Johannesburg, 13 Aug 2012
There seems to be an uptake in the outsourcing of basic services, such as e-mail, backup and storage, and network management, particularly by small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the South African market.
So says Karel Botha, GM for Jasco Enterprise, Western Cape, who points out that most organisations understand the many benefits of outsourcing, with organisations increasingly experiencing improved customer experience by working with a managed services partner.
“Ultimately, performance measures and service level targets are put in place that the managed services provider can be held accountable for,” he says.
In order to determine and compare current views on IT managed services within large enterprises and SMEs in SA, especially regarding the current interest in managed services and the uptake thereof, ITWeb, in partnership with Jasco, today unveiled the Managed Services Survey.
According to Botha, the study also seeks to gauge the main considerations for entering into managed service arrangements and the managed services models preferred by organisations.
He is also of the view that large enterprises are becoming increasingly critical about getting more value at reduced cost from their managed services providers and are more open to multiple managed services outsource arrangements in order to gain access to the best skills for the job.
Among the challenges that managed services providers are facing, Botha says finding and retaining specialised skills is one of the biggest limitations. He adds that bandwidth requirements are increasing exponentially and so are businesses' expectations and demands for lower prices.
“Competition in the market is becoming more and more challenging. Enterprises put an increasing premium on technology and services that enhance consistently positive experience. At the same time, the availability of more bandwidth and growing use of new devices, like smartphones and tablets, have resulted in a significant increase in customer support calls, and many organisations do not have the ability to effectively deal with these.”
In that vein, Botha explains, managed services providers are expected to enhance the customer experience in a world of increasing complexity and change.
In meeting these challenges, Botha says: “Successful managed services providers recognise changing consumer demands and the impact of new technologies.
“They continuously respond and adapt; they make an effort to understand their customers' needs; they put a high premium on developing their internal capabilities with clear executive commitment.”
Click here to complete the survey and stand a chance to win Jabra products.
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