10 Mantras of IT Infrastructure Outsourcing

Outsourcing IT infrastructure to professionally competent companies seems fruitful many a times. We discuss here all that you need to consider before you embark on the deal

Friday, October 03, 2008

The brittle old geek with years of experience can't get a word in, as the young system administrator, tells everyone how to concentrate on their expertise and let others do what they do the best. “You are great in making branded products for your consumers but IT infrastructure management is like a Russian bird to you”, he says.

It is a blessing that business leaders have begun to understand that, technologies are critically important today not only for everyday business operations but also business continuity. More technology-centric businesses employ their own technical staff to build, deploy and support software that is a unique part of their business. Regardless of your level of IT sophistication, the management and support of business infrastructure is most likely not a core competency.

The solution hence is outsourcing the IT Infrastructure to professionally competent companies.

Let's have a look at the mantras of IT infrastructure outsourcing.

Focus on your core competency- IT infrastructure management is not a core competency of your company. You may be a world leader in planning go to market strategy for your clients , provide them with the best of legal services or even manufacture industrial products for them. The IT Infrastructure supporting all or any of these core activities is not a direct revenue generation function for your organization. However it has a definite bearing on both your topline as well profitability.

So while you focus on your core business, leave the IT Infrastructure management to those whose core business is just that i.e. IT Infrastructure. However, you should be very careful in choosing the right outsourcing vendor matching your business needs.

Predictable costs over time- There are 2 distinct advantages here; you can fix the cost of managing your IT Infrastructure by out sourcing the same instead of fire fighting with an ever increasing spend, or the cost of out sourcing IT Infrastructure Management always works out to be more cost effective if all the factors like recruitment cost, attrition cost, employee support cost et all are taken into consideration. IT infrastructures can experience significant cost savings. You can save 20-30% on overall costs to support your IT infrastructure. Most companies are not accounting for all the costs associated with employing good technical resources and tools to support their infrastructure. The cost of IT staff includes salaries, vacation, sick time, software for help desk management, upkeep on technical training and certifications, and general business overheads – not to mention the cost of employee turnover. These costs also do not include hiring specialized IT resources when more complex issues arise – a service usually provided as part of an overall service agreement with an IT outsourcing company.

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) - Experienced IT services companies provide you with the control over the work that gets done through Serice Level Agreements (SLAs), so you always know what you're paying for. The best IT outsourcing companies provide you with the right kind of tools with customized dashboards, so you can monitor work being done real-time. This gives you visibility into how infrastructure support work is being assigned and completed and how satisfied your systems users are with the service they are receiving.

A right mix of own team and out sourcing - You can supplement employed technical staff to improve overall performance and efficiencies by outsouring the repetitive and volume part of the scope. A fixed schedule maintenance and support agreement that covers specified areas of technical support can be an important part of a proactive approach to supporting your IT infrastructure. This can ensure that the basics are getting covered while internal staff focus on new demands and the strategic roadmap for the organisation.

No need to hire in house technical expertise – The ever changing business dynamics and thus the need for various technologies, platforms and skill levels creates a challenge to keep hiring technically skilled resources in different technologies, platforms and levels. A professional outsourcing partner will make this seem easy through a consistent process of scope evaluation and thus suitable solution.

If you feel like the only way to support your IT infrastructure is by hiring employees you should explore your options. There are several options for IT outsourcing that most business leaders do not realize they have. There are free and easy ways to explore your needs, potential costs and qualified IT services firms with no obligation to buy and keeping your name private so you won't be solicited.

Your business might be growing or changing and your existing IT resources may not be adequate to keep up. If your IT support is having trouble keeping up with the pace of change they often are not fulfilling requests on time or are 'learning on the job' to try to support your business – it's time for a change.

Your business has a frequent need for specialized technical expertise so you hire them as needed. If you find yourself needing to bring in technical expertise on a regular basis this might be a signal that your existing IT resources are not adequate. You might be able to contract with an IT service company on a fixed-fee arrangement to handle your specialized needs and reduce spikes in expenses due to hiring a specialist.

Reactive to proactive to predictive IT Infrastructure Monitoring and Management – The right out sourcing partner based on the experience, tools & technologies will ensure that the total uptime of your IT Infratsructure improves consistently. Optimisation of the existing IT Infrastructure ensures that you are able to serve your customer – your business better along with a better return on investment (ROI) on your IT spend.

You are experiencing more systems outages or down-time than you would like. This may be an indication there is no one monitoring your machines to warn you before outages occur. The best IT outsourcing companies have monitoring options that helps you to be more proactive about system stability to reduce downtime.

You are looking for more ways to make your business competitive and feel your existing IT resources 'just don't get it'. Sometimes the best hired technical resources are exceptional at fixing problems with technology, but don't seem to understand where you are trying to take your business. Improper IT planning for changes in business strategies can lead to more costly IT problems.

To save money you have given the responsibility to manage the IT resources to an executive who has other responsibilities. Sometimes a Controller or a person with additional responsibilities is handed the task of managing the IT infrastructure. Companies think they are saving money by having one person with dual roles. In reality, performance in both job functions suffers because more time is spent on problems in the area that person is weakest an hence productivity goes down. Hiring an outsourced IT professional improves productivity because qualified resources can focus on what they do best.

Single Window Approach
The outsourcing approach leads to a single window approach for all your IT Infrastructure requirements spanning from Data Center management to end user computing to multi vendor management. This in turn saves effort, time & money in allocating various resources for each domain thus improving the ROI.

By outsourcing, you reduce the cost of managing infrastructure. This can be extremely helpful in any stage-setup, maintenance, and of course, expansion.

Aseet Pal Malik, Progressive Infotech

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