How long can you keep a contingent worker?

Many companies that use contingent workers maintain policies that limit the duration of those workers' services. Under these policies, when a contingent worker reaches a prescribed time limit, that person's services must be terminated automatically, regardless of the person's job performance, and a replacement worker must be found or assigned by a contingent labor supplier.

While such term limiting policies may be well intended, they are not grounded in well-defined legal rules. As a result, there is little consistency in the policies that staffing clients have imposed. Some companies require replacement of contingent workers after a certain number of hours worked, but the maximum number of hours varies greatly, from just under 1000 to 4160, with many different rules in between. Others link limitations to the calendar, such as with 12-, 24-, or 36-month limits. After contingent workers are removed, additional rules may govern how soon they may return, varying from 31 days later, to one year later, to never.

Determining whether joint employment relationships exist for the purpose of legal liabilities is a fact-specific inquiry. Certainly working engagements lasting many years will be scrutinized by courts and by federal and state agencies. However, for most employment claims, it is the level of control exercised over the worker that is determinative of liability, not the length of the relationship.

Potential liability for Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and benefits plans, due to misclassification, is the most common explanation for contingent worker term limits. Because eligibility for FMLA and many benefits are triggered by the length of employment and the number of hours worked, universally enforced term limits can admittedly limit or eliminate exposure for these narrow issues. However, term limits alone are not going to insulate staffing clients from legal liability for the vast majority of employment law claims. Further, these automatic replacements are unpopular with nearly everyone involved. They raise recruiting and training costs, can create discontinuity of service, raise special employment law issues, and (perhaps worst of all) systematically deprive high-performing workers of their ongoing employment for reasons that seem unjust and irrational to them. The questions are: "Are term limits for contingent workers necessary – or even helpful?" "Can the legal exposures be adequately mitigated in other ways?"

What is the purpose of a contingent workforce?

A contingent workforce is a labor pool whose members are hired by an organization on an on-demand basis. A contingent workforce consists of freelancers, independent contractors and consultants who are not on the company's payroll because they are not full-time employees of the organization. Organizations can hire a contingent worker directly or from a staffing agency. Such workers are usually added on an ad-hoc basis to a company's workforce and work either onsite or remotely. They generally receive fewer (if any) benefits and less pay than full-time workers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, and are less likely to be protected by labor and employment laws.

The contingent workforce is an important element of an organization's workforce strategy as it provides businesses with additional agility and flexibility. Over 40% of the U.S. workforce is now made up of contingent workers, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The rise of the gig economy is also fueling the growth of the contingent workforce.

Contingent workforce advantages

Cost savings is one of the major benefits for organizations that hire contingent workers. Organizations save on administrative costs associated with hiring and maintaining full-time employees. Companies hiring contingent workers do not have to make contributions to their Social Security, make unemployment contributions or pay payroll taxes. Organizations are also not required to offer contingent workers health insurance and provide them perks like paid time off.

Flexibility is another benefit of the contingent workforce. Organizations can hire contingent workers on an ad-hoc and on-demand basis, and then terminate their employment once the work requirement is met.

The contingent workforce also helps businesses offset a skills gap. Contingent workers provide businesses with a large pool of experienced candidates who are already equipped with the skills required to execute a project efficiently.

4 BEST PRACTICES IN CONTINGENT WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT

1 - Get external support

Unless your company has experience and expertise in the process of managing and hiring contingent workers, there’s no better way to improve the management of your contingent workforce than outsourcing, or at least getting advice, from a specialist.

By outsourcing your contingent workforce management to a managed services provider (MSP), you will have access to experts who can evaluate, redesign and streamline your current management processes to get the most out of your investment into contingent workers.

A specialist MSP will give you the access to the expertise needed to ensure your organization is meeting the latest government regulations, finding the best talent within your sector, properly organizing your payment and compliance and providing a more enjoyable place to work for your non-permanent workers.

2 - Make sure you are vendor neutral

If you decide to outsource your contingent workforce management to an external expert, make sure that they are a vendor-neutral company.

Traditional MSPs were also staffing providers, meaning it was difficult to keep tabs on whether they were actually putting the interest of your company first or they were simply favouring themselves or particular staffing firms over others.

This conflict of interest would leave companies missing out on top targets, and largely seeing no real benefit from their contingent workforce program.

However, some MSPs are now turning to the vendor-neutral model, in which they offer a neutral service when it comes to staffing companies. This model puts your business first and ensures that you are fulfilling staffing requirements with the best available talent at the most competitive prices.

3 - Reshape and reorganize your company’s processes

Implementing a successful contingent management program isn’t as easy as just throwing it at your various departments and hoping for the best. In fact, it’s essential that you create a detailed plan that brings all departments into one centralized philosophy.

The main issue you want to avoid is allowing your various departments to create their own management techniques for the contingent workers that work under their department. This creates a fragmented approach and leads to inconsistent paying techniques and time-consuming administration.

An effective contingent management program should be centralized in one place. This prevents dysfunctional techniques and allows for the seamless and efficient administration of things such as payment, compliance and worker analysis.

4 - Make the most of innovative technology

The point of a centralized process bring us to our last point - making the most of innovative technologies that will automate the way you manage your contingent workforce.

A vendor management system (VMS) is a cloud-based system that acts as a central hub for the entire management of your organization’s contingent workforce. This gives you clear visibility into your entire non-permanent workforce, from contracts, expenses, time logs, performance reviews, payments and remunerations, compliance, onboarding and much more.

With the information of your old, current and potential non-permanent workers all saved in one database, your company will have the data and tools needed for rapid scalability, long-term growth and revenue growth.

Want to learn how HCMWorks can optimize your contingent workforce management program and ensure you are maximizing your ROI? Contact our team of experts today to find out more.

Contingent workforce advantages and disadvantages

Contingent workforce advantages

Cost savings is one of the major benefits for organizations that hire contingent workers. Organizations save on administrative costs associated with hiring and maintaining full-time employees. Companies hiring contingent workers do not have to make contributions to their Social Security, make unemployment contributions or pay payroll taxes. Organizations are also not required to offer contingent workers health insurance and provide them perks like paid time off.

Flexibility is another benefit of the contingent workforce. Organizations can hire contingent workers on an ad-hoc and on-demand basis, and then terminate their employment once the work requirement is met.

The contingent workforce also helps businesses offset a skills gap. Contingent workers provide businesses with a large pool of experienced candidates who are already equipped with the skills required to execute a project efficiently.

Contingent workforce disadvantages

There are challenges associated with hiring contingent workers. It can be difficult to find a contingent worker who can not only perform the required job, but who can also adapt quickly to an organization's corporate culture. Companies are also often skeptical of sharing insider information with these non-permanent workers.

Organizations can also face legal and compliance issues due to worker misclassification. If an organization declares someone a contingent worker when in fact he or she should be classified as an employee, the company runs the risk of paying hefty fines and penalties. Organizations must be aware of their industry's regulations in regards to contingent workers before developing a strategy for hiring them.

With more organizations relying on the contingent workforce, businesses must be prepared to meet the challenges and demands associated with managing the contingent workforce. It is therefore important to implement standardized processes for hiring and developing a contingent workforce.

What is the purpose of a contingent workforce?

A contingent workforce is a labor pool whose members are hired by an organization on an on-demand basis. A contingent workforce consists of freelancers, independent contractors and consultants who are not on the company's payroll because they are not full-time employees of the organization. Organizations can hire a contingent worker directly or from a staffing agency. Such workers are usually added on an ad-hoc basis to a company's workforce and work either onsite or remotely. They generally receive fewer (if any) benefits and less pay than full-time workers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, and are less likely to be protected by labor and employment laws.

The contingent workforce is an important element of an organization's workforce strategy as it provides businesses with additional agility and flexibility. Over 40% of the U.S. workforce is now made up of contingent workers, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The rise of the gig economy is also fueling the growth of the contingent workforce.

Contingent workforce advantages

Cost savings is one of the major benefits for organizations that hire contingent workers. Organizations save on administrative costs associated with hiring and maintaining full-time employees. Companies hiring contingent workers do not have to make contributions to their Social Security, make unemployment contributions or pay payroll taxes. Organizations are also not required to offer contingent workers health insurance and provide them perks like paid time off.

Flexibility is another benefit of the contingent workforce. Organizations can hire contingent workers on an ad-hoc and on-demand basis, and then terminate their employment once the work requirement is met.

The contingent workforce also helps businesses offset a skills gap. Contingent workers provide businesses with a large pool of experienced candidates who are already equipped with the skills required to execute a project efficiently.

Contingent workforce disadvantages

There are challenges associated with hiring contingent workers. It can be difficult to find a contingent worker who can not only perform the required job, but who can also adapt quickly to an organization's corporate culture. Companies are also often skeptical of sharing insider information with these non-permanent workers.

Organizations can also face legal and compliance issues due to worker misclassification. If an organization declares someone a contingent worker when in fact he or she should be classified as an employee, the company runs the risk of paying hefty fines and penalties. Organizations must be aware of their industry's regulations in regards to contingent workers before developing a strategy for hiring them.

With more organizations relying on the contingent workforce, businesses must be prepared to meet the challenges and demands associated with managing the contingent workforce. It is therefore important to implement standardized processes for hiring and developing a contingent workforce.

What is Contingent Workforce Management?

The art of contingent workforce management must be learned by managers who have people in their buildings who do not work for the company full-time. They are looking upon a set of people who are set apart from the company in some way, and this article explains how to manage people who are mot a part of the traditional workforce. Someone who is unaware of the finer points of the contingent workforce must study as much as possible before hiring their next contractor.

What Is The Contingent Workforce?

Contingent workforce management deals with anyone who works for the company from outside its walls, and they are not given the traditional benefits of those who work for the company full-time. Managers who are interested in serving the contingent workforce must learn the differences between their employees in the office and the people who come in from the outside.

How Are Their Lives Different?

The contingent worker is a contractor or temporary employee who will not be with the company for a long period of time. The workers are attempting to come in and get their work done quickly. They are not given the benefits of everyone else in the building, and they must move on to a new job once their work is complete. They do not have the office environment everyone else enjoys, and they are not working with benefits. They are paid, and they leave the building.

Related resource: 50 Most Affordable Master’s in Organizational Behavior Degree Programs 2016

Offering Support To Those Who Need It

The people who are in the office for short periods of time need support from the manager in-charge, and they will feel much more comfortable if they are treated as a part of the company’s family. They must know they have been given a place among the family, and they must fit in. Asking the staff to welcome them is a helpful beginning, and the business must treat each contingent worker as if they work there full-time.

Managing Their Budget

The budget that is offered for contingent workers must be used in a specific manner, and their money must not be squandered by management that does not understand their specific needs. Extra money that is used for the contingent staff will offer them incentives, better services for the staff and more help when they need it. The managers who are looking over their budget with the contingent staff in-mind will have much better services planned for each person under their care.

what does wireless lan mean

Stands for "Wireless Local Area Network." A WLAN, or wireless LAN, is a network that allows devices to connect and communicate wirelessly. Unlike a traditional wired LAN, in which devices communicate over Ethernet cables, devices on a WLAN communicate via Wi-Fi.

While a WLAN may look different than a traditional LAN, it functions the same way. New devices are typically added and configured using DHCP. They can communicate with other devices on the network the same way they would on a wired network. The primary difference is how the data is transmitted. In a LAN, data is transmitted over physical cables in a series of Ethernet packets containing. In a WLAN, data is transmitted over the air using one of the IEEE 802.11 protocols.

As wireless devices have grown in popularity, so have WLANs. In fact, most routers sold are now wireless routers. A wireless router serves as a base station, providing wireless connections to any Wi-Fi-enabled devices within range of the router's wireless signal. This includes laptops, tablets, smartphones, and other wireless devices, such as smart appliances and smart home controllers. Wireless routers often connect to a cable modem or other Internet-connected device to provide Internet access to connected devices.

LANs and WLANs can be merged together using a bridge that connects the two networks. Many wireless routers also include Ethernet ports, providing connections for a limited number of wireless devices. In most cases, wireless routers act as a bridge, merging the Ethernet and Wi-Fi-connected devices into the same network. This allows wired and wireless devices to communicate with each other through a single router.

What are the basics of networking?

A network connects computers, mobile phones, peripherals, and even IoT devices. Switches, routers, and wireless access points are the essential networking basics. Through them, devices connected to your network can communicate with one another and with other networks, like the Internet.

Switches, routers, and wireless access points

Switches, routers, and wireless access points perform very different functions in a network.

Switches

Switches are the foundation of most business networks. A switch acts as a controller, connecting computers, printers, and servers to a network in a building or a campus.

Switches allow devices on your network to communicate with each other, as well as with other networks, creating a network of shared resources. Through information sharing and resource allocation, switches save money and increase productivity.

There are two basic types of switches to choose from as part of your networking basics: managed and unmanaged.

• An unmanaged switch works out of the box but can't be configured. Home-networking equipment typically offers unmanaged switches.
• A managed switch can be configured. You can monitor and adjust a managed switch locally or remotely, giving you greater control over network traffic and access.

• Routers

  Routers connect multiple networks together. They also connect computers on those networks to the Internet. Routers enable all networked computers to share a single Internet connection, which saves money.

  A router acts a dispatcher. It analyzes data being sent across a network, chooses the best route for data to travel, and sends it on its way.

  Routers connect your business to the world, protect information from security threats, and can even decide which computers receive priority over others.

  Beyond those basic networking functions, routers come with additional features to make networking easier or more secure. Depending on your needs, for example, you can choose a router with a firewall, a virtual private network (VPN), or an Internet Protocol (IP) communications system.

  Access points

  An access point* allows devices to connect to the wireless network without cables. A wireless network makes it easy to bring new devices online and provides flexible support to mobile workers.

  An access point acts like an amplifier for your network. While a router provides the bandwidth, an access point extends that bandwidth so that the network can support many devices, and those devices can access the network from farther away.

  But an access point does more than simply extend Wi-Fi. It can also give useful data about the devices on the network, provide proactive security, and serve many other practical purposes.

  *Access points support different IEEE standards. Each standard is an amendment that was ratified over time. The standards operate on varying frequencies, deliver different bandwidth, and support different numbers of channels.

What is the best modem router combo?

Those of us with high-speed broadband packages already pay enough money each month for the connection without having to pay a pricey monthly rental fee to use the provider's equipment…which is often sub-par. Let's find out best modem router combo for you.

Those in the know are opting to buy their own modem/router combo to save money and in many cases have a much better product, not to mention faster internet speeds.

The following is a helpful guide to choosing the best cable modem router combo available on the market.

Why a Cable Modem Router Combo?

The advantages of going for a cable modem router are that you get the flexibility of placing the router at any location and getting easy access to the Internet.

Moreover, tweaking the performance of the router with the help of a third party firmware also makes it a reliable product to be used in this given timeframe.

Most of the cable modem routers come with enhanced security features like the DOCSIS 3.0 and hence can be the perfect product for your Internet accessing needs.

Additionally, the cable modem router is necessary for people making use of a cable or a wired broadband Internet connection. In order to get blazing fast speeds at cheap rates, one needs a wired connection.

The cable modem is necessary in order to make the data flowing through the cable to be accessed by the computers and other electronic devices.

How do I get Internet without cable?

One of the main issues people face when deciding whether or not to cut the cord is that of how they’ll have access to the Internet from home if they cancel their cable TV subscription.

Since so many cable companies bundle Internet access with cable TV and landline phone subscriptions, it can sometimes be a challenge to find a company that offers Internet access only.

However, there are options out there. When our family moved from the city onto a hobby farm about 45 minutes out of the metropolitan area there was only one choice for cable. Being we’d decided to ditch the cable subscription after we moved, we were no longer interested in doing business with the one available provider.

Luckily there was a provider who would give us Internet access and landline phone access too (we wanted to keep our landline) without having to purchase a cable provider.

Best Ways to Get Internet Without Cable

These types of companies exist all over the country. Here is a list of some of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who will give you Internet access in your home without having to purchase a cable package.

1. FreedomPop

FreedomPop provides wireless Internet for users via a hotspot. A hotspot is a wireless access point available in a public location, but you can use them in your home too.

With the FreedomPop Internet service you can choose from a variety of plans to get Internet access. Here are the details on their different plans.

What is WLAN and its advantages and disadvantages?

WLAN stands for wireless local area network. Wireless made the communication more easy in today’s world. This wireless communication facility is confined to a area of few meters only. This facility is very useful for communication within a building or campus. We use radio frequency for communication in this network. It provides a very high data rate, coverage area is small so the traffic. As light of sight is not required for the propagation, it is a reliable form of communication. Any type of network uses some standard protocol for transmission of information. IEEE standard provides architecture and protocol for WLAN. IEEE stands for ” Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers”. IEEE standard provides facility of time bounded and asynchronous service. Asynchronous service means more band of frequency for service in one direction than the other. Synchronous service allows same band length in both the directions. WLAN uses two basic transmission technologies for its setup. They are infrared transmission technology and radio transmission technology. Now infrared technology is not used as it requires line of sight and is easily hindered by the obstacles in its way. so, infrared is not reliable. However wireless technologies are prone to interference and noise . The interference can be due to environmental problems like rain, thunder etc. But in spite of  some disadvantages, wireless is more advantageous. Wireless communication provides great flexibility. The advantages and disadvantages of WLAN are:

Advantages

managed service provider

A managed service provider (MSP) is a company that remotely manages a customer's IT infrastructure and/or end-user systems, typically on a proactive basis and under a subscription model. Today, the terms "cloud service provider" and "managed service provider" are sometimes used as synonyms when the provider's service is supported by a service level agreement (SLA) and is delivered over the internet.

The evolution of MSPs began in the 1990s with the emergence of application service providers (ASPs), which offered remote application hosting services. ASPs helped pave the way for cloud computing and companies that would provide remote support for customers' IT infrastructure. MSPs, for the most part, initially focused on the remote management and monitoring (RMM) of servers and networks. Over time, MSPs have expanded the scope of their services in a bid to differentiate themselves from other providers.

While some MSPs may specialize in specific segments of information technology such as data storage, others may focus on specific vertical markets, such as legal, financial services, healthcare and manufacturing. Managed security services providers (MSSPs), for instance, offer specialized services such as remote firewall administration and other security-as-a-service offerings. Managed print services (MPS) providers, meanwhile, offload the task of maintaining printers and supplying consumables.

Pricing model for managed service providers

In per-device pricing, the MSP charges the customer a flat fee for each device under management. In per-user pricing, meanwhile, the MSP charges a flat fee for each user, accommodating users who use multiple devices. In all-inclusive pricing, also referred to as the all-you-can-eat model, the MSP charges a flat fee for all the IT infrastructure support and management services the MSP plans to offer.

In each of those pricing approaches, the customer pays the flat fee on a regularly scheduled basis, often monthly. Such pricing methods let MSPs sell services under a subscription model. This approach provides the MSP with a monthly recurring revenue (MRR) stream, in contrast to IT projects that tend to be one-time transactions.

MRR is one aspect of managed services work that differs from other business models in the IT solutions provider and channel partner space. Solutions providers pursuing the break/fix model, for example, usually price their services on a time and materials (T&M) basis, billing an hourly rate for repairing a customer's IT equipment and charging for parts or replacement gear.

What Does WLAN Mean?

A wireless local area network (WLAN) provides wireless network communication over short distances using radio or infrared signals instead of traditional network cabling.

What Does WLAN Mean?

WLAN means wireless local area network. A WLAN can be built using any of several different wireless network protocols, most commonly Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

Network security remains an important issue for WLANs. Wireless clients usually have their identity verified (a process called authentication) when joining a wireless LAN. Technologies such as WPA raise the level of security on wireless networks to rival that of traditional wired networks.

WLAN Devices

A WLAN can contain as few as two devices and as many as one hundred or more. However, wireless networks become increasingly difficult to manage as the number of devices increases.

Wireless LANs can contain many types of devices, including:

• Mobile phones
• Laptop and tablet computers
• Internet audio systems
• Gaming consoles
• Other internet-enabled home appliances and devices

How do you manage Managed Services?

10 Steps To Becoming A Managed Service Provider

You’re considering adding Managed Services to your existing offering, capitalizing on managed recurring revenue in a market that plays well with your existing core competencies. Before you jump into Managed Services, make sure you have these ten elements lined up:

1. Your Audience:
   Are you planning to offer Managed Services to your existing base or are you going after a brand new market? If you’re going after your current audience, will Managed Services cannibalize or complement your current offering? If you’re going after a brand new market, how will their buying behaviors differ from what you’re used to? Your sales people are likely going to have to make a major shift in process when selling recurring services over projects. Will an additional shift in audience be too much for them to be successful?
2. Your Offering:
   Speaking of salespeople, it is extremely important that they know exactly what they should be selling and have no room to make things up. We keep our managed service offering very simple, and that’s what we recommend for you, as well. Internally, we call these our platinum and plastic offerings. Platinum incorporates every all-you-can eat service you can think of, including hardware and parts replacements. Plastic includes everything that you can do remotely, with an hourly charge for on-site work. Forget about the Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Lead models. Just stick with Platinum and Plastic, and you’ll thank yourself in terms of ease of sale and service as you grow.
3. Your Process:Like we said, the recurring sale is very different than a project sale. You can’t go in there, ask a couple generic questions, and then send over a quote, focused on line items, equipment costs, and hourly estimates. The Managed Services sales process is much more involved, and if you want to be successful about 80% of the time, you can’t skip any steps.
4. Quotas/Commissions: Salespeople sell what they’re most comfortable with, likely because it brings them the most success and boosts their paychecks. If you want your salespeople to begin selling Managed Services, you need to set clear expectations, including realistic quotas and commission structures, specifically for the Managed Services offering (we don’t recommend simple lump numbers). For example, we quota our fulltime salespeople to generate between $2,000 and $4,000 in net new managed recurring revenue each and every month. Determine what makes the most sense based on expectations for your other services, bearing in mind that you need to reward what you want them to do, not expect them to jump onboard the new shiny penny.
5. Training Program:In addition to quotas and commissions, make sure that you’re adequately training your salespeople. I’m not just talking about products and technical training, here, as some of our most successful sales reps have come from industries far outside of IT. Instead, you need to train them on the process, shifting their mindset from the project sale to the recurring revenue sale. As you go through training, watch your salespeople carefully. They may be able to hack it in Managed Services, they may not. It’s easier to recognize this process early, fire them, and bring someone new on, than fight with them for 6-9 months without them making any sales.
6. Eat your own Dog Food:You need to make yourself an example before you start implementing the service for others. That means you need to operate your internal environment as if you were your very first Managed Service client down to how your staff inputs tickets, sticking to strict SLAs, and measuring the profitability of the “agreement”. Treat your own company as a true testament to your Managed Services offering, working out all the kinks before you go live with anyone else.
7. Business tools:There are two tools that are critical to your Managed Services success, an RMM (remote monitoring and management) and a PSA (professional services automation). Your RMM will allow you to implement an efficient, automated service offering from the beginning, while your PSA will keep your organized from a ticketing, project, and sales tracking perspective. If you have to pick between these two tools to save money out of the gate, pick the RMM and add a PSA as quickly as you can thereafter.
8. Service Structure:Are you converting existing team members to run this new division, are you bringing a whole new stack of people onboard, or are you planning to shoulder Managed Services yourself until the offering takes off? Regardless of your plan, make sure you lay out clear job descriptions, career paths, and standard operating procedures. This will create the foundation for service efficiency, accountability, and profitability.
9. Getting the Word Out:Far too many people rely on an, “if you build it, they will come” mentality. In all reality, people are not thinking about you as much as you’re thinking about you. You have to tell them what’s going on in order to get them interested. This means making marketing announcements, going out to visit big clients, asking for referrals, updating the website, working with the media, and hosting events. Also, remember, it’s not good enough to do this once or twice. You need to do a major marketing push to get this new division off the ground. People are familiar with your existing brand, now you need to show them what’s next.
10. Go or No-Go Date:Give Managed Services a fair shake, but don’t just persevere with the offering forever if it’s not making the strides you thought it would. Major caveat to this, though, a fair shot means following each of the above items to a tee, ensuring that you’re setting yourself up for success. If you’ve done that, and the offering hasn’t grown or become profitable within 9-12 months, it’s time to either pull the plug or make a major change! Set your go or no-go date from the beginning, give clear deadlines to accomplish everything talked about above, and ensure that you’re giving yourself the best shot to succeed at Managed Services.

What is the difference between hostname and IP address?

A host name is a combination of the name of your machine and a domain name (e.g. machinename.domain.com). The purpose of a host name is readability - it's much easier to remember than an IP address. All hostnames resolve to IP addresses, so in many instances they are talked about like they are interchangeable

A name is a label that is used to distinguish one thing from another. A person's name, for instance, comprises a set of alphabetic characters that allows a person to be individually addressed. Computers are also named to differentiate one machine from another and to allow for such activities as network communication.

Computers have always needed unique addresses to talk to each other. With the advent of the Internet, the requirements for enabling computers to communicate with each other on a network included the concept of the hostname. The hostname began as a simple string of alphanumeric characters (and possibly a hyphen) and has evolved to its current definition, where hostname means a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) that absolutely and uniquely identifies every computer hooked up to the Internet via the Domain Name Service (DNS) naming hierarchy.

The true "name" a computer needs in order to communicate on a network is actually a set of numbers. The original computers connected as the Internet used small integers as the host number. For TCP/IP, the main protocol used by the Internet, each computer has a network IP address that follows a specific set of rules to assure its uniqueness and validity. (Additionally, port numbers further specify the access points for particular services on a computer).

It has always been user friendly to associate a host name with a computer (while the computer maintained its internal numerical host number or network address). One of the initial Internet RFCs, "Standardization of Host Mnemonics" lists the table that associated host numbers with their corresponding host names for the first Internet computers. This table was kept in a file called HOST.TXT that was stored on every computer that wished to communicate.

While the original file was not so daunting at 20 entries, it became quickly apparent that this solution was not scalable or flexible enough as the number of host computers connected to the Internet exploded. In order to accommodate the problem of connecting all of the new computers being added to the Internet, a hierarchical database of host names was created called DNS. DNS associates host names with their IP addresses. A complete domain name (that is, an FQDN) includes the name of the host concatenated with its domain name. This naming convention allows for a hierarchy of domain names with the host name being the most specific (and "left-most") part.

What does a managed service provider do?

Managed services is the practice of outsourcing the responsibility for maintaining, and anticipating need for, a range of processes and functions in order to improve operations and cut expenses. It is an alternative to the break/fix or on-demand outsourcing model where the service provider performs on-demand services and bills the customer only for the work done.

Under this subscription model, the client or customer is the entity that owns or has direct oversight of the organization or system being managed whereas the Managed Services Provider (MSP) is the service provider delivering the managed services. The client and the MSP are bound by a contractual, service-level agreement that states the performance and quality metrics of their relationship.

Advantages and challenges

Adopting managed services is intended to be an efficient way to stay up-to-date on technology, have access to skills and address issues related to cost, quality of service and risk. As the IT infrastructure components of many SMB and large corporations are migrating to the cloud, with MSPs (managed services providers) increasingly facing the challenge of cloud computing, a number of MSPs are providing in-house cloud services or acting as brokers with cloud services providers. A recent survey claims that a lack of knowledge and expertise in cloud computing rather than offerors' reluctance, appears to be the main obstacle to this transition. For example, in transportation, many companies face a significant increase of fuel and carrier costs, driver shortages, customer service requests and global supply chain complexities. Managing day-to-day transportation processes and reducing related costs come as significant burdens that require the expertise of Transportation Managed Services (or managed transportation services) providers.

Managed Dedicated Hosting Definition

A managed server is your own dedicated hosting service that also provides data storage services. In addition, managed servers have their own maintenance and backup systems. ... The one big advantage of managed servers is that they relieve the clients of having to maintain the servers themselves.

What is Managed Hosting?

Those in the digital space are familiar with Managed Hosting in one way or another.

This is a business model where a service provider leases hardware to a single customer. The service provider also provides management of the servers, software, and networks necessary for hosting for the customer.

If an issue arises, a managed hosting provider is there to help pinpoint the problem and rectify it.

What is Fully Managed Dedicated Server Hosting?

Fully Managed Dedicated Server Hosting is an isolated hosting environment where the provider handles the setup, administration, management, and support of the server or platform application. The resources are specific to the user ensuring that your data alone is hosted in your environment without being affected by the issues that arise from sharing resources.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the most popular example of multi-tenancy. This is where many sites or applications exist on the same server. Quite often, shared hosting divides the server resources among customers. This would include storage and bandwidth and in some cases RAM and CPU cores.

Think of shared hosting as a home with renters all sharing the same living space.

Managed Dedicated Server Hosting

Dedicated hosting would be an example of single-tenancy. With this type of environment, a single customer hosts their site(s) or application(s). With managed dedicated server environments, the server hardware and resources for that hardware belong to that single customer.

To continue with the above analogy, think of dedicated hosting as a home with one occupant. This avoids “noisy neighbors” encroaching on your space, disrupting your space and the space of those visiting your site.

Managed Server Services

Managed Server Services

As production workloads move to the cloud, companies are grappling with covering increasingly complex data center components too numerous to be effectively managed with existing staff. IT departments are aggressively working to find more efficient processes to manage their server assets.

Tight budgets and distributed data centers increase the number of unmanaged and unmonitored assets within an organization. This can lead to performance issues, abandoned servers and heightened security risks. Managing these assets in-house is expensive; suffering a data breach on an unmanaged server can be catastrophic.

CompuCom’s Managed Server Services manages the ever-evolving components of your data center so that all of your assets are monitored and maintained, your environment stays healthy, and your users stay happy and productive.

How CompuCom Can Help You

By allowing CompuCom to monitor, manage and repair your servers, you can repurpose resources including your staff, time and money to more business aligned functions. With CompuCom, you get:

• Our highly trained and certified IT pros, who bring an impressive level of expertise to a company, enabling you to scale your resource coverage while containing costs.
• Managed services that provide efficiencies of scale for servers, from traditional infrastructure to virtual to cloud. This results in simplified visibility across server environments while reducing management and operational costs.
• Active server monitoring and management that allows you to reallocate staff and resources for more vital services directly related to business tasks.
• 24x7 monitoring that offers assurance to end users of increased system uptime, as any problems are discovered early and resolved more quickly.

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