Itex News
Enable IT to evolve your bottom line
IT provides the core framework for all business operations whatever the size. Efficient, smart business operations drive business growth. Too often IT and business operations work in isolation despite the fact that very often the smallest of changes to integrate IT efficiencies into the business can translate into stark improvements in performance, which ultimately impact on the bottom line.
There are many new technologies available to help boost business and innovation and reduce IT costs. Most CEO level surveys conclude that IT enables and drives innovation in business. More specifically, a major recent study by HfS Research and The Outsourcing Unit at the London School of Economics showed that three quarters of executives believed that cloud based services enable business service innovation and provide a platform that can transform organisations.
Increasingly in Jersey, IT service providers are being approached to provide managed cloud services like hosted desktop or Software as a Service (SaaS), as well as co-location services, where a company’s intellectual assets are stored on a server situated with and managed by a third party. For those organisations yet to review the need to integrate a new IT system, what are the key considerations that should be evaluated?
Where is your business in its growth lifecycle?
When reviewing your business objectives, always consider how IT can support the overarching strategy. IT is an enabler of innovation as automating or outsourcing will allow your business to focus on delivering value of its core product - not simply on ensuring systems are running 24/7. If your business is small and growing, IT systems and services can help you grow at a manageable cost - allowing you to scale up as and when growth dictates. Indeed, the second most popular reason for adopting outsourced cloud services – after cost reduction - is the ability to implement business applications faster than more traditional methods. If you are a large business, consolidation of data and systems may be integral to your future stability and growth.
Is there a regulatory need to review my IT systems?
Businesses operating in the offshore financial services sector in particular will continue to face increased regulation of the security of their activity. Regulators are tightening guidelines for risk and security controls in order to safeguard investors’ intellectual assets. Data security and privacy remains the top concern for cloud decision makers. Outsourcing IT to experienced third party providers is an important step to improving security measures to meet these new demands. It is understandable however that some offshore companies might be nervous about outsourcing.
This is understandable but ill founded. Offshore data security has become the benchmark for all companies managing data security, be it in-house, or outsourced. To meet the critical need to protect the intellectual assets of your company - it’s important to provide adequate back-up and fail-over measures that are all compliant with regulation.
This is best provided by an IT services company who specialise in devising and building the best possible resilience and security offerings to ensure data is available 24/7. A good IT services provider will work with the in-house team to devise the appropriate solution. It is entirely feasible for a business to retain control of its data management - i.e. of all the software applications and internal operational systems, with the IT provider managing the infrastructure solutions, either in a robust data centre or on-site.
Managed services in practice: a case study
Itex has been working with a large regulated business in Jersey for over a year to integrate a hybrid managed services solution into their operating model to help them limit spiralling IT costs and promote innovation.
Itex designed, built and managed a comprehensive and inclusive set of IT services that ranged from a managed network and hosted servers to managed desktops. By choosing this solution the client has stepped away from owning IT hardware and software and replaced it with a single all encompassing fully serviced solution that releases capital and management time. The company’s focus has shifted to working with one prime service partner rather than managing several relationships, ensuring that future services continue to meet the needs of the business rather than creating technology distractions. Itex has taken on end-to-end responsibility for IT services to ensure they deliver value-for-money. The company is now not concerned with hardware upgrades, software licensing or the technical implications of business growth.
Key criteria to assess your IT partner
Confidence, expertise and track record
Working with an experienced technology provider who already has a wealth of practical knowledge of implementing specific technologies successfully in the offshore jurisdictions and across different industries is paramount. Many offshore businesses will have data security, data location and regulatory concerns and it is vital to work with a provider who not only guarantees that data remains offshore, but can work with businesses to meet their security, risk, compliance, and data segregation requirements.
Minimal downtime - maximum productivity
Even before a specific solution - like Hosted Desktop for example, has been integrated into an organisation, business and IT leaders should question the Service Level Agreement (SLA) of the proposed solution. Often, dedicated IT service providers can offer better SLAs and higher availability to business then they can provide in-house as they are able to leverage the very latest technology, and have a wealth of expertise available to them.
Added value
You may only wish to source Hosted Desktop - but what if you require additional advice and counsel on how to use IT in your business? Working with a provider who can offer a range of professional and managed services and who can help procure specific technologies is vital as not all local players can offer this full expertise. Accreditations from leading global IT vendors like HP also validate expertise and qualification.
Itex - your preferred partner
Itex has operated a private cloud environment for over two years and has already integrated Hosted Desktop technology into many offshore companies, some of which are large financial services institutions. We currently manage over 5,000 desktops offshore with 24/7 service desk support. This month we have made a one-off additional half a million pounds investment in our hardware to support businesses in Jersey. We also anticipate announcing our roadmap to further technology launches in coming weeks.
We are committed to building enterprise-class technology solutions - supporting these with our team of consultants and our 24x7 service desk. Itex is therefore able to provide local and international companies with a wide range of proven and secure, managed service solutions that allow businesses to focus on building value.