inexpensive add-ons, and can be enabled with a simple change to a central administration portal.

The other major benefit about IP communications is that it is not a static technology. Once deployed, developments are instantly available as the core switches are upgraded, so they always have access to the latest technology without major additional investment.

Of course, no new business strategy is without risk and it is vital to choose the right managed services provider from the outset. After all, the IT manager is handing over an important part of the company’s services to a third party. It is important to find a provider who will put them straight through to support, rather than create barriers by having layers of support, as can be the case in some large, global providers.

What most businesses need is a provider like Vision who is always available at the end of the phone and wants to build a long-term relationship with all our customers. More importantly, Vision is a provider who is geared towards supporting ‘small and mid range’ companies, rather than being focused on multinationals.

Furthermore, no longer are businesses restricted to just choosing big telcos as suppliers. Managed services are here to stay and for businesses who make the right choices, open up the ability to access far more advanced services than ever before, yet without having to make large investments at every step, without having to gain lots of internal knowledge to facilitate and without major upheaval.