Why your C-suite needs managed services

Whilst managed services has its roots in outsourcing, it’s not the same and the distinction is an important one to understand for all CFO and COOs.

The world has come a long way from outsourcing low-end processes, often IT-related, to more efficient specialist ITO and BPO providers based offshore.

Managed Services is now solving a more complex equation for companies – how to balance the clear need to invest in new technologies, often to access critical regulatory data from numerous disparate systems, and genuinely add value to the broader business in a function that is too often viewed as a cost center. This issue is compounded by the accelerating regulatory landscape, together with difficulty in accessing and retaining key international expertise.

As one executive put it to me the other day, “The truth is we don’t compete on how great our finance or tax function is but if they’re not effective, it’s a huge issue - that’s a hard business case to make when it comes to prioritizing investments.”

Managed Services has essentially taken outsourcing upmarket. It’s now about the value-add elements of the value chain. Yes, it can improve cost efficiency, but that’s more a function of the fact that most organizations still require a fair degree of transformation in their core functions. The magic happens when you combine the deep domain expertise required to truly run these functions globally with a state-of-the-art technology stack that leverages the new technologies and common data sets that exist to provide, not just comfort that things are being run compliantly, but to highlight previously unavailable insights.

Consequently, this is not a market in which everyone can play. It requires a rich tapestry of scale, geographic footprint, technology capabilities and, crucially, technical expertise and qualifications (including potentially certain licenses) that few are capable of combining.

Managed services is rapidly becoming a key weapon in the C-suite arsenal, capable of addressing needs that outsourcing does not and one that we’re seeing more and more companies add, which, if nothing else, should beg the question, “How are you managing without managed services?”

Ready for a discussion about how your business could benefit from managed services? Message me direct or leave a comment below.