[Webinar Summary]: How Managed Services 5.0 Can Help Businesses Define Success In The New Normal Era
With millions working remotely, it has caused a major transformation in the infrastructure of businesses today and there is no doubt that re-engineering your IT environment is an essential part of the path towards a new reality. It’s no more just about moving towards emerging technologies, it is also a time to build a resilient BCP with well-informed, risk-based decisions enhancing better preparedness for the future.
We usually position Managed services tools as a solution to our IT problems, instead, now we should first understand how a tool can benefit a business. Whatever diversified models we declare in Managed Services, anybody can do it. But when it comes to business, we need to align service delivery with business processes. The most critical element of creating a differentiated Managed Services 5.0 is to shift from people-centric models to self-service capabilities with zero employee downtimes and hence delivering a better experience to customers. This process reversal in the Managed Services 5.0 model can be a game-changer for business success in the new normal.
There is no denying to the fact that technology plays a vital role in almost every business’s daily operations — whether it’s a multinational IT firm or doctor’s office or a hotel front desk. And as reliance on IT grows every year, the means to support it must evolve as well. However, as these systems grow and evolve, many businesses fail to have the resources to effectively manage their ever-growing networks. And eventually, tech failures start to hit hard, making them feel the burn on revenue, cost, and capital.
So, what usually companies do when they encounter some sort of IT failure? They reach out to some sort of technical support; try to troubleshoot what the issue is or just raise a ticket and wait for the technician to come running to fix it.
However, this might be a feasible option for individuals, but not for businesses — they seek a more strategic path in order to better organize, operate, and safeguard their business. Because it quickly gets overwhelmed with the amount of work necessary to keep everything up-to-date and running smoothly.
This is where Managed Services come into the picture. It is designed to handle the daily operations of specialized applications providing the capability to companies and therefore allowing in-house IT to focus on more strategic IT programs.
However, lately, because of the COVID-19 outbreak, businesses around the world have witnessed a significant transformation in the way they operate.
This now poses a great opportunity to move past the traditional form of managed services for IT and pave a new and holistic way of looking at managed services.
We at Team Computers recently conducted a webinar on the Future Model of Managed Services 5.0. In the webinar, the panelists discussed almost every aspect of re-engineering the IT environment in the new normal and a roadmap to create a futuristic 5.0 model.
Below is the summary of the discussion that came from the on-the-ground experience of hands-on industry experts and gave some interesting/actionable insights.
Managed Services 5.0
Before we jump right into all the points covered in the webinar, let us first understand what is Managed Services 5.0.
As mentioned, the COVID pandemic has changed the landscape for many businesses, and managed service providers (MSPs) are no exception. The transformations have long since been underway. But, the COVID pandemic, followed by the business evolutions, has just helped speed up the transformation.
Every business evolves and that brings a bevy of changes. Businesses today have more expectations from MSP and are looking for more efficient and better ways. And Managed Services 5.0 solves just that. Based on 5 building blocks — business SLA vs IT SLA, business process aligned service delivery, managing contingencies effectively, the role of automation and optimized resource utilization and performance — this future model of Managed Services for IT will transform the space for the better.
In A Nutshell
“Don’t automate where you should not automate. Give solutions which are more oriented towards your current business needs”
The foremost purpose of a CIO is to align IT with the business of an organization for competitive advantages. However, it’s not limited to that, a CIO also needs to take care of the organization’s day to day operations which include making sure the business applications are up and running, ensuring governance, risk, and compliances are well in place, etc.
Prior to the COVID pandemic, the needs and wants of business were mostly around saving cost, increasing revenue, making operations seamless. However, things have changed now — CIOs are on the lookout for providers who take that extra mile and align with the CIO objectives as well. And this is where the change is needed.
However, first, we must understand why SLAs must move beyond IT and play a role in the business aspect as well. SLAs are a critical component of any outsourcing and technology vendor contract. However, amid the industry’s best practice hype, companies don’t realize that they must shift beyond IT SLA. Companies must understand that the purpose of the service level management practice is to set clear business-based targets for service levels. “Business-based” is the key phrase here because not every business stakeholder is looking for generic service delivery — it is rather looking for a model that aligns business objectives with the services.
Simply put, MSPs must understand the business it is going to serve. It is really imperative for an MSP to acknowledge a business’s goals and ensure the delivery of its services is oriented towards it.
The traditional form of managed services is not going to stay relevant for a longer period. The COVID pandemic and the new normal has changed the infrastructure. In a nutshell, it’s time that MSPs not just focused on IT SLAs but also put in focus and extensive efforts on business SLAs.
Furthermore, automation is another aspect that needs much more emphasis than we think. Automation has been around for quite some time now. Many industries have been leveraging its capabilities to the highest level, while many are just on the surface level.
When it comes to Managed Services, it is not like automation has not played its role; however, there’s still room for improvement and implementation to address a business situation or operational requirement. Making the relevant use of automation can help significantly in reducing labor-intensive manual tasks, streamline workflow, accelerate processes, eliminate costly delays, and reduce human error. And it is the need of the hour, without an inch of doubt!
The webinar also covered other imperative aspects of the future model of Managed Services. The panelists discussed the relief measures to the overall COVID pandemic such as reducing the cost/scope for our business continuity and how businesses would re-evaluate their expectations from Managed services providers such that they are better prepared for any more crisis occurring in the future.
Outlook
The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on business all over the world. Now, as the COVID graph starts to flatten, businesses begin to recover and move into the next and beyond phase. However, several challenges need to be tackled on an urgent basis. And it is more than just addressing them more effectively – they must reimagine entirely new solutions.
One of the prime ways to go about it is through managed services. Even before the COVID pandemic, managed services have been an excellent solution for business of any domain, but now the number of companies considering moving to an IT managed services provider is just massive.
Companies have understood that adopting managed services is efficient and effective. It can make their business much stronger and can drive in significant revenue.
And this where MSPs like Team Computers step-in. With a robust and comprehensive managed services model — Managed Services 5.0, it helps companies make the bold moves that will define success in a very different business landscape.
