What Are Separate Components of Managed IT Services?

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In the area of Managed IT services, there are three, primary components, that requires some form of mandatory and ongoing monitoring and management. These three elements are your Infrastructure, your Platform, and your Software. Regardless of your industry, these basic building blocks are what forms your IT system foundation and the starting point which falls under Managed IT Services.

Are There Additional Managed IT Services Components?

Yes, there are. As we continue, we branch out to observe the other subsets, of functions and features, that seamlessly work hand-in-hand with your main components. These additional Managed IT service components are as equally important.

Do note: All parts and elements require policies, processes, and procedures. Once instituted, mandatory and continuous enforcement, reporting, and updating are used to monitor, detect, quarantine, and manage your entire network.

As you review the short list of the additional units below, most of the items listed, you may not be aware of or know of their existence. The reason for this is, these are the unseen elements behind the scenes, which give you, your staff, or your clients a tremendous uninterrupted experience when using your devices or web browsers.

Bear in mind though, each item listed can and will affect your system positively or negatively. The thing to always remember; continuous monitoring and management is the critical differentiator and what keeps your system healthy.

• APIs
• Applications
• Business Processes
• Communication
• Content
• Data Analysis
• Data Processing
• Data Storage
• Data Virtualization
• End-user Devices
• Information Security
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Knowledge Management
• Media
• Systems

Also, be aware; technology is always evolving with sweeping advances. What was new, eventually became commonplace. What was commonplace, became outdated; what became outdated, could not transition. So, the obsolete saw a new transition.

For example, Infrastructure, Platform, and Software are also witnessing the transformation within themselves. From horizontal deployment to vertical. i.e., from infrastructure on a physical device to infrastructure in the cloud, or software across a physical platform to software as a service.

So, on the short list above, we could also add Infrastructure, but it would then be known as Infrastructure-As-A-Service (IaaS). The same “As-A-Service” would also apply to Platform (PaaS), and Software (SaaS).

The Three Primary Physical Components Defined

• Infrastructure – In the fields of IT service management and IT management, each industry relies heavily on the IT infrastructure. The way an IT infrastructure (ITI) is defined comes down to the computer, network hardware, and facilities, all physical elements forming the ITI. That is a stripped down and basic description of an IT infrastructure.
• Platform – A computing platform is an environment on which computer programs run, in which a piece of software gets carried out. The platform might be an operating system or the hardware. Computing platforms have different abstraction levels with varying amounts of detail, including runtime libraries, an OS, or computer architecture.
• Software – Or computer software is, at its base level, computer instructions that tell the computer how to work or a collection of data. That is opposite to physical hardware, from which the system performed the work and got built. Computer software includes computer programs, libraries and related non-executable data, such as online documentation or digital media.

The Evolution of Each Component to the Cloud

Now let’s look at how our three components have evolved and transitioned to the cloud. As a reference point, IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS have become the three main categories of cloud computing services, that are also a component of Managed IT services.

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – is a form of cloud computing. Over the internet, IaaS provides virtualized computing resources. IaaS is a Virtual Machine (VM) that does not need to access a network infrastructure on a physical computing device. Within the cloud operating system, there is room and support for large numbers of VMs. That allows for adding or discontinuing services at any time.
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) – is a category of cloud computing services. PaaS provides a platform allowing users to develop, run, and manage applications. It eliminates the complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure for the applications. PaaS gets delivered in three ways: 1) public cloud service 2) private service behind a firewall 3) software installed on public infrastructure as a service.
• Software as a Service (SaaS) – is a software licensing and delivery model. The software is centrally hosted, licensed, and offered on a monthly or annual basis. SaaS is the standard delivery model for most applications. The strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies was to incorporate SaaS. Primarily, it is business applications which use this model.

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