In managed services, a service provider takes care of specific, clearly defined activities and processes. There is usually a detailed Service Level Agreement which clearly sets out the responsibilities and services. A service provider could handle operation of printers in a company, for example, but they would still be looked after by the company’s own IT. Managed services are particularly popular in the security sector, where highly specialized experts are required to analyze firewall logfiles, for example. Important: the personnel and assets are still owned by the firm. Managed services are often offered on a pay-as-you-use basis. This means that the price is determined by actual usage. So-called “one-to-many services” are particularly profitable for providers, as they are able to offer a service that is easy to standardize to many different customers.
Source: Managed Cloud Hosting Service Deutschland (adacor.com)