Up until recently, price was considered to be a key differentiator used to separate one enterprise from another. However, now that the primary focus for most organizations is geared towards becoming more agile, efficient, and cost-effective, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to compete on price while sustaining profitable margins. In fact, according to Gartner’s Customer Experience Report, by 2017 89% of companies expect the customer experience to be their primary form of competitive differentiation.

Now, in order to create truly unique experiences that help to build a loyal and lasting customer base, businesses must allocate additional resources to employ the strategies and tools needed to deliver intuitive and seamless customer experiences. Meaning, rather than spending an internal resource’s valuable time on the daily management of non-strategic systems and tasks, organizations will need to delegate those responsibilities to outsourced service providers.

Although outsourcing has continued to grow in popularity due to its ability to facilitate reduced operating costs, enable enterprises to concentrate on core competencies, and provide access to a skilled and specialized workforce, many business leaders are still concerned about the risks often associated with outsourced solutions. Specifically with fundamental business functions, like mainframes, it’s not uncommon for IT leaders to be hesitant to cede control.

Here are the top 3 questions CIOs want, and need, to know about mainframe outsourcing:

1. Does the opportunity for mainframe outsourcing match corporate interests?

As digital and agile transformation continues to become more prominent, the tolerance for siloed teams and departments will lessen. In order to compete in today’s business environment, enterprises must place an added emphasis on creating cohesive alignment between business and IT. Rather than implementing processes and systems that only add value in certain areas, organizations need to focus on leveraging the tools and resources that will positively impact the entire business; and mainframe outsourcing is no different.

Although mainframes remain the foundation for most large-scale and global companies, traditional approaches to mainframe management are too slow, too costly, and too reliant on the individual expertise of few. In order to remain effective in the digital age, organizations must become more efficient and effective with their mainframe management efforts. Due to the specialization it offers, mainframe outsourcing allows organizations, as a whole, to process higher volumes of data and manage that data more effectively while also improving scalability and delivering higher improved service levels.

2. How will mainframe outsourcing improve performance?

As discussed, there is a growing need for modern enterprises to shift their focus from the daily, tactical components of their business to more strategic initiatives, like enhancing the customer experience. Outsourcing, in its broadest sense, enables organizations to do more with less. With the ability to alleviate internal resources of time-consuming processes that don’t provide any strategic value, mainframe outsourcing allows enterprises to leverage outsourced IT service providers that specialize in the processing and management of mainframes. Not only does this free up internal resources to focus their efforts on core competencies, but it also allows for additional time and expertise to be allocated toward properly managing a critical component of an organization’s infrastructure.

3. Will mainframe outsourcing meet future service requirements as we scale?

Scalability is something that is in the hearts and minds of all business leaders. As both consumer and business demands continue to rise, organizations will have to focus much of their efforts on realizing the systems, tools, and processes needed to effectively scale their business. Especially in the digital age, where consumer data is plenty and agility is critical to staying competitive, it is becoming increasingly important for business to leverage solutions that offer the flexibility to adapt to changes in demands as quickly as possible. Specifically with mainframes, where a high degree of specialization and experience is necessary, outsourcing allows enterprises to eliminate the risks associated with an aging workforce and scale more effectively.

Interested in learning more about the benefits of investing in an outsourced mainframe solution? Download our whitepaper, “The CIO’s Guide to Mainframes: In-House vs. Outsourced”.