* Predictive assessment and action. While in-house and outsourced resources can solve problems, they generally don’t have the process-driven systems necessary to predict and analyze key patterns and take action using that knowledge. One of the key benefits of systematic, automated solutions is the clear visibility they provide into technical problems and the ability to analyze the likely frequency of them occurring. Outsourcers should constantly assess and analyze infrastructure performance to ensure it is meeting established service levels. They should provide access to trending data and actively predict, for instance, when a company may run out of data-storage capacity. Drawing on insights and best practices from an array of clients, outsourcers should provide predictive guidance that helps clients better invest in IT infrastructure for maximum effectiveness.
* Dynamic, scalable business models. Business models based on labor can scale up arithmetically, but business models based on systems can scale exponentially. While process-driven outsourcers actively use the skills and expertise of their people as leverage, labor-driven outsourcers add more people to meet greater demands. Over time, these two models lead to a significant divergence in terms of value, quality and capability.
Low-labor cost models offer apparent advantages in the short term but they may be unable to scale cost-effectively to meet the growing needs of their clients. Nor can their systems capture the knowledge and insights drawn from past experience. When talent is hired away, they take their client knowledge and experience with them. Infrastructure outsourcers should actively capture knowledge and embed it in the system, not merely in the minds of consultants.
Demands are exploding for everything from network support, database administration and help-desk assistance to computing capacity, data storage, security and other areas. Companies that hope to keep up with the enormous infrastructure demands associated with strategic IT must have service providers who can scale to meet their needs.
It’s important to recognize that companies can realize quick wins with respect to outsourcing discrete, technical tasks associated with specific aspects of the underlying IT infrastructure. While some outsourcers handle an array of outsourcing roles and manage all sorts of IT assets, new-wave outsourcers tend to specialize.
Companies that are disappointed with their outsourcing deals tend to be in labor-driven relationships of the past. Fortunately, there are new opportunities for companies to begin embracing outsourcing in a way that limits risk and gives rapid returns. These opportunities represent a path to operational excellence as the challenges of infrastructure management become increasingly clear.