1. Demand growth for
managed IT services
Managed Service Providers need
to deliver proactive support and
services to their clients - helping to
identify and prevent issues before
they occur.
Growth orientated companies
should have a clear vision of their
future infrastructure requirements
- and a transitional pathway to
achieve it.
In 2014 two thirds of end-user IT
decision makers use managed
services. The market for Managed
Services is set to grow by 11.6% per
annum reaching €230bn by 2018.
Proactive management
essential
Roadmap critical to
future success
Managed IT as a Service
WHAT MAKES IT RIGHT FOR YOUR ORGANISATION
Complete, centralised control and support for every
aspect of your physical and virtual infrastructure.

2. MANAGED IT AS A SERVICE // WHITE PAPER – NOVEMBER 2014
2
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION PAGE 3
2. THE MANAGED IT MARKET: WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY PAGE 4
3. WHAT MAKES A MANAGED IT PROVIDER? PAGE 5
An IT health check
Proactive monitoring
Remote resolution
Engineering expertise
Securing the enterprise: prevention is better than cure
Managing the database
4. WHAT CUSTOMERS SHOULD EXPECT PAGE 7
Management
Availability
Agility
Roadmap
5. BENEFITS FOR THE IT MANAGER PAGE 8
Predictable costs
Value creation
Visibility
Expertise
Security governance
Service excellence
Flexibility
Clarity of roadmap
6. CUSTOMER CASE STUDY: CAMPION INSURANCE PAGE 10
7. CONCLUSIONS PAGE 11

3. MANAGED IT AS A SERVICE // WHITE PAPER – NOVEMBER 2014
3
1. INTRODUCTION
To understand what constitutes ‘managed services’ in
the realm of IT, can be complex for any organisation
looking to make this strategic move.
With companies of all shapes and sizes offering managed IT – or
at least claiming to – it can be very difficult to differentiate those
providers offering a comprehensive operating model from those
providing a light-touch service. Or even to define what exactly
constitutes managed IT.
In this report we will examine what you should expect from managed
IT, and from those organisations seeking to style themselves as a
managed services provider (MSP). We will start by assessing what
the market makes of managed IT, looking at what analysts and other
expert onlookers can tell us about trends. We will ask what managed
IT as a service covers, how it differs from traditional reactive services
provision, and what should be the key benefits – and drawbacks – of
deploying managed IT.
But let us begin by asking: what exactly is managed IT and how can it
deliver significant business value?
About Trilogy
Technologies
Trilogy Technologies is the
trusted IT services partner of
choice for growth orientated
organisations. Designing,
implementing and managing
agile infrastructure as
a service, Trilogy helps
IT leaders protect their
business from external risks
whilst enabling those who
drive strategy to realise
its full potential. At Trilogy
Technologies, our mission is
to empower IT functions to
transform and innovate so
they can meet the demands
and aspirations of the
business.

4. MANAGED IT AS A SERVICE // WHITE PAPER – NOVEMBER 2014
4
The 5 key
distinguishing
characteristics of
managed service
providers
1 Network operations
centre
2 Help desk service
3 Remote monitoring
and management of
client’s IT assets
4 Proactive
maintenance of
assets
5 Predictable billing
2. THE MANAGED IT MARKET:
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
“Managed services is the proactive management of an IT asset
or object, by a third party typically known as an MSP, on behalf
of a customer. The operative distinction that sets apart an MSP
is the proactive delivery of its service, as compared to reactive IT
services, which have been around for decades.”
Or so says industry body MSPAlliance, which has defined managed services with the
above paragraph – agreed upon by a conglomeration of top managed services executives
– for more than 10 years. The organisation also defines the five key “distinguishing
characteristics” of managed services providers, the first of which is having a network
operations centre of some kind.
The second defining feature is to run a help desk service, the third is to be capable of
remotely monitoring and managing the majority of a customers’ IT assets, and the fourth
is to provide proactive – rather than reactive – maintenance of those assets. The final
characteristic, as defined by MSPAlliance, is providing predictable billing that allows the
customer to anticipate accurately what their costs are likely to be.
Whatever the hallmarks of being a managed services provider are, numerous firms across
the industry claim MSP status. A recent survey by industry publication CRN finds that three
quarters of companies in the traditional IT reseller space claim they provide some form
of managed service. Some 82.9 per cent of these claim that they offer services they have
developed themselves. However, a total of 88 per cent of resellers that claim to provide
managed services reveal they also work with at least one external partner to do so.
The same survey finds that two thirds of end-user IT decision makers use managed
services to some extent – including 12.4 per cent that claim they use them extensively.
Managed security is the single most popular offering, being used by about a third of
respondents.
Ninety-six per cent of end users are at least ‘satisfied’ with the service they get from their
managed services partners, with about one in six claiming to be ‘very happy’.
Cost emerges as the biggest perceived barrier to adopting managed services, having been
cited by 61.2% of respondents, ahead of loss of control by 59.2%.
Research from IT industry body channel CompTIA sheds light on what is stopping resellers
and other more traditional players from branching deeper into managed services, with
two in five claiming they are waiting to see the impact of cloud computing on the market.
Some 31% wish to focus their energies on their core competencies, with one in four citing
a lack of a compelling return-on-investment.
The statistics clearly show that the numbers both offering and consuming managed
services are increasing. Market-watcher Insight forecasts that global managed services
revenue will stretch to $152bn this year, before growing at a compound annual growth
rate of 11.6% to reach a worth of $230bn in four years’ time.
The market is evidently huge, and growing exponentially, with more and more companies
in the IT sector clamouring to get involved, styling themselves as a managed IT provider.
But how many of them can truly be considered an MSP?
12.4 percent that
claim they use them
extensively
Managed IT service usage
Two thirds of end-user IT
decision makers use managed
services to some extent
Revenue will stretch to $152bn this
year, before growing at a compound
annual growth rate of 11.6 percent to
reach a worth of $230bn in four years’
time.
2014 2018
$239bn
$152bn
Global managed
services revenue

5. MANAGED IT AS A SERVICE // WHITE PAPER – NOVEMBER 2014
5
A number of break-fix service providers may have simply changed the name above the
door and the ‘About Us’ section of the website in a bid to convince the market – perhaps
even themselves – that what they are offering is a managed service. But, if the trigger for
support is initiated solely from a customer telephone call or email, it begs the question,
what exactly is being managed?
Smart tools help with the discovery, monitoring and management of server and systems
infrastructure giving complete and accurate estate visibility for performance and
reliability. Investment in such tools is significant, and a true MSP will have evolved its
competency to take advantage of the high levels of automation and intelligence available
today.
An IT Health Check
The bedrock of true managed IT provision is proactive monitoring, analysis, remediation
and consultative advice. The first step in turning on Managed IT as a Service typically
involves swiftly identifying and fixing any underlying issues inherent in an infrastructure.
Activating monitoring for a client that has never used it before is likely to shed light on
a number of issues. Common problems may include disk space and faults with existing
hardware. The goal should be to quickly produce a comprehensive overview of how a
client’s IT estate is performing, encompassing all major desktop and datacentre hardware.
Once problems have been diagnosed, work must begin on fixing them, which could
involve major surgery or just a tune-up. Depending on the nature and severity of the
issues, remediation will be completed over a period of time to deliver a healthy platform.
Proactive Monitoring
Once the monitoring is up and running, the name of the game is being proactive. The
performance of the customer’s IT infrastructure must be monitored round-the-clock with
alerts and other updates fed back in real time.
In a true Managed IT as a Service, customers should be free to determine how much
or little involvement they want in remediating issues raised by these alerts. Clients with
a comparatively large in-house IT function may wish simply to be informed of critical
alerts and take responsibility for addressing issues themselves. In this case, based on
its experience, the MSP will fine tune the monitoring solution to cater for the customer’s
needs, relevant skills sets and available resources.
Either way, the onus is on the managed IT provider to rapidly and accurately diagnose,
filter and prioritise issues via effective remote monitoring, taking away the hard work and
headaches that may previously have blighted an IT department. Customers will be fed
carefully filtered alerts pertaining to areas and problems that are important, rather than
being deluged by hundreds of notifications relating to every little anomaly.
Organisations with a preference for a more fully out-sourced service, will expect their
managed IT provider to handle all resolutions directly.
3. WHAT MAKES A MANAGED IT PROVIDER?
For decades IT services providers have offered services based on a reactive break-fix model
that relies on instruction, rather than dialogue. It tends to work thus: the client reports
a problem, logs it with the service provider, who sends out an engineer (often at some
expense to the customer) who endeavours to fix the problem.
// Smart monitoring
tools help with the
discovery, monitoring
and management of
server and systems
infrastructure
giving complete
and accurate
estate visibility for
performance and
reliability. //

6. MANAGED IT AS A SERVICE // WHITE PAPER – NOVEMBER 2014
6
// The performance of customer IT must be
monitored round-the-clock with alerts and
other updates fed back in real time. //
Remote Resolution
Perhaps the biggest innate difference between a ‘man-on-the-ground’ with a reactive
break-fix service and genuine managed IT as a service, is the depth of automation and
technology driven remediation delivered by the provider. A correctly resourced MSP will
have the tools and experience along with a dedicated team responding to IT problems
either generated by monitoring alerts or raised by customers, remediating and fixing well
over 95% of these remotely.
Engineering Expertise
Even for managed IT providers offering customers an almost 100% remote fix solution,
also offering expert on-premise support and remediation will always be necessary. Having
a depth and breadth of hands-on technical knowhow and resources available on-demand
is crucial to providing customer peace of mind.
Once again, the needs of each client will differ greatly, and a managed IT provider needs
to be adaptable to the customer’s existing set-up. For organisations with more complex IT
needs, or even limited in-house resource, a managed IT provider may even provide full-
time on-site staff as the situation requires.
Securing the Enterprise: Prevention is Better than Cure
Surely the biggest advantage of Managed IT as a Service, is the ability to foresee potential
issues, allowing the managed IT provider to take steps to head them off before they
become problematic. Opting for managed, rather than in-house security services
gives organisations the added peace of mind that their defences will be continuously
monitored, maintained and updated to the highest standard.
Therefore a provider delivering services such as automated patching, live security updates,
proactive monitoring, application control and device management for a customer’s
systems adds considerable value to an organisation by ensuring the security of the
enterprise’s IT estate.
Managing the Database
Managing a client’s datacentre and desktop hardware is the bread and butter for most
managed IT providers. Far fewer can lay claim to the same levels of expertise on high-end
enterprise databases, missing out on covering what we all know is a critical part of an
organisation’s IT estate.
As data grows exponentially, so too does the requirement to manage, monitor, administer
and support database environments, predominantly Oracle and Microsoft SQL.
Most of these environments, if not already managed should be fully audited so that any
incumbent problems can be swiftly and accurately identified and addressed. Subsequent
recommendations should define what is required to bring the infrastructure up to best
practice, and a clearly defined programme of services outlined to ensure premium
continuity of service.
// Surely the biggest
advantage of Managed
IT as a Service, is
the ability to foresee
potential issues,
allowing the managed
IT provider to take
steps to head them off
before they become
problematic. //

7. MANAGED IT AS A SERVICE // WHITE PAPER – NOVEMBER 2014
7
4. WHAT CUSTOMERS SHOULD EXPECT
Having determined how to go about deploying Managed IT as a Service and what your services
partner will offer on a day-to-day basis, the next question to address is what characteristics a
managed IT provider should possess and how those will manifest in the services deployed.
Management
It may seem obvious, but the first role of the managed IT provider is to manage client IT.
That means maintaining what may be a varied, complex and intricate IT estate. Adopting a
managed IT provision should not just mean that everyday maintenance tasks are handled
behind the scenes expertly and expeditiously. It should also mean that the provider is
monitoring performance trends and ensuring that the IT Infrastructure is delivering on the
future capacity and performance requirements of the business.
The additional value-add will be the metrics and data provided by their management
platform which allows the MSP to work with the customer to be that strategic advisor,
providing an information source for decisions and plans around the customer’s IT estate.
Availability
With the dependency on IT continuing to grow, IT teams are becoming increasingly under
pressure to deliver 100% uptime even out of business hours. A Managed IT provider
utilising its expertise and available toolset can dramatically help with this challenge by
foreseeing potential problems long before they occur and taking the appropriate steps to
maintain a seamless service. Managing a client’s IT is of no benefit if the role of constant
firefighter is simply switched from an internal to an external team.
A managed IT partner needs to offer a flawless service to its customers, ensuring optimal
uptime for core services, access to data and systems whenever it is required, and peak
performance across the board.
Agility
As clients require new technologies, more or less computing power, or greater or fewer
users, so their managed IT provider must give them the freedom to focus on what their
business needs, not just what the IT department has the resources to permit.
A Managed IT as a Service partner will monitor and manage the capacity of the
infrastructure to cope with the demands of the organisation, present and future. This will
determine the flexibility of the IT function and ultimately the organisation itself, to deliver
on its strategic goals.
Roadmap
IT now plays a strategic role in business which necessitates the creation and delivery of
an IT roadmap. The IT Manager/CIO needs to be able to work with a Managed IT partner
who has the right level of experience and expertise to create, support and execute
this plan. With the appropriate level of knowledge gleaned from proactive monitoring,
coupled with the IT partner’s knowledge of the client’s infrastructure and its work with
Global Technology Partners, a managed IT provider should act both as a trusted partner
and an extension of the clients’ internal IT department. This will help them define how
they should add to, develop and refine their IT Roadmap to drive the strategic business
outcomes over the longer term.
// A managed IT partner
needs to offer a
flawless service to its
customers //
Some 82.9 percent of
these claim that they offer
services they have developed
themselves
88 percent of resellers that
claim to provide managed
services reveal they also work
with at least one external
partner to do so.
Companies offering
Managed IT Services
Three quarters of companies in the
traditional IT reseller space claim
they provide some form of managed
service

8. MANAGED IT AS A SERVICE // WHITE PAPER – NOVEMBER 2014
8
5. BENEFITS FOR THE IT MANAGER
Managed IT should not just be an airy concept embraced by CIOs and CEOs in the name of
appearing innovative. Managed IT as a service is nothing more than a buzzword if it does
not deliver clear, demonstrable benefits to IT managers and the companies they serve.
Technology and how it is deployed can and should drive value to companies in terms of
operational improvements, cost savings, staff happiness, employee retention, and business
performance. Below are some of the core benefits IT professionals should expect from a
managed IT as a service provider.
Predictable costs
Deploying managed IT should give businesses predictable, annuity-based costs,
with pricing structures clearly set out in long-term contracts. Furthermore, proactive
monitoring – in addition to offering remote fixing the vast majority of the time – allows
businesses to anticipate issues before they become debilitating. Thus enabling IT
managers to avoid the costs of downtime, lost productivity, and urgent, unexpected
investments in replacing failing IT.
Value Creation
The big shift in IT delivery is going to be in how services are governed and how service
providers actually add value. Service reporting that simply records SLA performance
does not add any value to the customer. It is the correct analysis of this information that
should enable the Managed Services provider to offer the client valuable advice. A leading
edge Managed IT as a Service Provider will be expected to deliver a predictive view on the
infrastructure and services that they manage so that the customer understands three
things: How agile is my IT and where are the constraints or bottlenecks? (Can I easily add
new locations, change my work practices etc.), how secure is my environment? And how
much capacity is there for me to increase workloads without investment or cost? This
implies much more emphasis on analysis and advice with “what if” modelling and those
companies that simply offer monitoring and a help desk will fall by the wayside.
Visibility
IT infrastructure is a fundamental part of every organisation’s operations today and
stakeholders need to be sure they can rely on it. Working with a partner who can provide
real-time infrastructure visibility gives those organisations the flexibility to view on-
demand its systems’ health as well as complete IT service management transparency.
A true Managed IT as a Service provider will offer this through a full Portal Framework
view, delivering real time data and trending information to help forecast for the future,
minimize downtime, optimise performance and make sure that the CIO is in control.
Expertise
For even the biggest multinationals, the use of a managed IT provider should give them
the benefit of a depth and breadth of expertise beyond the reach of their in-house
teams. Using a managed IT provider effectively means having experts with skills covering
the entire IT estate, overseeing the performance of their IT around the clock. The vast
majority of internal IT teams lack the resources to provide anywhere near the same level
of specialised knowledge across the board dedicated to the continual management and
monitoring of their IT.
// a full Portal
Framework view,
delivering real time
data and trending
information to help
forecast for the
future, minimize
downtime, optimise
performance and
make sure that the
CIO is in control. //
with about one in
six claiming to be
‘very happy’
Customer Satisfaction
Results
96% of end users are at
least ‘satisfied’ with the
service they get from their
managed services partners

9. MANAGED IT AS A SERVICE // WHITE PAPER – NOVEMBER 2014
9
// A managed IT provider can offer the
ability to oversee a client’s IT estate and
address any urgent issues every second
of every day //
Security Governance
More organisations are today tasked with the need to deliver good governance and
compliance which includes the operation of its IT Systems and security of data, in many
cases critical elements of the fundamentals of the organisations’ operational being.
Working with an MSP with access to professional security experts, allows the customer
to develop strong, clear policies and standards around security and governance, e.g
password policies, data protection, encryption etc. Combined with monitoring and
proactive updating, this makes it the safest way to run your technology estate.
Service Excellence
The IT Department is constantly challenged to deliver a better experience to the key stake-
holders namely end-users and customers, ultimately benefiting the organisation and
reflecting positively on them as a key enabler of organisational success.
Working with a Managed IT Service provider to deliver remote monitoring, management
and remediation capabilities should provide IT leaders with a comprehensiveness of
support they may be challenged to deliver purely through internal management alone. A
managed IT provider can offer the ability to oversee a client’s IT estate and address any
urgent issues every second of every day – allowing the internal IT team time to focus on
projects strategic to the business.
Flexibility
One of the most obvious benefits of managed IT is the freedom it offers businesses to
tailor its technology to its needs and plans on an ongoing basis. For IT managers finding
themselves in need of scaling up – or down – their IT usage, capacity, or software licensing,
managed IT allows them to benefit from a flexible model. A managed IT provision should
give clients the scope to expand, shrink or otherwise alter the size and shape of its IT
operation, without facing hefty capital costs.
Clarity of roadmap
The insights provided by Managed IT as a Service over an extended period of time should
arm IT chiefs with the insight to make well-informed decisions about its IT strategy and
investments. Relying solely on internal teams – or a traditional break-fix maintenance
provider – often means an IT manager’s role is reduced to that of a problem solver.
Having the kind of overview of IT performance afforded by your Service Partner allows
IT managers to make better long-term investment decisions, grounded in fact. Using a
managed IT provider also frees up CIOs to be able to operate in much more top-down
strategic roles.
Summary of benefits
to the IT manager
1 Predictable costs
2 Value creation
3 Visibility
4 Expertise
5 Security governance
6 Service excellence
7 Flexibility
8 Clarity of roadmap

10. MANAGED IT AS A SERVICE // WHITE PAPER – NOVEMBER 2014
10
Campion Insurance has evolved to become one of
Ireland’s most modern and innovative commercial and
personal lines brokers with a staff of over 150 people and
offices in ten locations throughout Ireland and the UK.
Ciaran Brosnan, took on the role of IT Manager at
Campion Insurance, to find a managed services contract
which had not been delivering the benefits Campion had
hoped.
“At Campion we understand the critical nature of
technology”, explains Brosnan. “Technology is used to
manage and grow our business, achieve competitive
advantage, increase customer service and loyalty,
achieve faster time to market and increase efficiency
and profitability. We have invested a lot of money in
our technology over the years and we needed a robust
managed service solution to allow us to focus on our
business. We needed a Managed Service Provider that
would sit down and say: ‘here’s the roadmap, this is why
things are not working, this is what has to happen’.”
The nature of the Campion business means downtime is
unacceptable. “Insurance is a high-transaction business.
If it shuts off for any amount of time, it is disastrous,”
Brosnan explains.
When the insurance firm sought out a new managed
services provider, the brief was to pick a partner that the
company could work with for years to come.
“We were looking for a reliable partner, a long-term
partner, a trusted partner; one that would become part
of our IT department,” said Brosnan.
Having picked Trilogy, the managed IT provider was quick
to identify the three core problems putting undue strain
on Campion’s IT infrastructure: its server hardware;
its communications infrastructure; and an industry
software application for insurance providers – the highly
specialised nature of which makes it unsuitable for
outsourcing.
With the necessary investments and improvements
made, the insurer’s head of IT was able to deliver on
his brief to operate more strategically and drive the
company forward through better and more innovative
use of IT. Trilogy plays an important role in shaping
future strategies which in turn influence the achievement
of business goals.
“We decide where we are going then we ask Trilogy to
help us get where we need to go,” says Brosnan. “We
need the best advice, and not just someone who wants to
charge what is most profitable for them. With Trilogy it is
a partnership – they are an extension of what we do.”
The results are evident. In addition to cost and efficiency
savings, the number of problems logged each month has
dropped to a typical total of between 50 and 60 – a large
number of which stem from the insurance application
not under Trilogy’s control.
“Previously they were running at double that, sometimes
as high as 150,” adds Brosnan. “It has just been a huge
improvement.”
“Trilogy’s Managed IT as a Service solution enables us to
focus on our core competencies while reducing our total
cost of IT ownership” concludes Brosnan. “Through this
relationship Trilogy is bringing great value to Campion,
with a strong delivery capacity, a modern and reliable
infrastructure and robust processes. This is indeed a
transformational partnership.”
6. CUSTOMER CASE STUDY: CAMPION INSURANCE
// At Campion we understand the
critical nature of technology //
John McCarthy,
Chief Finance Officer, Campion Insurance
L –R: John Casey, Sales Director Trilogy, John McCarthy, Chief
Finance Officer Campion Insurance, Edel Creely, Group Managing
Director Trilogy.

11. MANAGED IT AS A SERVICE // WHITE PAPER – NOVEMBER 2014
11
7. CONCLUSIONS
• To be a true managed IT provider, a company must
offer proactive monitoring, remote services and a range
of skilled, talented and experienced people who will
support the IT department to deliver agile infrastructures
and services to their organisation.
• A managed IT provider should help clients set out a
clear technology roadmap to assist in achieving business
goals, and work with them on an ongoing basis to define
IT strategy.
• A managed IT service should give users the flexibility to
scale up or down and change the specifications of the
service.
• The role of the IT director, and the wider IT department
is changing; business leaders have an increasing interest
in IT, and an understanding of its importance. There
is greater desire to use technology not only to create
efficiencies, but to drive company growth and meet
business objectives. IT leaders are expected to spearhead
and embody this change.
• The majority of traditional IT resellers and services
providers claim they now offer managed services in one
way, shape, or form; but many are simply reselling off-
the-shelf services.
• The market for managed IT is already huge, and growing
fast. However, many customers still see major barriers to
embracing such services. The need for professional and
reputable providers of genuine managed IT – not just
reactive services – has never been greater.

12. DUBLIN OFFICE
Trilogy Technologies Ltd.
No. 1 High Street,
Dublin 8,
Ireland
Tel: +353 (0)1 476 8050
LONDON OFFICE
Trilogy Technologies (UK) Ltd.
Halton House, 20-23 Holborn,
London EC1N 2JD,
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7440 6500
www.trilogytechnologies.com
MANAGED IT AS A SERVICE // WHITE PAPER – NOVEMBER 2014