IT Support Dorset

Leased hardware vs managed hardware: What’s the difference?

Leasing hardware is a really great, well-known way of gaining the use of IT equipment such as PCs and laptops, without the capital expense required for buying it outright. This makes it a really great solution for both startup organisations, and established businesses who are looking to gain control of their IT spend.

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Leased Hardware Bournemouth
Leasing hardware, especially in local areas such as Bournemouth and Poole, is common. But the downside is although you’re paying monthly for equipment, security, maintenance updates, and antivirus is all up to you.

This is where Managed Hardware comes in!

Download our FREE comprehensive guide: Everything you need to know about managed services >>

Managed hardware is sometimes called Hardware as a Service (HaaS), and is a really great service for businesses. It works in much the same way as leasing IT equipment, however you don’t have to shoulder the burden of security, updates, or the headache of sourcing a replacement if it should need a repair. You may also think that ‘Hardware’ just means things like PCs and Laptops, but it can include all sorts like servers, switches, routers, firewalls, Wi-Fi access points and so much more!

With managed hardware you can:

Reduce capital expense
Improve scalability
Better security
Regular maintenance
Always have up-to-date hardware
Reduce capital expense
There are quite a few different ways IT companies (also known as managed service providers) might go about charging for managed services, however, it nearly always involves being financed by a monthly contract. This alleviates a huge expenditure often invested in new equipment which depreciates a little in value every time it is switched on, and instead becomes a more manageable monthly operating expense. Not only does this help cash flow, it removes the unpredictability of replacement and upkeep by becoming easy to budget for.

There are a whole host of other benefits, aside from the reduction in cost.

Improved scalability
As your organisation grows and changes, you’ll need technology that’s able to adapt and keep up. Managed Hardware supports this, allowing you to add any number of new devices without the associated costs, depending on your business needs.

Better security
Having someone proactively managing your hardware, means that any security updates – including software updates which contain security patches – will be carried out for you too, so you know that any vulnerabilities will be addressed before they cause your organisation problems!

Regular maintenance
When new hardware is purchased, it’s often neglected due to ongoing costs, causing eventual running issues and grumpy staff. If you use managed hardware, your MSP will follow maintenance best practices, keeping everything up to date. Updates are also considered before being applied, which means you also won’t be stuck using updates which appear to break more than they fix!

Always have up-to-date hardware
Moore’s law talks about the speedy advancement of technology, stating that computer chip processing power doubles yearly. With this in mind, Managed Hardware is an excellent way to make sure your business keeps up with the technology it needs to thrive, without the headache of a large expenditure every 3-5 years.

Different kinds of managed IT equipment and their benefits
As we mentioned before, managed hardware, or HAAS, doesn’t just have to be like leasing PCs and laptops, here is an overview of our offering and the benefits of paying monthly. All of our Managed Hardware offerings include labour and setup within the monthly price, and there is no initial cost for the hardware. We also automatically replace your hardware after 5 years in order to maintain industry-recommended standards.

Managed workstations
IT Support Poole VoIP Telephone Systems Dorset Managed Hardware Leasing Hire

A managed workstation is a PC or laptop provided on an ongoing monthly agreement. As well as the machine (and accessories) it is proactively looked after by us remotely, all for a fixed monthly fee, alleviating the need for hefty hardware investment.

Benefits of Managed PCs and Laptops

Repair or replace Sometimes hardware can go wrong, but you don’t have to worry about downtime. We will either repair or replace your machine, whichever is quickest!

Remote monitoring Is the disk getting full? Have there been multiple failed login attempts? Is there an app causing things to run slow? We’ll get notifications for issues like these, and will be able to investigate and fix them before they even become an issue to the user.

Managed Windows updates We manage Windows updates remotely, which means users don’t get interrupted during the work day, and your machines are always up-to-date.

Security We have the ability to wipe machines remotely at your request, which means if your laptop or PC is lost or stolen, no-one will have access to any of your data.
Managed Routers and Firewalls
With our fully-managed router and firewall service, we’ll install; configure, monitor, and manage your routers and firewalls saving you valuable time and operational costs associated with downtime.

Benefits of Managed Routers and Firewalls

IT Support Poole VoIP Telephone Systems Dorset Managed Hardware Leasing Hire

Remote monitoring Being able to fully manage and monitor routers and firewalls remotely means that we can see the amount of data used and what’s being accessed. In the event of an issue which sees either going down, we’ll be notified and working on having them live again before you need to call.

Secure Devices By monitoring your devices remotely, we are able to spot threats and deal with them instantly, as well as rolling out patches and updates remotely to keep security at the maximum.
Managed Servers
IT Support Poole VoIP Telephone Systems Dorset Managed Hardware Leasing Hire

If your server isn’t working, your business isn’t working. We’ve put together our Managed Server service with this in mind. Eliminating up-front costs and ensuring you won’t experience extensive downtime in the event of an emergency are our priorities.

Benefits of managed servers

High spec server We only use the best hardware, and the servers we use have premium SSDs for fast data access.

Repair or replace Server repair can take time, and it’s also often a costly exercise. However, downtime can grind your organisation to a halt completely! We don’t want this for you, so as part of our managed service if there is a hardware fault we will repair or replace it – whichever is fastest! This minimises any downtime and disruption to your business and alleviates the possibility of an expensive server repair bill which has not been budgeted for.
Managed Switches
Practically invisible and a bit of a mystery to those who aren’t technical, it’s very tempting to sign off on the installation of a basic switch and then forget about it. But despite rarely being noticed, the switch is at the heart of the network, and if it goes down so does everything else.

Benefits of Managed Switches

IT Support Poole VoIP Telephone Systems Dorset Managed Hardware Leasing Hire

Configure Unlike basic switches, a managed switch allows us to configure it to your business needs. We can configure it to segregate data and guarantee call quality for your VoIP calls.

Manage We can also ensure the security of your network, making sure that if you’re providing public or ‘guest’ access to WiFi, people using that are unable to access your main network.

Monitor With a managed switch, we can monitor the performance of your network, quickly detecting and repairing problems remotely. Being able to do this means a much faster response, as you there’s no need to wait for an onsite visit.
Managed WAPs (Wireless Access Points)

IT Support Poole VoIP Telephone Systems Dorset Managed Hardware Leasing Hire

An Access Point (AP) is a device which creates a wireless local area network (WLAN). It connects to a wired router, switch, or hub and projects a WiFi signal to a designated area that may need it. Although WAPs are often an ‘invisible’ piece of your network, they’re integral for ensuring every part of your business stays connected.

Benefits of Managed Access Points

Remotely monitored and managed We’re able to keep tabs on real-time status, real-time sent and received data, information regarding previous disconnections, number of connections, download and upload bitrate and much more and a ticket automatically gets logged with us if your AP disconnects. This means we can often resolve issues before you’ve realised that there is one.

Inbuilt license The hardware we use is subject to a monthly license fee which we include in our competitive monthly price.

Easy deployment With remote access we can make sure any security patches are pushed out quickly and easily with no fuss.

Fully customisable and great scalability Every business presents its own unique needs and challenges and with our managed AP solution, we can tailor the settings to your exact requirements. It’s easy to add extra access points, providing exceptional WiFi coverage for larger office spaces.

To learn more about Managed Services and the benefits they present, download our FREE comprehensive guide: Everything you need to know about managed services.

Managed services PDF

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