ICT Support - How Many Contractors Are Running?

Transcription

1 2e2 Report into Supplier Management and Support MONITORING NLYTICS INTEGRTION PPLICTION UTOMTION BCK UP INTEGRTION DT RCHIVING DT STORGE PPLICTION DT MNGEMENT

2 Introduction ICT is increasingly underpinning the business-critical functions of most organisations. t the same time supporting the ICT estate is becoming more complex and fragmented. What levels of support are organisations receiving from vendors and suppliers? re maintenance and support costs increasing? re organisations finding managing their different support and maintenance contracts a challenge? This survey was developed to tackle some of these supplier management and support questions by gauging the opinion of UK businesses who rely heavily on their ICT infrastructure. 2e2 commissioned the survey to gain a better understanding of how organisations are currently managing their supplier maintenance and support contracts, the challenges they are currently facing and whether they feel they are receiving a consistent level of ICT support across their business. The survey then goes on to investigate how organisations currently manage their ICT assets and whether managing them in silos is having a detrimental effect on their business. By exploring this, the research aims to highlight how many organisations are paying support on hardware and software they no longer use. Furthermore, the research shows that the majority of organisations do believe that they could reduce maintenance, support and overall operational costs if they move towards a more standardised ICT infrastructure with fewer suppliers, assuming the increased accountability involved in delivering support services. 200 IT directors within large enterprise organisations were surveyed by independent research company Vanson Bourne.

3 Q re you finding that your maintenance and support costs are increasing? RE YOU FINDING THT YOUR MINTENNCE ND SUPPORT COSTS RE INCRESING? YES 67% NO 33% rising IT maintenance costs The majority of organisations face an ongoing balancing act to cut costs while at the same time improving efficiency and service levels and ultimately growing the business. ICT is seen as a key enabler in helping organisations achieve these goals, yet the current economic climate is forcing ICT departments to reduce their capex costs. s a result many are delaying hardware and software upgrades for as long as possible. However, at the same time this inevitably leads to increased support costs as most vendors increase support and maintenance fees as ICT assets get older. This question reveals that over two-thirds (67%) of respondents are finding their maintenance and support costs are increasing. This highlights that many organisations are still struggling to effectively manage their technology lifecycles and require greater assistance as to where and when technology should be refreshed, as well as where support for assets should be continued. By having a more complete view of their technology lifecycle, organisations can then demonstrate where support costs for older equipment outweighs the costs of buying and supporting new equipment.

4 Do you find managing your different support and maintenance contracts a challenge? Q DO YOU FIND MNGING YOUR DIFFERENT SUPPORT ND MINTENNCE CONTRCTS CHLLENGE? YES 71% NO 29% Keeping track of the various support and maintenance contracts for your hardware and software can be an arduous and time-consuming task, especially as each vendor will have their own SLs. gainst this backdrop it is hardly surprising that 71% of organisations admit to finding managing their different support and maintenance contracts a challenge. Typically, each vendor contract is different and needs to be renewed at different times. This can place a huge administrative burden on many organisations and can often negatively impact on the level of service delivered by the ICT department as they are unable to concentrate on their core business. By being able to better align their third-party support contracts organisations can gain greater visibility and control, and significantly reduce the time spent managing them.

5 Due Q DUE to support TO contracts SUPPORT being CONTRCTS renewed at different BEING times and RENEWED constantly changing T DIFFERENT business requirements, have you found yourself paying support on equipment that is no longer being used? TIMES ND CONSTNTLY CHNGING BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS, HVE YOU FOUND YOURSELF PYING SUPPORT ON EQUIPMENT THT IS NO LONGER BEING USED? YES 76% NO 24% Most organisations use a vast amount of software and hardware from a number of different vendors to support the business. Managing the different support contracts for each individual vendor is a time-consuming task. Not only do contracts need to be renewed at different times, but with so many contracts to juggle, organisations can risk paying support on software and hardware that is no longer being used. This research reveals that just over three-quarters (76%) of those surveyed admitted that they were paying support on equipment they were no longer using. s a result organisations are wasting money at a time when financial prudence is imperative for the majority of them. By auditing their ICT infrastructure and their support requirements, organisations will be in a much better position to consolidate their support contracts. This can significantly remove complexity, improve the level of service being delivered to the business and at the same time provide organisations with much greater cost control.

6 With Q WITH organisations ORGNISTIONS receiving support from RECEIVING different vendors, SUPPORT each with their FROM own processes DIFFERENT and methods of contact, do you find it difficult to offer a consistent level of IT support across your business? VENDORS, ECH WITH THEIR OWN PROCESSES ND METHODS OF CONTCT, DO YOU FIND IT DIFFICULT TO OFFER CONSISTENT LEVEL OF IT SUPPORT CROSS YOUR BUSINESS? YES 68% NO 32% The survey highlighted that as a result of receiving varying types of support from different vendors, the majority of organisations (68%) are struggling to offer a consistent level of ICT support to the business. This is perhaps not unexpected as many vendors have different definitions as to what should be categorised as first or second-line support, which in turn can be very confusing for internal service desks and end users. Furthermore, this can lead to the lines being blurred when it comes to who is accountable if a problem occurs. Typically when the ICT department is dealing with problems it has to contact each vendor separately in order to fix faults. This can make for an overly complex, and inefficient support process with many points of contact and an unnecessary number of on-site calls being made. s a result ICT problems can take much longer than they should to be resolved which clearly has a negative impact on the business. The research highlights that many organisations would be better served by consolidating their support contracts and instead having a sole support contract with a managed service provider. This service provider would be responsible managing support from the individual vendors, providing a single point of contact, thereby being accountable for all support matters from desktop through to data centre. In addition to reducing the administrative burden, a further benefit of working with a managed service provider would be that they would have a more holistic view of the organisation s ICT which in turn could improve fault identification and resolution.

7 re your IT assets managed in technology, departmental and/or line of business silos? Q RE YOUR ICT SSETS MNGED IN TECHNLOGY, DEPRTMENTL ND/OR LINE OF BUSINESS SILOS? YES 70% NO 30% This question reveals that the majority of organisations are still managing their ICT assets in silos which in turn makes it much more difficult for ICT departments to manage suppliers and their associated support offerings in an effective manner. Organisations need to ensure that every element of the ICT they use is covered by a license and is supported. However, it isn t uncommon for individual departments to purchase hardware and software in an ad-hoc manner. s highlighted earlier, this means it can be quite simple for licenses to become lost resulting in organisations paying licenses and associated maintenance fees on hardware/software they no longer use.

8 Would Q WOULD you say that YOU it is now SY very THT difficult IT to IS be certain NOW of VERY all the interdependencies DIFFICULT TO between BE CERTIN all applications, platforms and infrastructure? OF LL THE INTERDEPENDENCIES BETWEEN LL PPLICTIONS, PLTFORMS ND INFRSTRUCTURE? YES 78% NO 22%? MONITORING NLYTICS PPLICTION INTEGRTION UTOMTION BCK UP INTEGRTION DT RCHIVING DT STORGE PPLICTION DT MNGEMENT Today s ICT environment is increasingly complex with different services and applications being interlinked. So while one particular service may not be deemed critical to the business, it could be linked to a service elsewhere which is. This survey revealed that over three quarters (78%) of those surveyed believed it was very difficult to be certain of all the interdependencies between all applications, platforms and infrastructure, which in turn can make supporting them all a complex task. This further highlights the need for organisations to regularly review their infrastructure and get a clear view on the interdependencies of different ICT services. From here, organisations can make decisions about how to rationalise the ICT and what level of support they require. This audit of existing infrastructure is something that responsible managed service provider can help organisations with.

9 Do Q you DO believe YOU that BELIEVE maintenance, THT support MINTENNCE, and overall operational SUPPORT costs could ND be reduced by moving towards a more standardised infrastructure? OVERLL OPERTIONL COSTS COULD BE REDUCED BY MOVING TOWRDS MORE STNDRDISED INFRSTRUCTURE? YES 93% NO 7% This question highlights that the vast majority of organisations would be in favour of moving towards a more standardised infrastructure if it helped them to reduce maintenance, support and overall operational costs. dopting standard products and installation processes can result in highly-efficient support and maintenance. Support staff know what is required and become familiar with the intricacies of the technology. This can result in more timely responses to an organisation s support needs and reduced errors requiring additional time for fixes. Therefore, organisations should look to work with managed service providers who can standardise and support their infrastructure at a lower cost.

10 Conclusion It is clear from this research that many organisations are still feeling a lot of pain when it comes to support they are receiving for the ICT infrastructure. The majority continue to face increasing support and maintenance charges at a time when budgets are extremely tight. t the same time organisations are finding it a growing challenge to manage the multitude of support contracts they have. ICT environments are becoming more complex which in turn is making the task of supporting the necessary hardware and software a time-consuming and complex task for a lot of organisations. s pressures on the ICT department continue to grow something has got to give. For organisations to regain control over their ICT support, they need to understand their ICT environment inside out from the desktop right through to the data centre. By auditing their infrastructure they can build a much more complete picture and start to properly establish their ICT support requirements. From here organisations can start to rationalise their support contracts and understand the potential role that a managed service provider can play in managing vendor support contracts. This can ultimately provide organisations with the all-important single point of contact; simplifying maintenance and support, saving them time and money, whilst providing them with an improved level of service.