The attributes behind your decision
- Decision input
- Measured workload
- Primary variables
- Capacity, control, operations
- Validation
- Representative testing
- Next step
- Swiss infrastructure
Define management as tasks, not a label
Managed service descriptions vary. Ask who installs and patches the operating system, configures services, monitors availability, responds to alerts, manages backups and performs restoration.
Understand the unmanaged model
With unmanaged infrastructure, the provider supplies the contracted infrastructure while the customer operates the system and applications. This model fits teams with administration capacity and clear incident ownership.
Evaluate a managed scope in writing
Confirm supported operating systems and software, response boundaries, maintenance windows, backup retention, restoration requests and excluded application work. Marketing language should not replace a written responsibility matrix.
Choose from operational risk and capability
Consider staff coverage, recovery objectives, compliance duties and the cost of delayed response. A managed scope reduces selected operational work but does not remove application ownership or the need to validate recovery.
Assign every recurring task to an owner
Create a responsibility list covering operating-system updates, database updates, firewall rules, certificate renewal, log review, incident response and restore testing. For each task, name the responsible team and how it is contacted. A support contact is not evidence that every task is covered by a managed service.
Use the list when comparing a managed quote with an unmanaged server. Ask what triggers work, which software is supported and which tasks are excluded. Include your internal administration time when comparing costs, especially when an outage would occur outside the team’s normal working hours.