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The Move to Managed Services is the Smarter Way to Invest IT Dollars

Ray Harris, CIO, Ironbow Technologies

Ray Harris, CIO, Ironbow Technologies

Today, technology changes so fast that there will likely be something new to consider before you finish reading this article. To keep up with quickly evolving technology, organizations often make an investment in IT that require large capital outlay, take months or even years to implement and when they are done the Technology is obsolete or requires a major upgrade. When it comes to the budgeting process and trying to make the most of your investment dollars, organizations of all sizes should consider finding a solid, trusted managed service provider they can utilize to implement their solutions without losing momentum, money and time.

Consider the great migration to the cloud as an example. Most of the companies are looking to implement cloud services to realize cost savings and to manage and mitigate risk, all while increasing time to market. Using a traditional procurement model to move to the cloud can be costly up front and requires in-house expertise to manage the assets in the cloud. Companies could realize all the benefits without the upfront costs with a trusted managed services partner.

In addition, procuring a managed services provider to implement a cloud strategy can simplify your operations long-term as well as simplify how you pay for new technology going forward. In a managed services model, you benefit from turning what would have been CapEX dollars into OpEX dollars. In addition, you gain a partner–a trusted advisor and expert–who can show you the best technologies available to accomplish your mission, how they fit with the current landscape of what you are trying to accomplish and how to integrate all of those together to create a guaranteed roadmap for the success of your overall project.

For example, instead of purchasing the hardware, software and services you might want today (but will likely become obsolete the moment you start using them) and realizing the need to manage them across budgets, you can stretch that investment out over time by contracting with a managed service provider. Further savings come from paying “by the drink,” meaning you pay only for the services you use when you use them. It is OpEXvs. CapEX that makes it easier for companies of all sizes to invest in IT because it creates a more elastic, more simplified version of how to pay for the technology you want for your business’ success.

From an operational perspective, you eliminate the need for expert staff to manage all of the disparate technologies you may be using. By partnering with a managed services provider, you gain that IT expertise with professionals who can manage the technology integration and package it in a way that is attractive for your organization without large personnel or equipment line items hitting your budget. Find a provider that offers attractive payment options and can support your organization with all the adoption and sustainment services, such as training, service desk and performance metrics which are required for a successful use of the technology throughout its lifecycle.

Organizations have a number of reasons why they choose to move to managed services. Whether it is to take a large, complex solution and simplify it from both an operational and cost perspective, implement a technology for which they do not have in-house expertise or outsource their entire IT organization, or to quickly adopt and leverage new technology, managed services is an attractive alternative. It allows organizations to focus on their core competencies, growing their business and quickly adopting new technologies in a cost-effective and simplified manner while someone with deep IT expertise manages their technology and its growth.