'In an economy in recession many enterprises have found that purchasing managed services from a third-party provider is a cost-effective alternative to increasing internal staffing, the managed services market will grow from nearly $30 billion in 2008 to nearly $43 billion in 2013.' (Source: "Managed Services in an IP World: New Opportunities for Wireless and Wired Networks 2009-2014" report by The Insight Research Corporation, USA).
As the global adoption of Managed Services grows what does this mean for Sri Lankan enterprises? First it is important to understand the difference between Outsourcing and Managed Services. Outsourcing is about taking on a full function or multiple service lines for customers and delivering them back on a Service Level Agreements basis.
It is more of a strategic partnership and tends to last for seven to 10 years. Managed Services, on the other hand, tends to consist of more tactical point solutions, dealing with single lines of infrastructure service such as storage or application hosting. They are more transactional in nature, and contracts are generally shorter, lasting between three and five years. In effect, Managed Services are a non-invasive approach offering the cost and skill advantages of outsourcing while enabling you to retain control.
Most Sri Lankan enterprises have invested in and built skilled IT teams, in addition there are some IT related functions that need to remain in-house. The problem is that the bulk of IT functions are repetitive, non-core and generate recurring costs; as a result your high value in-house team tends to get stuck in these day to day tasks and have no time for focus on value-added services. Managed Services are an effective solution enabling you to move out of the day-to-day management of these functions, freeing up your IT team to focus on cutting edge application, services or product development.
A core challenge in the current economic climate is managing IT budgets. By outsourcing selected ICT projects, enterprises can avoid up-front capital expenditure and grow their infrastructure with a cost amortized over a minimum of three years as an operational expense. Furthermore, the Managed Services model enables you to have fixed and predictable pricing over a longer period of time. Leveraging on economies of scale, Managed Services providers are able to adopt the newest technology trends at no cost to their clients and, with strict Service Level Agreements in place, you are guaranteed your projects are implemented and run on-time, every time - eliminating the inevitable cost of delayed deadlines and resource heavy implementations.
The writer is currently the CEO of Synapsys Ltd. a subsidiary of DFCC Bank focused on IT Consulting, Services & Solutions, and has over 15 years experience in ICT working for leading corporations in Canada and the USA.
Tips for adopting a successful Managed Services strategy
- Try adopting services on a limited basis with a specific part of your IT operations
- Determine which IT functions you are good at and perform economically and outsource the rest
- Admit that it may make sense to out-task than continue to
perform an IT task that you think you perform effectively
- Thoroughly evaluate the service quality and financial viability
of the managed service providers you are considering
- Ensure a good cultural match between your organization and your service provider.
|
E-mail