What are exactly managed services? Though mostly referring to information technology (IT) services, there are examples of the term being used to describe services which don’t include technology at all. One of the best definitions of managed services states that they represent proactive third party management of an asset. This third party is usually known as managed services provider (MSP).

What differentiates managed services from any other is the fact that it focuses on proactive provision of services rather than reactive. With this in mind, it is easy to predict expenses in advance, as they are fixed. Usually, you are bound to pay a certain amount upfront, and then pay the monthly installments specified by the managed service provider. This is considered to be a great feature, as you are able to predict the costs in advance.

Going into the specifics, managed services range from transportation, power and water, to information and communication services. However, they are mostly cloud based and related services. When you pass a certain job to another company, most often offshore, people refer to it as outsourcing. Nevertheless, the term outsource has been used so much that it’s meaning is being almost diluted.

Many who are uninformed might not be able to distinct outsourcing from managed services, but the difference is more than subtle and noticeable. For example you have managed print services which are a group of services provided by printer manufacturers. From maintenance of hardware, supplementation of paper, toner cartridges, printer ink and other consumables, to help & support, mailing, distribution and printing volume tracking. Currently around 51 percent of organisations are using or are planning to use managed print services in the near future. That fact only goes to show the effectiveness of managed services.

On the other hand, outsourcing implies, mainly, short term contracting of services or certain jobs to another company. At first glance the difference seems subtle. But, when you take a closer look, you will see that with outsourcing you are not letting a third party (MSP) manage any kind of in-house services. Actually, they are assigned just a portion of a certain job or a project to finish off site.

Ever since the dot com boom, the information technologies have become widely available and popular. Nowadays, countries like India, China, Eastern European and several other countries which have highly educated IT experts, but low income averages, are considered to be outsourcing havens. Workers from those countries are able to do any job as good as it can be done for only the portion of the price you would have to pay “back at home”.

One other way of interpreting the difference between outsourcing and managed services is that managed services are a management option rather than a deployment option. What this means is that by employing managed services provider you gain an entire set of features that come along. A managed services provider has the skills, the manpower and the tools to deliver what you need when you need it, regardless of the way of delivery.