The latest survey from JDL Technologies has looked at the key reasons that businesses choose to embrace managed services, with some benefits being seen as more important than others.
Eighty per cent of the respondents to the study said that their organisations were already taking advantage of managed services in some form, with the remainder stating that they are in the process of considering adoption over the next 12 months.
When it comes to the factors which drive adoption, the ability to simplify the process of managing IT resources which is afforded by managed services came out on top, with 37 per cent of those questioned giving it more weight than anything else.
The second biggest influencer is the promise of improved security, cited by a third of respondents. This sits just above the 29 per cent who said that the efficiency and productivity gains made possible through managed services was the chief example of why adoption was appealing.
Respondents were also asked to talk about the benefits that came out of managed services adoption over time, with a third stating that their IT systems had become more reliable and less prone to downtime and outages as a result.
In terms of deciding which managed service provider (MSP) to work with, 46 per cent said that one thing which they felt to be imperative for a firm to offer was round the clock IT support. The geographic location of a provider was shown to be less relevant, with just under a fifth giving it priority during the selection process.
Managed services are increasingly common among companies of all sizes and it is important for MSPs to get a grip on the forces which drive firms to consider adoption if they are to satisfy clients.