If you read the trade press, you will occasionally run across an industry-watcher that believes you don’t need outside help to transform your enterprise into an all-new IT operation. But the reality is, more companies than ever are seeking assistance from IT sourcing advisors because they realize they cannot make top-quality decisions on their own. Professional advice is more valuable now than ever, because there is so much at stake.
Deciding whether or not to outsource used to be a pretty straight-forward thought process. And your options were cut-and-dried – either you did, or you did not, outsource. Not any more. Things are dramatically different, and that’s why you need IT sourcing advisors now more than ever. Let’s look at some of the contributing factors.
Rapidly increasing complexity of delivery options.
From data center leasing and colocation to virtualization and cloud computing, the world of IT outsourcing has become a world of myriad choices to support total transformation or outsourcing a few selected services. And that doesn’t include the nearly unlimited ways you can combine these options. That’s a benefit, actually, because it means you can design a high-level solution that’s exactly tailored to your company’s current and long-term needs.
But wading through the options and understanding the nuances of each one takes knowledge and skill. And that’s just the beginning.
Rapidly increasing complexity of service provider options.
Once you’ve figured out the right solution, you still have to figure out who should do the work. This is at least as critical to your future as the “what,” and once again the marketplace has undergone explosive growth. You have to find a provider with significant skills, a sterling reputation, internal stability so you know they’ll be with you for the long haul . . . you get the picture.
And you have to like them, or you won’t like working with them. What criteria are you going to use to learn all that about possible candidates?
Increasing complexity of pricing options.
Yes, even pricing comes in many flavors now. And while that’s also to your advantage, understanding the intricacies of various options and negotiating SLAs and other contract details that will also be to your advantage takes practiced skill.
Your IT operations costs continue to spiral upward.
You simply have to get out in front of this issue to control your organization’s destiny. It’s a distraction and an impediment to efficiency as well as effective planning so you can fulfill your corporate vision. Not to mention the waste of precious monetary resources.
Your competition is doing everything they can.
They’re upgrading, streamlining, embracing the latest technology and tools and thinking. It’s frustrating and a lot harder to catch up than to stay in the lead, so you have no choice but to do everything you can, too.
You need help.
Don’t you already have a pile or work on your desk (or hidden in your credenza), a cramped schedule and expectations all around? The rest of your C-suite team and managers throughout your enterprise are in the same position. It’s not that you don’t have the ability to research and analyze your IT options, you just don’t have time. You need to find solutions now.
IT sourcing advisors know things you don’t.
They work with cutting-edge IT research, trends and best practices every day. They know how to craft solutions and they are personally familiar with providers and their comparative capabilities.
The best advisors have real-life, top-level IT management experience in large companies like yours, maybe even your same industry. They get it, so you can rely on them to advise with insight and understanding. You’ll get recommendations that make sense. Solutions that will take you smoothly into the future and serve you well then, too. That’s why you need IT sourcing advisors now more than ever.
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