Establishing Certainty in Uncertain Times: Managed Services

2020 has been a year of unprecedented challenge, with the landscape of everyday life shifting overnight for nearly everyone around the globe. Within the business world, these changes have radically altered modern office operations, disrupted established supply chains, and driven markets up, down and back up again. 

Despite the alarming headlines, these challenges are regularly underplayed in the IT industry. The changes are disruptive and, in many cases, even mission threatening. Consider these scenarios that often happen concurrently:

• Cutting face-to-face interaction while still delivering new technology projects on time
• Supporting a workforce – be it dozens or thousands – that is shifting to a remote work environment
• Remaining competitive while reducing capital expenditures on equipment and material
• Managing IT systems, infrastructure, networks, platforms and services from kitchen tables, basement offices and backyards
• Ensuring the security of company systems and data, while also providing seamless, uninterrupted access to teams who need to stay connected and productive
• Adopting increased automation to reduce reliance on in-person operations 

The scope of these challenges is daunting and the margin for error is minimal, but these changes are focusing the spotlight squarely on the necessity for IT optimization. They are also accelerating the oft-delayed process of increased digitization, for several reasons. Decreased budgets are driving a shift to OpEx from CapEx. Concerns about availability and resilience are leading rapid moves to the cloud or hosted solutions — and away from traditional, on-premises data centers. And in the face of a sea-change with how and where work is getting done, there are heightened concerns about security monitoring and regulatory compliance. This potentially enormous issue is causing companies to cast a broader net in reviewing their options to mitigate risk and exposure. 

These trends are also reflective of another common issue that has been growing in urgency but only recently brought into focus as resources are stretched thinner than ever. As the rate of change and innovation in the tech industry continues to accelerate, IT departments are facing critical gaps in available skills and labor. Exacerbating this problem, many businesses have recently had to implement hiring freezes, furloughs or even layoffs – at the very moment IT operations are under increased pressure to transform.  

For businesses at this critical juncture of adjusting focus and investment, managed infrastructure services can provide valuable options, including:

• Helping IT departments maximize the productivity of their in-house staff
• Tackling rapidly evolving new technology and service requirements
• Leveraging deep subject-matter expertise with an extended team

Simply put, managed services for infrastructure can ensure that business-critical operations are not just available, but also optimized for peak performance — even in the face of change and uncertainty. 

In addition, the economies of scale available through managed infrastructure in a hosted cloud or colocation environment provide an opportunity to minimize capital outlays during uncertain economic times. This approach also allows for a more predictable, manageable operating model on an ongoing basis. Infrastructure hosted and managed by Flexential can scale to meet dynamic business needs while still allowing full control of the application layer. With day-to-day tasks offloaded to a service provider, in-house resources are freed up from burdensome “click and repeat” activities, leaving them time to respond more agilely to challenges and opportunities while helping drive business innovation. 

The reality is that the productivity and efficiency of IT operations is not just a priority in these unprecedented times. It is a tables-stakes requirement for staying on top of technological evolution to accelerate digital transformation and avoid disruption due to skills gaps. Data center infrastructure and support operations as a service — instead of a depreciating liability with ongoing maintenance needs — free up both budgetary and intellectual capital for agility and growth. It also ensures that as new innovations and operating models come online, businesses can leverage extended expertise for up-to-date best practices — instead of having to invest in retraining existing staff or hiring new talent. 

Flexential takes pride in offering a personal approach to managed services, working as a true partner with your business by managing infrastructure and streamlining operations. Flexential’s nationwide network of facilities and team members means that we have the right resources in the right places to efficiently and reliably help companies of any size, in any location. Is it time for your organization to realize the gains in productivity, expense optimization and faster time to revenue that managed infrastructure services can provide?