Different vendors and suppliers have different processes, which creates enormous challenges when it comes to accountability and alignment. In addition, some business units continue to acquire IT solutions without going through IT. This may address their immediate business needs, but it is a dangerous game when it comes to governance and security.
Behind this, CIOs are working in a challenging business environment. They are being asked to deliver technology that increases productivity and competitive advantage, but are not getting more budget to be able to achieve it. Multisourcing service integration (MSI) provided by a third party integrator can help meet these goals by transforming service delivery, lowering costs, reducing risk and improving overall performance.
Rethinking services
Technologies and services used in isolation may look as though they are performing well. When integrated, however, this may not be the case. This is why many IT departments are not living up to the expectations of the business or of its users. A carefully thought out end-to-end integration strategy is essential to deliver a high quality service.
The best way to integrate solutions from different providers is to create a cohesive end-to-end service model under one contract together with a clear set of key performance indicators (KPIs). The more effectively an organization integrates and manages its solutions globally the better the entire infrastructure performs.
The MSI doesn’t just provide an overlay on top of an organization’s suppliers. It delivers added value through consistent governance, assurance and management. The MSI ensures that suppliers deliver services that meet an enterprise’s requirements now and into the future, matching industry benchmarks and best practices. MSIs also have a big advantage in providing economies of scale, making them faster and more efficient at brokering and sourcing technologies and services to satisfy changing business demands.
Winning the talent war
Some enterprises choose to go it alone and build integration talent in-house. If you plan to take this route do you have the capabilities available? Will you really be able to find skilled people with knowledge of new technologies such as collaboration tools and software defined networking to run this efficiently in-house going forward? Given that there is a skills drought this may be difficult.
As an MSI, Orange Business provides integration to hundreds of companies. The sheer size of our projects attracts global talent and our customers can tap into this expertise 24/7. They do not have to worry about continuously sourcing and managing skills.
Tapping into the latest technologies
The same cost advantages of being able to scale skills up and down also apply to automation and MSI. Because of our size and global expertise, we can test and roll out new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and preemptive maintenance, far faster and easier than a customer could ever do it in-house.
We are already applying automation and bots in our MSI offering to customers for the less complex problems. We have robots managing power-out alerts on infrastructure in enterprises, for example, freeing up service desks to work on more complex issues.
Our MSI customers get the latest technology faster with the talent to support it, which gives them a real competitive edge.
Getting through the MSI jungle
There are a multitude of global MSI providers out there, which one do you choose? MSI boils down to people, processes and systems. You need to ensure you select a partner with the right skills, expertise and experience to support your business. This means having the right tools and processes in place to automate as much as possible to effectively drive efficiencies.
It is imperative that an MSI provider can integrate other technologies and service providers end to end. Orange Business, for example, has a heritage as a global carrier. We are used to integrating other vendors’ solutions and services into our ecosystem. We look at individual customer requirements to work out which partners would integrate best to deliver the optimum in customer experience, and where needed, we can work with the existing or selected suppliers.
With technology now playing a lead role in business, it has never been more important to understand what your suppliers are delivering and how your solutions connect. MSI is the obvious answer to this complex equation.
Fabrice de Windt is Senior Vice President Europe at Orange Business.
With 17 years’ experience in ICT in sales functions, Fabrice’s responsibilities include defining the regional partner strategy, managing presales functions and practices, and ensuring the organization is geared to providing the best customer experience. He is also executive sponsor on key new logo opportunities and existing customers.
Fabrice has held senior positions in sales functions across several companies in the telecom and IT industry.
Fabrice speaks English, Dutch and French fluently and is the proud father of three children. In his spare time Fabrice likes to play tennis and golf.