Workplace

What can application service providers do?

To save time and stress, smart SMEs can have their apps managed externally. Read how managed IT services work and what models are available.

20.04.2021
4 minutes 4 minutes
Keywords:
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Table of Contents
Good IT with powerful applications is key to a company’s success nowadays. However, apps and the Internet are changing at an ever faster pace. Updates and technical support cost time and money and often cause stress. What is the solution? Application service providing (ASP for short).

Managed service provider, application service provider – it sounds more complicated than it really is. It simply means that external professionals take over parts of your time-consuming IT tasks, such as providing, hosting and managing software.

We have compiled the most important questions and answers about application service providing, hosting and the related offers and other outsourcing services for you and your enterprise.

What can application service providers do?

Application service providers, ASP for short, are external IT service providers. They provide their customers with predefined services and manage them. Examples of services include patch management, security updates, hosting, remote monitoring, cloud services, backup management, and disaster recovery.

As a customer, the benefits for you are clear: necessary updates and maintenance tasks for the apps or software no longer block up your IT infrastructure with unexpected additional strain, because the application services provider, the ASP, takes over that time-consuming work. These managed services allow you and your IT managers to focus on business-critical tasks and operations while your IT network is being taken good care of.

Managed services: What is application hosting?

With application hosting, you don’t just rent specific apps and software; the application programs are located on an external platform belonging to the host, and are managed and maintained there. Konica Minolta offers various ways to host applications, for example with the IT services platform Workplace Hub. This means that hardware and software are perfectly coordinated using the expertise of the provider.

Take print management applications, for example. Konica Minolta’s experts know their apps best. They monitor the applications, including security, remotely around the clock. SMEs are freed from the operational tasks and maintenance of their apps and servers such as monitoring. Another time-consuming task is also removed from the equation: your IT specialists do not need to do time-intensive study or technical training in new applications.

The big advantage for customers is that external professionals maintain, back up and update your applications before you need to report a fault or error. This allows users to benefit from optimised printing costs and mobile printing without any stress.

In addition, as an organisation, you don’t have to invest in IT hardware such as servers – a fixed monthly fee simplifies business planning, maintains an overview of costs and reduces operational IT expenses.

What are typical use cases for managed application services?

Print management is an often underestimated driver of digitisation and a typical use case for managed application services.

The biggest benefits include:

  • A better overview of the print infrastructure
  • Optimisation and reduction of printing costs
  • Automation of work steps
  • Increased security of multifunctional systems and documents
  • Flexible printing

Together with print management, a solution or application for document and information management can be used to better control your company’s business processes.

Increased productivity, uniform workflows: the advantages of ASP and managed services

With managed application services, you gain all the benefits of a state-of-the-art solution for managing information and documents (information and document management), such as:

  • Automated workflows and business processes
  • Increased employee productivity through location-independent access and digital archiving
  • Instant access to information and uniform workflows
  • Cost reduction due to less copying, storage and distribution work
  • Acceleration of work processes and improvement of information availability

In addition, information and document management can be applied to various corporate functions, such as:

  • Invoice receipt processing
  • Contract management
  • Email management
  • Human resources management
  • Customer management

With its extensive managed IT services, Konica Minolta ensures that all these applications are always up-to-date, meet the highest security standards and are discreetly maintained in the background.

MORE INFORMATION

CRM: the tool for satisfied customers.

https://job-wizards.com/de/crm-das-tool-fuer-zufriedene-kunden/
 

The customer relationship management workbook: the recipe for customer loyalty.

https://job-wizards.com/de/workbook-customer-relationship-management-das-rezept-fuer-kundentreue/
 

Workplace Hub – the future of IT management.

https://job-wizards.com/de/die-zukunft-des-it-managements-endlich-wird-es-einfach/

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