The need to reduce operational costs has become a primary consideration across all aspects of business planning. In particular, expenses associated with information technology infrastructure seem to be growing at an alarming rate for companies with far-flung facilities and complex IT service delivery requirements. The overriding need to reduce costs is triggering investigation of infrastructure outsourcing services as a possible IT alternative.

Is this a viable option for you?

You can’t know for sure without first conducting a detailed assessment of current IT infrastructure, services, quality, etc., because the answer is as individual as your company’s own requirements.

You’ll want to evaluate every element of your existing IT infrastructure, such as:

• Mainframe computing.
• Server performance.
• Data center management.
• Telecommunications and data networking.
• Operations costs.
• Disaster recovery and related business continuity planning.

You’ll also want to evaluate applications you’re now using. The results of this broad-based assessment will clearly indicate whether outsourcing infrastructure services makes sense for you, and if so, which specific strategies and solutions will be most effective.

Create a dashboard to easily review results.

When you can compare key performance indicators, assessment results and related costs at a glance, you’ll be able to quickly identify gaps and opportunities that will help you reduce operational costs. Infrastructure outsourcing services can help you streamline or modify various functions, or of course you can entirely replace under-performing equipment or procedures by letting your outsourcing provider handle them.

Whether selected services or total outsourcing would work best for you depends on detailed functional factors but also your firm’s long-term goals. Outsourcing is not something to consider as a one-time “fix,” but as a long-haul transformative change in the way you integrate IT throughout your organization.

Compare projected costs and benefits of working within your current structure against potential alternative platforms or services such as:

• Co-location.
• Off-site hosting or managed services.
• Cloud computing.
• Outsourcing of data center or support activities.

Many companies are concerned that aging legacy systems will soon fade beyond their ability to interface smoothly and cost-effectively with emerging technologies and applications. Infrastructure outsourcing services can intervene, replacing old systems with a new operations model that both reduces operational costs and strengthens service delivery reliability and quality.

Timeliness is often the difference between competitive advantage and languishing in the back of the pack.  

You don’t have to figure this out for yourself.

While current and emerging IT infrastructure alternatives have the capability to give your company a tremendous competitive boost, devising the best solution can be daunting. The assessment process and ensuing research are both time-consuming and complicated.

Hiring an IT outsourcing consultant to guide you is usually a smart investment. The right consultant has industry-specific expertise to easily understand your company’s status and requirements. They know the outsourcing marketplace – solutions, providers and pricing model alternatives. And they’re entirely unbiased, concerned only with what’s best for your company. Your own IT staff may be reluctant to fully consider outsourcing, fearing that efforts to reduce costs will put their jobs are at risk.

You can benefit from your consultant’s innovative thinking as well as their sound advice, to make intelligent, forward-looking decisions. You’ll know if infrastructure outsourcing services are the best choice for your company and exactly how making that change can reduce your operational expenses.

You’ll be well-armed to choose the most appropriate combination of technology and management services, to ensure your enterprise has a well-integrated, high-performance system that’s reliable and keeps operational costs to a minimum. 

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