Setting Up Successful Managed Services Model for Global Organizations
The world is experiencing a major shift, driven by technology. Managed service providers are uniquely positioned to support businesses in achieving digital transformation. What are some major trends, challenges, and opportunities that are shaping the managed services industry?
In a recent Tech Talk session, Kishore Malethula, Global Head – Analytics, Tech Mahindra BPS, and Birendra Agrawal, VP Analytics, Tech Mahindra BPS, along with moderator Arpit Dhawan, Service Delivery Manager, Tech Mahindra BPS discussed how managed service providers (MSPs) are responding to the industry demands, challenges, and opportunities for establishing themselves as reliable brands. Read on for more insights on these areas.
Braving Challenges in the Managed Service Sector
Managed services allow organizations to utilize valuable IT services and infrastructure without spending resources building their own. But the increased dependability on MSPs can also mean facing more challenges. For example, an organization with disparate processes, multi-channel data, and other incompatible systems in place may need to undergo a complete digital transformation to tie the whole system together and enable streamlined processes. This would require cloud migration, monitoring, integration, backup, security, data recovery, and other technicalities to be taken care of. As a result, MSPs are going beyond cloud managed services, enabling transformation through multi-cloud managed services and hybrid cloud managed services as well. With the ability to orchestrate multiple cloud platforms and integrate cloud with on-premise IT resources and services, providers are able to support clients through different stages of transformation.
Similarly, as organizations rely more on data and technology infrastructure for decision-making, the risk of hacked systems, malware, insider threats, phishing, and other security threats increases. The more complex the system, the more responsibilities providers must undertake, like including effective firewall management, encryption technology, vulnerability checking, incident response, access management, and other groundbreaking security solutions.
One of the biggest challenges in the managed service sector is gaining trust. As businesses continue outsourcing entire processes and IT functions, trust becomes a critical factor when collaborating with different MSPs. Both providers and clients need high levels of confidence and collaboration, which is why it is important to build a strong foundation. “Managed services are not just about ownership. It’s important for your clients to trust you and for the provider to see the bigger picture. With transparency, MSPs must execute fast and execute well”, says Birendra when asked about challenges in the managed service sector.
Becoming a Value-Added Service Provider
MSPs must differentiate themselves in the market with a focus on how they can empower clients to reap the benefits of digital transformation. It’s important to make the clients feel heard and understood. This begins with understanding the vision for their business. Digital transformation is a gradual process, allowing providers adequate time to expand their transformation footprint. Therefore, by shaping one process or part of the business, they can build proof points to propose further developments. MSPs who have set themselves up for success do not just focus on the nuts and bolts of technology, but also prioritize business benefits for clients. “As a successful managed service provider, our expertise lies in learning, upskilling, and making our clients future-ready. We don’t believe in quick fixes; we enable our clients to go far and faster”, adds Kishore.
AI Shaping the Future of Managed Service Solutions
To provide value-added services to clients, providers must invest in emerging technologies, including machine learning, AI, Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, and others. These technologies are critical in the new-age digital arena to enhance efficiency, quality, productivity, and customer experience. The role of AI is unrivaled. For example, machine learning and AI can be used to automate entire processes, such as troubleshooting, configuration, provisioning, performance tuning, resource allocation, and more. Similarly, AI and analytics can support organizations with insights to make informed and profitable decisions in terms of growth strategy, performance, and security. For customer-facing businesses, AI can be utilized in IT and customer support, allowing MSPs to deploy chatbots, automated ticketing systems, and analytics-based customer experience (CX) support. Looking at the current trends and the growing use cases of AI-powered technology, we can confidently say that it is here to stay.
In this session, we dived into how businesses can leverage AI and other emerging technologies and take a customer-centric approach to drive business impact. We also shed light on Tech Mahindra’s managed service model and how we are a differentiated player in the market.
To view the full Tech Talk, click here
