In a traditional break-fix support model, the service provider is economically incentivized every time there is an infrastructure issue and the provider reaches out and fixes the issue. The higher the skills and qualifications of the professional who is fixing the IT issue, the higher the payout. Conversely, in a fully managed services model, the vendor is financially motivated to provide nominally acceptable services.
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Once your organisation has decided to use IT Managed Services, the next crucial step is to find a partner who understands your IT environment and associated challenges. The chosen Managed Service Provider should also have technical experts in his team to proactively resolve all your IT issues before they can have any impact on your business continuity.
The best way to choose a managed service provider is to first define and document the IT requirements of your organisation. At this stage, you should be very clear about your business and financial objectives as these will drive the technological changes. The next step is to check the professional experience and reputation of the chosen Managed Service Provider. You can also check with the chosen service provider if he can provide technical support at all the levels needed and desired by your organisation. Outsourcing is one of the most critical strategic decisions that an organisation takes to leverage its capabilities and to succeed in a fast changing business environment. In spite of fierce arguments from the supporters of outsourcing and insourcing, sourcing strategies vary and are largely dependent on the business technique and holistic view of the organisation in question.
As the IT Services market has matured, organisations can find a number of service models being offered in the market; each of these models offer unique benefits such as cost savings, flexibility and collaboration. It is needless to mention that each of the service models also pose unique challenges and that is the reason why organisations should identify the right outsourcing strategy, depending on their sourcing maturity and appetite for risks. No outsourcing strategy is right or wrong and organisations should map it to their business plan to allow the business to make essential changes that can help fine-tune to changing market conditions. Virtualization has been around for a number of years. Are you thinking, that’s not true, virtualization is a recent development. Well, it’s not – virtualization actually began in the 1960s. As technology advancements happened at a rapid pace, virtualization went into hibernation and it was brought back with a bang by VMware at the end of the 20th century.
As of now, everyone who is anyone in IT has to be aware of virtualization and it many benefits. While everyone agrees that it is important and useful, not all IT departments have the budget or volumes to be able to implement it in their organisations. However recent changes and awareness of the benefits is forcing IT heads to seriously consider using virtualization across their business. A few benefits of desktop virtualisation are: Programme management is an important service among IT Project Management. The service has gained huge popularity in the last five years. The main advantage of this service is that it helps in establishing a cost-effective IT infrastructure. Other advantages are that the members of the in-house IT team can be trained by the resources of the IT supplier. The consultant does not charge the company for this service, as it is a value-added service. There is huge pressure on margins and getting best returns from IT budgets.
There are several other benefits of engaging them. The most important benefit is expertise. The resources of the IT suppliers have several years of experience working for different companies, domains and operating environments. Therefore, when there is a change in the operating environment, they can help the resources of the in-house IT team to work on the new operating environments. This helps them to improve the capabilities of the in-house IT team. Moreover, they help in integration of technology and generating superior ROI, as a result of outsourcing business processes. The latest development is engaging with these service providers on a co-sourcing business model. In this engagement model, the resources of the IT supplier compliment the functioning of the in-house IT team. Therefore there is no loss of business control, as the resources of the IT supplier work with the in-house IT team. The in-house IT team will be able to work quickly and complete project deliverables, quickly. This will improve the client satisfaction rates. The IT consulting field is extremely competitive as there are now several companies offering this service. As the need for the service grew and the related benefits became better known, the budget spent on this service also grew. System integrators and IT suppliers began to offer this service in addition to individual consultants, since they wanted a share of the profits. With so many options to choose from, companies find it difficult to select the provider that can best meet their needs. There are cases where a business has found out too late that the service provided by the IT consultant they chose was not suitable for them and they had to face a big loss in productivity and ROI.
It is therefore of paramount importance to select a consultant who fits your specific requirements. There are several factors to be considered when choosing an IT consultant. One of the most important factors is to check the nature of services offered by them and compare that against your needs. A primary requirement would be a high level of flexibility to accommodate changing project requirements. For instance, if the project requires the services of professionals on a part-time basis for a few days of the week, it is important to check if the IT suppliers’ resources operate with such flexibility. Other factors that need to be assessed are the different industries serviced by the consultant, whether they have a satisfactory track record with respect to your industry, their experience in similar projects, the availability of project managers with necessary accreditations in project management and their capability to deliver a project on time. It will be an added advantage if the supplier has resources who are comfortable with multiple languages as that will eliminate a number of communication issues caused by a lack of knowledge of the local language. In the earlier days, there were not many IT service providers that specialised in IT consulting. In fact it was not perceived as a service that required niche expertise. Companies were not particular about engaging this service, during the initial phases of the outsourcing revolution. However, companies soon began to realise the benefit of this service. Therefore, they looked for a supplier who had a specialization in IT Consulting. Generic IT consulting did not suffice to meet the requirements of all organisations. IT suppliers realised that they had to offer additional expertise in the vertical to continue to be competitive in the market.
There are broadly two categories of IT consulting. One category of IT consultants helps the company to understand their requirements. The other categories of IT consultants engage with the client during the project. Some consultants offer both services. It is advisable to engage the services of consultants who offer both these services. The advantage is that they can help companies during both phases and also suggest remedial actions. Companies are able to save several millions of dollars by engaging the right IT consultant. IT consultants help with the strategy, execution and also with other services, as may be required by the client. Some IT consultants offer resources and project managers in addition to their consulting expertise. There are other IT consultants who offer bespoke and flexible services to address the specific requirements of the client. Though there are different types of IT consultants in the industry, it is important to choose the best player who meets the specific requirements of the company. This helps them to reap optimal benefits from the IT consulting services. While IT outsourcing is a widely preferred service, there are certain myths that surround it. The three common myths about this service are that there is loss of quality, sensitive data and business control. To an extent, these points were true during the initial phases of the outsourcing industry in certain specific cases. Though the industry has adopted several best practices, there is a lack of awareness and IT outsourcing services are generally perceived only as a cost-cutting tool. Many organisations hesitate to even consider the idea of outsourcing for fear of a reduction in the quality level. However, it is certainly possible to use outsourcing services without compromising on quality.
Theft of sensitive data and loss of confidential customer information are another threat. While there have been rare cases in the past, most IT outsourcing service providers adopt stringent standards for background checks of employees and also carry out several internal process improvements to ensure the safety of the data that is entrusted to them. Therefore, data safety is no longer an issue. There is also the fear that business control will be lost when working with an IT outsourcing partner. This would happen only if the business does not retain their key resources. When a company’s key resources oversee the operations of the outsourcing service provider, they retain business control. Thus, a business can go ahead and engage with an outsourcing partner with no worry about these myths. IT managed services is a sought-after area in the business of IT outsourcing. Companies prefer to engage with a managed service provider primarily to increase the efficiency of their in-house team and provide better value to their clients. IT management service also provides for IT security and maintenance. Vendors may also offer other additional services and it is important to include the preferred services, define and include its scope before agreeing for a contract with a service provider.
There are several benefits of outsourcing this important service. Companies stand to gain from additional expertise and the advantages of shared knowledge-pool. This will help them to get work done quickly. Investing in a managed services company offers superior benefits in the long-run. Since, the vendor brings in diverse experience of working in multiple companies and handling even more challenging issues, they can help to maximize the potential of IT management in this organisation. Besides, they can also benchmark the best practices and create a process that is easy to emulate. This process will come in handy, in case the resources of the vendor are transferred to a different unit or location of the company. The vendor can also work towards constantly improving the process on par with industry norms. This gives companies the dual advantages of owing a process team who are equally well-versed in delivering IT management, in times of dire need. It is still possible to completely oversee IT management through in-house team, but the cost-benefits of outsourcing it is phenomenal. Several case studies and industry reports cites successful instances of companies achieving substantial benefits of cost and increased service efficiency-levels through outsourcing IT management. Therefore, companies should adopt the right engagement model to optimise benefits from outsourcing IT management. A traditional outsourcing model may not be the right solution to outsourcing IT management. The primary reason is that the company may lose business control. A collaborative Co-sourcing model ensures that the company and their vendor works in partnership to achieve perfect IT management. This will also avoid unnecessary layoffs. The resources of the companies can also be transferred to the payrolls of vendors, if required. The biggest advantages are with reference to knowledge transfer and business control. Since, the company will facilitate the process of knowledge transfer and also the business control does not get transferred from the company to the vendor as in a traditional outsourcing model. Remote IT support has become a winning advantage to companies that make use of their services. It is possible to save lot of time and money by availing the services of an IT supplier who offers remote IT support. Apart from the time and cost savings involved, there are other business advantages such as availability of specialist expertise and skills of working in different operating environments.
Initially there were a lot of drawbacks such as miscommunication due to cultural differences, different time zones, etc. Companies invested lot of money and time to plan and implement training programs to help employees get an awareness of cross-cultural sensitivities. Similarly IT suppliers offered services through a centralised help desk. Through this desk, the IT supplier was able to manage the different regions. This support was available round the clock and not necessarily only during the business hours of the respective regions. In the case of the earlier ‘follow the sun’ model, IT suppliers offered their services in the respective region’s business hours. IT suppliers offer several value-added services through IT support. Since the resources of the IT supplier have the advantage of working for different clients, they have expertise in different platforms. They are able to pass on the benefits of this knowledge to the client. Analysts predict huge growth for the services offered by them. |