SELECTING THE RIGHT OUTSOURCED ICT PROVIDER
ICT SERVICES
Despite the rapid uptake of outsourced ICT services, many South African companies still find the risks of adoption unacceptable. With data breaches a tangible risk, companies question how much they should rely on managed service providers. However, by selecting the right outsourced service provider, you can mitigate against these concerns. As experts in this field, Emid has highlighted some of the most important factors to consider when partnering with an outsourced service provider.
Trust
“ Enhancing and expanding our product suite on the existing platform proved impossible and became a burning issue for the business. We wanted agile and savvy user interfaces. We needed to be able to change business direction easily, without losing sight of our business strategy. Emid knew how to enable us throughout the development and implementation life cycle.”
Kosie Koekemoer, Old Mutual Executive
all changes are documented and approved before being applied.
Security
Benefits of ICT Outsourcing
• Reduction of operating costs by reducing the staff complement.
Trust is the most important requirement for a successful partnership. With managed services vendors having access to and managing extremely confidential information, trust is the one factor that must be present. To identify trustworthy providers, search for vendors with strong reputations who have demonstrable references and testimonials.
Disciplined Approach
In the managed services industry, discipline is of tantamount importance. Disciplined staff who adhere to mature processes and regulations are invaluable when providing managed services. Customers expect strict adherence to industry best practices, especially since the vendor might be controlling infrastructure that is essential for their day-to-day operations.
Effective Change Control Management
Strong project management and change management skills and processes are integral aspects of an outsourced ICT service provider. Customers expect their projects to be delivered on time and within budget, and the ability to manage the project as well as scope creep is extremely important. Change control is an integral part of the quality management process and the purpose is to ensure no unauthorised changes are made, and that
State-of-the-art security is of utmost importance in the modern ICT scene. Customers expect their vendors to provide the highest level of security for infrastructure, hardware, and software. The Wall Street Journal states:“ The higher the volume of sensitive data a third party manages … the greater the risk that the confidentiality of that data will be compromised.” Knowing that their data is being stored on vulnerable hardware or knowing that their service provider’ s security has previously been breached can prove untenable for most customers.
However, if a service provider manages to keep their staff ahead of the curve and has stringent security and penetration prevention protocols, and carries out annual comprehensive security audits, providing the results to their customers, you can rest assured that your information is secure.
Monitoring
The very essence of an outsourced service is to free up a business’ s capacity for core business tasks. The aim of the managed services partner is to ensure that your IT equipment and software is always available and performing at an optimum level. The vendor must be able to demonstrate powerful 24 / 7 monitoring functionality and innovative dashboards.
• Since internal ICT solutions will have been outsourced, a number of staff will be freed up in order to deal with other business aspects, and management can focus on the core business.
• Due to the fact that outsourced ICT providers have a wealth of experience in the implementation field, it’ s highly likely that solutions will be implemented faster than if the implementation was completed in-house.
• Quicker resolution of ICT issues, as the outsourced provider will have a large, dedicated response team that is constantly at the forefront of the curve.
As a business, you’ d be looking for an outsourced ICT partner that is trusted, secure, and disciplined – the trick is in finding the right partner. Emid’ s track record in the Managed ICT sector speaks for itself. Its data centres act as the beating heart for many South African businesses. Its cutting-edge technology ensures that we have incredible uptime records, as well as zero breaches in security – this is what brings about the level of trust and satisfaction all of its clients experience. ■
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