Internet Success Story: What is a Managed Network Provider
What is a Managed Network Provider
Often referred to as an internet aggregator or consolidator, managed network providers are vendors which resell ISP’s such as AT&T, Verizon, Spectrum, Comcast, etc. at wholesale rates, and provide a high level of management service on top of this. Having this kind of model is very helpful for customers that have multiple locations across the state, the nation, or even globally.
Typically, a customer can only contract with the set ISPs that have service in their area, which is not always the same carrier at every address. This causes customers to have dozens of different contracts with many different vendors and many different term dates resulting in a big headache for IT managers. When a customer chooses to go through a managed network provider, they will put all the ISP invoices on their paper, manage the circuit installations and support, and provide many other added features. The main benefit of using a managed network provider is the power of one; one invoice, one support line, one contract & MSA, and one reliable partner.
Customer Success Story
Over the past year, Conectrix helped one of our retail customers out of Texas with this exact project. The main issues they faced leading up to this transition included poor customer support and response times, no records or organization of contracts and invoices, vendor sprawl across 15+ sites, and lots of time wasted dealing with internet outages. Conectrix helped organize all their bills, contract term dates, and locations, so that we could begin a discovery process for finding the right managed network provider. The main vendor that stuck out to our customer was an industry leader called Command Link. Along with having very competitive pricing, providing savings across all the customer sites, some unique differences that stood out about Command Link were having a customer facing portal, a dedicated pod of engineers as their support team, and a great relationship with the main regional ISP in their area of Texas. As the project kicked off, our customer realized just how easy and painless this migration was, as Command Link oversaw every installation and was able to send out smart hands for support on sites that needed minor construction or wire pulling. Our customer can now manage all their sites from one portal, have one support line to contact when any outages or downtime occur, and can view all their invoices in one place.
Summary
If your organization is a multi-location company experiencing similar issues to these outlined today, it is time to start conversations around consolidating this workload via a Managed Network Provider. With ongoing surges in the cloud infrastructure environment and cybersecurity threat landscape, IT staff have too much on their plates to be actively managing all aspects of their corporate IT network. By leveraging a managed network provider, the hard dollar and soft dollar savings are too extensive to pass up on. Contact us today so we can help fit your company with the right vendor according to your needs.