Guide to selecting a platform-driven MSP to transform your networking

Enterprises in South Africa are facing a number of challenges. For one, they must navigate a highly competitive market that is constantly evolving. In addition, they must deal with issues such as increasing customer expectations, regulatory compliance, and cybersecurity threats. Further, the shift to hybrid working demands a dynamic, scalable and secure network infrastructure.

To stay ahead of the game, these businesses must be agile and innovative, leveraging technology such as cloud and hyperscale solutions to improve their operations and customer experiences. This trend seems to be driven by a desire for greater flexibility, scalability, and cost efficiency. Many businesses are recognising the potential for improved collaboration and productivity that these technologies offer.?

However, any technology adoption or outsource requires careful planning and execution, as well as a deep understanding of the unique challenges facing the South African market. Many options and technology choices lead to confusion, interoperability challenges and finding the best route to transformation. Inconsistent user experience across head office, branch and remote working locations quickly leads to dissatisfaction.

Also, with continuous budget constraints while the economy struggles to recover, CIOs need to sweat the plethora of assets for as long as they can while finalising their application and digitalisation strategies. CIOs recognise that they cannot achieve their business outcomes if they have not aligned their network strategy with those outcomes.?

To manage the complex requirements of software-defined and secure cloud-native networking, CIOs need someone to advise on how it is evolving, where they should invest in it, and how best to architect it. The NTT Global Network Report research shows that 93% of CIOs and CTOs agree (51% strongly) that they’re increasingly looking to partner with a specialist MSP for NaaS solutions while repurposing their in-house skill gaps and keeping pace with the need to innovate. The research findings show that most respondents agree a platform-based service will address these and future business needs.

Why you as a CIO should engage managed service providers (MSPs)?

• An MSP can guide you from network planning and design to full operation, maintenance and optimisation – even if you rely on multiple vendors, a mix of new and legacy network components, and an IT team with varying levels of skill and experience.
• MSPs invest in technologies – including analytics, automation and AI and ML – it is easier for MSPs to identify and address potential issues before they become major problems. MSPs also take care of implementing and operating these tools on your behalf.
• Also, the use of application programming interfaces to integrate various software packages and solutions makes it easier to implement a single view of your network for management and monitoring. This includes carrier management, especially if the SI plays the role of carrier aggregation to service your entire branch and DC footprint with dedicated or broadband network access.
• By outsourcing these services to an MSP, businesses can save time and money while also improving their IT operations. IT can have a new focus on driving innovation and business outcomes.
• MSPs support vendor-agnostic infrastructure and are able to manage towers of services from WAN to LAN to cloud networking under one contract, reducing the complexity of operating diverse environments and vendors.
• Beyond punitive service level commitments for respond and restore, MSPs now offer outcome-based contracts leading to as-a-service models. This means that progressive cost savings and greater risk sharing can be committed to the rest of your organisation, during and after network refresh.

Overall, technology is playing a crucial role in the growth of the managed services industry.?

Expanding on Network as a Service

NaaS is a form of managed services, where a third-party provider delivers and manages the network infrastructure for the business. This allows businesses to avoid the costs and complexities of owning and maintaining their own network infrastructure, while still having control over their network resources. With NaaS, businesses can scale their network resources up or down as needed, and pay only for what they use.?

Enterprises enjoy the following benefits:

• Support and availability: Buying NaaS from a specialist managed service provider means you get full-time expert support and higher levels of network availability, so you can focus on your core business while the NaaS team takes care of your network operations. You can also scale your network capacity up and down as needed.
• Security: Your security posture is improved through an internationally certified, secure-by-design approach with managed layers of control and governance. An MSP can optimise your network continually – to adjust to hybrid work conditions that present new security risks, for example, or to reserve enough bandwidth for mission-critical applications.
• Managing convergence across the multi-edge network: WAN edge, W/LAN edge, data centre edge, cloud edge, remote worker edge, IoT edge, OT edge, and so on—tracking consistent security, network availability and performance at every “edge” without compromising on user experience will be crucial.
• Visibility and analytics: You gain deep visibility of your network health and operations, with access to modern management tools and platforms that use automation, AIOps and predictive analytics.
• Innovation: It’s faster and easier than before to refresh your network hardware or software and deploy new network technology.
• Cost savings and ease of consumption: There are cost efficiencies because of the consumption-based model – budgeting for network services becomes more efficient and predictable, while capital outlay shifts to operational expenditure.?
• Greater flexibility: You can scale your network capacity up and down as needed, which typically results in cost savings, too.
• NaaS removes the need to invest in your own IT team to keep up with new skills and the need to innovate. Nor will you need to invest in, maintain and upgrade expensive network equipment, or deal with multiple vendors and their different licensing needs. Nor will you need to invest in, maintain and upgrade expensive network equipment, or deal with multiple vendors and their unique licensing needs.
• Employee experience: Your staff enjoy quality access to applications and business services from anywhere, which improves the employee experience

Overall, NaaS enables businesses to focus on their core operations while leaving the network management to the experts.

Wrapping MSP or NaaS with a AI-based platform and global skills

More clients are looking for a balance of autonomy across their network operations combined with the support of readily available help when they need it. In the past, managed service providers (MSP) were involved with maintaining on-premises computing and equipment. Today, it's more about remote monitoring and managing IT infrastructure and gaining access to skills and a modern operations toolset that delivers higher levels of network availability, better network health and deep, valuable insights into how the network is performing for users.

Together with AI-operations-enabled platforms and analytics, clients see:

• a 90% reduction in the number of incidents requiring manual intervention,?
• a 50% improvement in speed to identify incidents, and?
• a 50% improvement in time to repair.?
• Specialist skills and capabilities are needed for the successful implementation and day-to-day running of network operations, linking to regional service management resources from the MSP or your own IT teams.?

CIOs need to seek MSPs that leverage the latest innovation in AIOps, automation and software-driven, centralised management techniques while upgrading service levels, extending the scope of commercial flexibility, and placing the focus on business outcomes. This combination of platforms attributes, underpinned by system integration and managed partner heritage, ensures that enterprises gain improved network performance, operational efficiency, and greater business experience.

In summary

To make the outsourcing of your network a success, you should therefore think carefully when selecting the right partner to address your business needs:

1. A service provider should manage both the current state of your network and its evolution. They should also be able to incorporate the latest network technology, including improved security, analytics and AIOps.
2. Work with one vendor. This can minimize contract complexities and eliminate a lack of interoperability between vendors and the need to maintain multiple software versions, among other challenges.
3. Adopt the network-as-a-service model to save time and money. More than 90% of senior executives prefer this model, citing the flexibility to scale up and down as a major benefit, followed by supply chain certainty, accessing a catalogue of services from a single source, and a balance between operational and capital expenditure.

We recommend that enterprises get their journey started through engagement with a global MSP. A network assessment will enable the MSP to understand your business objectives, current technical environment, strategic direction and networking challenges to achieve your tactical goals and a tailored roadmap for you to transform your network operations to platform-delivered service operations, allowing you to focus on advancing your digital initiatives.

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