What is a software house?

In addition to software and hardware products, a software house also offers complete IT solutions and acts as the middleman between end customers and man­u­fac­tur­ers. Companies that depend on a high-per­for­mance, secure IT landscape can count on the IT solutions that software houses provide. They adapt to current changes in the IT industry and keep your systems up to date.

A software house is also known as an IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) and is often equated with regular IT service providers. In fact, the range of services offered by modern software houses goes far beyond setting up and offering software and hardware. Software houses are commonly defined as IT companies that, in addition to software products and separate hardware, offer co­or­di­nat­ed, ready-to-use all-round IT solutions for companies.

This means that a software house not only provides suitable IT com­po­nents for your company, but also ensures that they are properly managed after in­stal­la­tion, handles updates, and remains your personal contact in the event of IT problems. Depending on whether companies have their own IT de­part­ment and only want to hand over in­di­vid­ual IT processes or whether all IT tasks need to be out­sourced, the range of services offered by the software house adapts to customer needs.

The IT industry is changing and therefore so are the tasks and re­spon­si­bil­i­ties of a software house. While a classic software house was primarily an IT provider and supplier, the self-image of software houses is changing to an all-round IT service for companies. Since today's business world is no longer con­ceiv­able without powerful IT systems, more and more companies are dependent on an optimal IT in­fra­struc­ture and, to a large extent, on the ac­com­pa­ny­ing service it offers. Instead of merely providing IT systems and hardware com­po­nents, a software house today serves as a full-service IT supplier, su­per­vi­sor, and contact partner. Whereas IT service providers used to operate on the break/fix principle, which meant they were called in by companies to help in the event of a system failure, many companies now use complete IT out­sourc­ing instead.

The services of a software house depend on the re­quire­ments and wishes of the customer. The core task is basically always the same and that is to support companies in im­ple­ment­ing and main­tain­ing an optimally co­or­di­nat­ed, modern, and highly secure IT in­fra­struc­ture. Which specific tasks are included here depends on the IT provider's portfolio and spe­cial­iza­tion.

In addition to the in­stal­la­tion of complete IT solutions, a software house offers the following services:

• IT emergency help and support: If a network or server failure occurs, companies contact the software house and can have problems analyzed im­me­di­ate­ly remotely or arrange for a thorough fault analysis and rec­ti­fi­ca­tion on site.
• Managed services and mon­i­tor­ing: To prevent IT emer­gen­cies and security gaps, software houses carry out an analysis of the company's internal IT system. Based on this, they create an IT strategy and various security measures. Here, mon­i­tor­ing software solutions and cloud services such as cloud disaster recovery can be used to prevent failures or recover data.
• IT security: With regular load and security tests, software houses check the security of computer systems and take care of im­ple­ment­ing antivirus software, automatic backups, and firewalls.
• Main­te­nance and update: In order to keep im­ple­ment­ed software and hardware up to date and to guarantee the highest security, a software house takes care of system main­te­nance, either remotely or on site.
• IT con­sult­ing: Companies that lack an overview of in­no­va­tions in the IT sector can consult software houses to identify potential for op­ti­miza­tion in the company's internal IT de­part­ment.
• Cus­tomiza­tion of existing ap­pli­ca­tions: If companies already have software ap­pli­ca­tions, e.g. ERP or CRM solutions, software houses help to ef­fi­cient­ly adapt ap­pli­ca­tions to customer needs and train employees.
• Setting up and managing network services: Smooth business processes depend on high-per­for­mance network services. Software houses set up suitable network services for customers and take care of the ad­min­is­tra­tion.

Companies that don't have an IT de­part­ment or only a small one es­pe­cial­ly benefit from software houses. With a com­pre­hen­sive IT service, they optimize business processes, the security of company and business data as well as emergency response and hazard defense.

All ad­van­tages at a glance:

• Robust, modern IT in­fra­struc­ture in which software and hardware com­po­nents are co­or­di­nat­ed and optimally im­ple­ment­ed
• Set-up of PC work­sta­tions, telephone services, servers, and network services
• Reliable IT support for questions and problems
• Emergency IT as­sis­tance in the event of cy­ber­at­tacks to fend off attackers, eliminate malware, and recover or restore data
• Switching to secure cloud services, for example, to archive emails and business data in encrypted form and for the long term
• Audit-compliant backups in ac­cor­dance with legal data pro­tec­tion re­quire­ments
• Services and benefits tailored to companies that are more cost-effective than setting up your own IT de­part­ment