Application support offerings from system integrators are becoming more unified and less siloed in response to customer demand for the simplicity of ‘IT-as-a-service’. The era of consumable computing is here, according to Chris O’Brien.
“Providing a holistic business approach” is a phrase IT services companies are fond of using when wooing customers, but what does it really mean? Managing the ‘full stack’ has, to date, not been an easy promise for system integrators to live up to. Complex customer IT environments, competing departmental business objectives, and the challenges associated with delivering innovation – capital expenditure costs, ongoing resourcing issues and the risk of obsolescence – have traditionally undermined efforts to provide an elastic, all-inclusive managed IT service.
However, the rise of cloud computing in its many shapes and sizes is revolutionising the way organisations conduct their IT and business activities. And, it has set up an expectation in the market that IT delivery – from end-user mobile apps right back up the chain to database power and platform delivery – is now an asset that can be consumed on a subscription basis. It is a new paradigm that is breaking down the traditional boundaries between implementations, support and infrastructure delivery. In the new world integrators must be flexible enough to offer a less siloed approach – one that involves managing a changing combination of software, maintenance, and infrastructure – all wrapped up in an easy to consume licensing model.
The new approach being adopted by some system integrators reduces the distinctions between software support, infrastructure provision, licensing, or any other essential IT services. The offering becomes a ‘managed solution’ that combines all these elements, and is provided to customers in a way that fits with their state of readiness for moving from an on-premise landscape towards an ‘IT-as-a-service’ model. By doing so, they hope to provide customers with a packaged offering that smoothes out the peaks and troughs in IT spend and focuses on reducing the total cost of ownership.
Of course, every customer is different, has diverse priorities and is at varying points along the IT maturity path – but their overriding drive is to manage their computer resources in a way that allows them to focus purely on their core business. Delivering IT-as-a-service supports that business focus and the managed solutions model should be flexible enough to service the piece of the puzzle that is most important to the customer. For example, if a customer has permanent licenses and is happy with on-premise software, but requires new infrastructure, the system integrator should be able to pick that part of their IT landscape up and move it to the cloud. The customer continues holding its existing licences, but consumes its SAP solution in a model that still feels like software-as-a-service.
The idea is to build better long-term value for the customer by moving capital expenditure items into the operational expenditure bucket. Using this model support organisations can, for example, offer a customer a package of upgrades, re-implementations and other core services and deliver them incrementally over the length of the contract.
These services are maintained and developed over time and the customer pays for them on a subscription basis, which minimises the major cost impacts of executing these as separate capital expenditure projects. The goal is to increase operational efficiency and innovation allowing customers to do business with minimal roadblocks and without burdening them with the planning and resourcing challenges inherent in executing big IT projects.
For customers, being able to deal with their ERP vendor using the same software-as-a-service model they operate for other providers will further help remove business barriers and bring ERP service into the ‘business as usual’ basket.
Chris O’Brien is practice manager, managed solutions – ANZ, UXC Oxygen. UXC Oxygen’s new Managed Solutions practice provides a full suite of services including, database management, licencing, software maintenance and optimisation, infrastructure, as well as application and cloud management. For more information about our Managed Solutions practice and the opportunities and benefits it will provide, please contact Chris.OBrien@uxcoxygen.com.
