Transformation Success through Technology Services

IT Transformation is the buzzword within enterprises today. It is a vast term encompassing a wide range of activities ranging from reshaping the underlying IT infrastructure technologies and applications to a total overhaul of the IT landscape. The objective is to make IT a value enabler for business. Organizations are betting on areas such as Software Defined Infrastructure, Internet of Things, Cloud, Big Data & Analytics to help them achieve their goals and IT has moved beyond the usual “keep the lights on” way of working. Transforming IT will require reimagined processes and innovative practices to support mission critical technologies.

The digital technology revolution has given the impetus to organizations worldwide to pursue transformational IT strategies. Transformation of the IT landscape also helps them improve their time to market by increasing their agility, flexibility, and precision. However, the complexity and uncertainty revolving around the new technologies means that the in-house IT departments will require the expertise of their IT Service Partners to achieve Transformation.

IT Service Providers have an inherent set of advantages that make them indispensable to their customers. With a vast talent pool to deliver on a wide range of emerging technologies, cross skilled staff that can work on multiple projects, expertise on delivering on stringent SLAs/outcomes, and extensive industry domain knowledge, IT Service Providers are integral partners in the success of enterprises.

Technology services: The Key Element for Transformational Success

In order to deliver value to their customers, Service Providers will have to create delivery frameworks that enable resiliency and flexibility while also ensuring cost efficient IT that is aligned to business objectives. However, it should be noted that, implementing such frameworks is no easy task. It requires thorough planning, a long term vision, and flawless execution. Thus, having a specialized team with expertise in Technology Landscape management, Competency Enhancement, and Incident Management will be crucial for Service Providers to implement the framework.

Let us dig a bit deeper into the areas where this Team will help Service Providers deliver value.

• Adoption of Niche Technologies

The adoption of new and emerging technologies such as Software Defined Infrastructure, DevOps, Hybrid Cloud, Internet of Things etc is accelerating rapidly. The ability to deliver agile infrastructure is now a standard requirement for Service Providers and Data Centers are being reimagined as a scalable suite of services sitting on top of the IT infrastructure and delivered to the business in the most flexible manner possible. Open Source Hardware & Software have also become an attractive proposition for enterprises because of the flexibility they deliver along with cost benefits.

There are numerous niche technology companies who have come out with some highly innovative solutions for some very challenging problems. Partnering with these players will help Service Providers build customized solutions for their customers and help the technology players scale up their capabilities.

Enterprises will understandably be uncertain about the value of these emerging technologies either due to the risks associated with them or because of the inherent resistance to radical change. To put these fears to rest, cutting edge solutions can be showcased in technology Centers of Excellence (COE) labs. These labs will feature cutting edge technologies in a range of scenarios implemented using best practices. Through immersive technology walkthroughs, Customers will be able to see for themselves the benefits that will be provided by the solutions.

• Service Restoration

Major Incidents are an inevitable part of running an IT environment. These high impact incidents require thorough technical expertise combined with Domain knowledge for their resolution. The Technology Group will leverage their expertise to provide round-the-clock mission critical support, reduce downtime, and ensure consistent services experience to customers.

Proactive analyses will be done to reduce single points of failure, check of compliance, identify design deficiencies, and benchmark the performance against third party external reports. Technology Domain standardization initiatives will also be carried out for consistent service delivery throughout the project lifecycle.

• Training & Cross Skilling

The technology group  will train the staff  in these emerging technologies so that they deliver the ‘New World Infrastructure’ to their customers. Effective training and development practices will allow for faster adoption of new technologies while also improving employee satisfaction and motivation. Cross skilling enablement of these professionals will also be done because being proficient in just one technology tower will not be sufficient. This will help in building a team of highly skilled engineers with skills that cut across technology domains and reduces the need to depend on only a limited set of people for a particular skill.

• Career Development

Hiring and training the best technology engineers will not be sufficient to ensure peak and sustained performance. Nurturing the career of these engineers will be an essential and core component. The Technology Group will regularly assess the performance of the technical staff  and communicate a career roadmap for their development. Employees with a clear and realistic idea of their goals and objectives will be better placed to deliver higher value to customers. They can also set targets to upgrade their skills thereby reducing the possibility of career stagnation.

As we can see, having a technology group is essential for IT Service Providers to flawlessly deliver cutting edge solutions to their Enterprise customers and ensure rich user experience. This team will be instrumental in helping customers on their journey of Business Transformation.