Managed services are changing: Are you ready?

Managed service providers need to provide more than just cost savings and productivity, with organisations demanding new value.

Stephen McCarthy, UXC Connect senior business consultant, says cost savings and productivity are 'par for the course'.

"There has been a shift in requirements and organisations are now looking for agile business services that support a business process and an outcome," McCarthy says.

He says if an organisation is looking to digitise a service – something becoming more prevalent with the availability of the cloud and the consumerisation of IT – the managed servcie needs to do something beyond just providing that service.

"Furthermore, IT needs to make this happen quickly and not be a road block or run the risk of employees turning to shadow IT," McCarthy adds.

"The risks associated with this include being slow to market with business initiatives, which results in a loss of speed and agility and the potential security issues associated with shadow IT."

McCarthy says there has also been a shift when it comes to measuring managed services.

"Traditional managed services measurement was around the service level agreements but this is now just part of the contract and needs to be delivered; it's no longer a valid measurement.

"Organisations are looking for new measures on the performance of services for the business, end users and customers to link it back to what it is actually bringing to the business."

McCarthy says to achieve this, organisations should set up new service level agreements that measure what matters to the business and manage the outcomes regardless of who is delivering it through strong partnerships with specialists and providers.

He also suggests companies take a holistic approach to managing the user experience, which includes monitoring not just the managed service but the technology they are accessing it on.