To outsource parts of or full functions of the IT environment is today a natural solution for many of our customers. It gives flexibility and hopefully cost control of mastering the ever changing needs for effective use of the IT systems. The challenge with outsourced services is often related to work of maintaining and managing the outsourced service, and thereby maximizing the quality and cost benefits. The work can be divided into:

• Everyday service and support maintenance identifying the root cause of a problem and thereby establish who is the correct owner of the problem.
• Proper and accurate Service Level measurements to assure that correct levels are met, and if not that penalty clauses are fulfilled.

A service is by nature today an integration between a multitude of network elements, programs and applications that together deliver a supporting function to your business needs.

The challenge of managing expectations

According to Accenture more than 50% of all outsourcing projects are classified as failures. The prime reason given for the failures is the differences of expectations between the customer and outsourcing partner. So, is there any way to manage the expectations? Yes, it is important that both parties have access to the same data when agreeing on and setting the levels for the service, writing the service level agreement (SLA). This is crucial to identify what key values to measure and what levels are acceptable for both parties to achieve a successful monitoring of the outsourced services.

Monitoring outsourced services

A first crucial step is to make sure that the service levels that both parties have agreed on are measured and monitored so that both parties can see how the outsourced services are performing in order for changes to be made in time. This process can be a time consuming and sometimes complex task. Most companies with outsourced IT services use multiple outsourcing partners for different parts of the service process. This increases the need for detailed monitoring even further in order to be able to identify where a problem is located so that the responsible outsourcing partner can take action.

An example of a outsourced email service:

1. Actual email server is located at outsourcing partner #1

   

2. Internet connections are provided by a ISP i.e. outsourcing partner #2

3. The authentication to access the email service is provided internally (for security reasons)

4. The outgoing email gateway is a public service like smtp.gmail.com, i.e. outsourcing parter #3

5. Last but not least, the internal infrastructure i.e. user switches etc can be maintained by internal or external IT

Create an automated process for follow up

The challenge is obvious. An automated process that easily measures the different outsourcing partners service deliveries can be of great value. The results should be presented in a easy to understand report scheduled to be automatically distributed to all parties. By having this process automated the efforts can be focused on improving the services quality and hence assuring that the projected cost savings and quality is achieved.

The Solution

op5 Monitor makes it easy to achieve SLA Monitoring as well as being able to monitor all parts of the network, the applications, traffic and more that run on different infrastructures. It’s easy to install and is often used to measure the service deliveries from  outsourcing partners. The solution benefits all parties in the outsourcing process and you as the customer can make sure you have access to all the facts so that you never again go in ”blind” to the monthly meeting with your outsourcing partner again. Assure that you get what you pay for and benchmark your service quality both internally and externally.

A smart investment

An investment in a op5 Monitor system is a fraction of the average outsourcing contract value, a small price to increase the chance for a successful outsourcing project. When problems occur you do not want to be caught in the ”blame game” when different parties start pointing fingers at each other.

Contact us if you want to know more about how we can help you to monitor your outsourced IT and your SLA’s.

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