Take Your Business to the Cloud: A New Era of Technology Outsourcing

The role of outsourced IT service providers has changed somewhat since Thrive’s founding back in 2000. While at the macro level, the function of outsourcing remains, the complexities and value of the delivery model have evolved. This is especially true for technology outsourcing.

Not so long ago, the status quo for providing technology services to users would have looked something like this: a comms room within your physical place of work housing a top-to-bottom technology stack, typically comprised of complex networking, storage, and compute devices. This room would usually provide the backbone, applications, and data that is delivered directly to the user devices and workstations in that same physical place of work. This comms room would normally be replicated in its entirety to an offsite location, most commonly a data centre for continuity of service, and it would all be supported and managed by any combination of In-House Infrastructure, Development, and Support professionals. The entire ecosystem would come at a heavy cost both financially, and as a time and management burden.

One of the first major shifts in recent times came with the upheaval of this logical set-up, often referred to as “on-prem”, with a switch to removing the on-site comms room and shifting to an entirely Data Center-derived solution – what we know now as “private Cloud” or “co-lo”, depending on the set-type. This first major change removed the dependency on the physical place of work to host enterprise systems and data, made applications more readily available, and reduced proximity risk as it related to infrastructure and the physical place of work.

The second major shift derived from the global expansion and adoption of public Cloud and SaaS services. Until that point, technology outsourcing was very different. You most likely needed a data centre or two, you would have needed significant capital to invest in order to populate that data centre with technology hardware and circuits, and you would have needed significant expertise on staff in order to manage and support it.

The evolution of public Cloud and SaaS services has completely commoditized that same environment and while there are of course exceptions to this rule based on the type of services required, a service provider no longer requires a data centre or significant capital, and has a more linear and consolidated requirement for skills and expertise.

The internal team of professionals that would typically be on the company payroll has also moved to an outsourced function of the service provider, often rendering the entire technology function for all non-proprietary services a cost allocation that makes up part of an outsourced services budget. While this presents several other discussion and risk factors for debate, in the eyes of the customer it has been transformational. There are many more credible providers now available in the market and because they are all ultimately now selling a commodity, the choice for a customer is often a very simple one.

As complex as technology outsourcers like to think they are – and regardless of the value proposition they put to the market – the customer now bases their decision on two very simple factors:cost and service.

Although the former is of merit, it is the latter that holds the most value, as 5-star service would naturally command a higher cost than something suboptimal. While technology and all of the moving parts associated with complex networking, storage, server, and database estates used to be the value proposition (and it should be noted, is still the “behind the scenes” backbone of all public Cloud services), the shift to people, relationships, engagement, and service is now what sets providers apart. Customers are less concerned with the technology and far more concerned with the service and the people behind it.

Choosing your outsourced IT provider requires due diligence. Looking closely at a firm’s people, service, and processes is paramount to a successful partnership. Important things to look for in an ideal outsourced IT provider are:

• The speed in which matters are handled
• The manner in which incidents are handled,
• Familiarity with your industry’s needs, ideal tech stack, and users
• The overall professionalism of the team
• How the service provider manages talent acquisition and talent development
• How available your dedicated team is at a moment’s notice

You can buy the same commodity from a vast number of providers, but you choose to do business with your providers because of how they deliver, support, and manage it. With Thrive, you can feel empowered about your choice of outsourced IT provider. Partnering with us ensures that your business needs are understood and met with expert-driven recommendations. Additionally, Thrive provides 24×7 access to a dedicated team of experts that can help you meet your business goals and stay agile to potential threats. Contact Thrive today to learn more about how we can help your business, today.