IT support businesses sell everything from antivirus protection and remote management solutions to network security and repair. However, the main service they offer is computer consulting. What are they and how do you understand what they provide? Here’s a quick list of the top 10 most common things with a short description of each one.

MSP – Microsoft Systems provides a server management tool called Microsoft Virtual Private Server (VPS). It is a type of virtual private server used by many IT support businesses to provide managed hosting for their clients. Business owners can set up their own VPSs with physical or virtual hardware and customize them to meet their needs. An e-mail system, chat server and database are all features that can be customized to meet the needs of a particular company. This is another service that most IT support businesses offer.

IaaS – The term isIAAS stands for Infrastructure as a Service. It is the complete package that consists of application software, middleware and infrastructure for a small to mid-sized business that wants to leverage the power of information technology. This package can help a company manage servers, networks and storage. If you work with an information technology support company, chances are they offer this kind of service as part of a bundle of services to help their clients manage their technology needs.

DS – Disaster recovery is crucial when your business relies on computers and networking systems. When disaster strikes, it doesn’t just mean losing data. It also means losing the data on backup tapes and servers. A managed service provider has the expertise to restore these systems in real time so they can continue operating. This is an especially useful service for businesses that rely on their computers and their network’s applications. You might think you have all the resources in the world to stay in business but a few disasters can really knock you off track.

MSP – Managed service providers provide a remote or on-site backup of your data. They can take care of your entire server system, your email server and your application database. You don’t need to be there every hour to make sure everything’s ok – you can take a quick siesta while the IT team is going over the backups and make sure nothing was accidentally deleted. The managed provider can also make sure the application database isn’t backed up onto a hard drive that’s physically located off-site – something that happened often in the past.

These are the basic components of a managed IT services offering. Of course, not every IT support company offers everything. Many do offer the basics such as email, databases, and web hosting. Some providers do more specialized things like application security and virtualization. The most popular among the offerings of these IT support providers is SaaS or Software as a Service.

With SaaS offerings, you’re taking advantage of cutting-edge technology in a way that traditional on-site hardware failure cannot. Think about it. If your company’s database is breached and some documents get lost, the IT staff can simply download the entire database and restore everything from there. But if the company’s entire network is compromised because of a virus or malicious intrusions, they cannot access the files or restore the database. It’s not possible. With my offerings, you take advantage of new ways to make your data safe and secure and restore everything instantly.

As an organization grows and expands, the number of people handling issues becomes larger. Whether you’re dealing with employees, managers or CEOs, you have several different levels of employees working on issues that require different skill sets and knowledge. Some will specialize in hardware issues, while others will need IT expertise for software issues. The bottom line is that not everyone has the same skill set. By using managed service providers, you can eliminate the need to keep up with who’s next in line when an issue comes up.