* Preliminary reader feedback on managed services
A couple of weeks ago we posed the question as to why managed services have not taken off to the extent that one would think that they should. We postulated that the reasons may range from inappropriate service offerings to pricing to fear of job loss to the inability of the service providers to sell effectively. Today we’ll offer some snippets of comments received thus far.
One reader simply stated that: “From my perspective, these range from limited feature sets, concerns about data ownership, concerns about the outsourced business durability with the potential for data loss all the way up to regulatory issues including the rigorous demands of HIPAA and Sarbanes.” And we think this is a great start on the answer.
Another commented: “The ‘missing ingredient’ is a true customer service orientation. Unfortunately, the attitude of the telcos (as exhibited by their billing, customer service, order processing, and troubleshooting/repair practices) is one of a monopoly public utility. When push comes to shove customer service will take a back seat to the needs of the bureaucracy.”
This reader continued: “As such, I will rely on them (with fingers crossed and appropriate contingencies in place) to provide bandwidth and dial-tone. Beyond that, managed services require a business partner that has the desire and ability to listen to their customer’s needs and respond appropriately. The telcos claim to be that partner, but ultimately have disappointed those that believed those claims. Why haven’t I adopted managed services? I have more confidence in my own organization’s desire and ability to support our business needs than I do in the telcos.”
In fairness, though, we also must mention that a reader took issue with our basic premise. This reader wrote: “Are people really digging their heels in to stay away from managed services? I wouldn’t entirely agree. I know of enterprises that are on the extreme outsourcing end – having outsourced 95% of their IT infra management. So I asked their CTO how many IT staffs they had, and they laughed and said, 3 or 4. Where cost-saving becomes visible and apparent, MS [managed services] will gather momentum as it rolls.”
Please note that we are positioning these comments as “preliminary” because we would like to hear more from you on this topic. We think there may be deeper issues, and we would love to hear of your experiences. To participate in this discussion, please join us at the “Issues and News” section of Webtorials.
