Regardless of how large and well-qualified your IT staff and management may be, infrastructure advisory services can help you make the right choices to take your organization to the next level.
Even the most famous world-class athletes and teams have coaches to keep them at the top of their game. That’s because no matter how good you are, skilled independent observation complements what you already know and offers new insight.
Infrastructure advisory services can help you investigate, understand, evaluate and integrate new opportunities to improve every aspect of your IT operation.
So, exactly what can you gain? Here are five things to consider:
Experience.
IT infrastructure consultants with well-established credentials, top reputation and demonstrated success working with companies like yours can strengthen your existing team with additional capabilities and know-how.
They’ll have hands-on experience to understand your marketplace as well as your company’s specific data center requirements and service delivery challenges. They’ll have detailed, cutting-edge familiarity with current IT infrastructure system design. And their real-world business experience means they’ll recognize your bottom-line need for reduce costs while maintaining or improving service levels and quality.
Their experience can provide you with valuable lessons learned, which can improve your "time-to-market" for reducing costs and improving services.
A helping hand.
Considering IT infrastructure changes can be a daunting task. It’s time-consuming and research-intensive. Do your people have the time and other resources to devote to this without sacrificing current service levels? Are they fully up-to-date with the latest trends and emerging alternative models for infrastructure management and service delivery? Do they understand the options and sometimes-intricate nuances of the various pricing models?
You don’t have to do it all yourself.
Greater self-awareness.
Successful IT transformation depends on carefully assessing your current situation as well as understanding all the ramifications of potential new solutions. Your advisors can assist with conducting this all-important first step as well as the additional phases of your preliminary and final vendor/provider selection process.
They’ll help set the stage for you, so you can accurately pinpoint needs and opportunities. And they’ll work with you to establish the most pertinent metrics to evaluate your current status and also monitor ongoing progress after you transition to new solutions.
Advocacy.
Infrastructure advisory services give you a strong partner, someone that’s in your corner and committed to working on your behalf to select and negotiate the best solutions.
They’ll help you devise a holistic, tailored plan that supports the type of transformation most valuable for your company, whether that’s entirely internal or includes managed services, outsourcing or other possible solutions.
Creative solutions.
IT infrastructure alternatives available today – and still emerging – can offer outstanding opportunities to both reduce costs and improve services. You not only need sound advice but creative thinking to ensure you’re getting the right combination of technology and management services so the result is a well-integrated and high-functioning system.
Taking advantage of infrastructure advisory services can help your company go from good to great with the right, strategically-crafted solutions, perhaps even something you might not have considered on your own. You can find and adopt leading-edge technologies, processes and/or services that can reduce costs, improve productivity and enhance service levels. You'll get actionable steps that match your functional needs and effectively minimize risk.
Your consultants will assure you have all the information you need to make solid decisions, help negotiate the most advantageous contracts as quickly as possible and stay with you to ensure your transition goes smoothly.
Photo Credit: Laughlin