Service Provider

What Does Service Provider Mean?

A service provider is a vendor that provides IT solutions and/or services to end users and organizations. This broad term incorporates all IT businesses that provide products and solutions through services that are on-demand, pay per use or a hybrid delivery model.

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Techopedia Explains Service Provider

A service provider’s delivery model generally differs from conventional IT product manufacturers or developers. Typically, a service provider does not require purchase of an IT product by a user or organization. Rather, a service provider builds, operates and manages these IT products, which are bundled and delivered as a service/solution. In turn, a customer accesses this type of solution from a service provider via several different sourcing models, such as a monthly or annual subscription fee.

Examples of service providers include:

  • Hosting service provider
  • Cloud service provider
  • Storage service provider
  • Software as a Service (SaaS) provider
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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…