BUYER S GUIDE. flexible service delivery. Top 5 reasons for adopting SAP Managed Services. Remixing SLA s! Managing the post merger IT landscape

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1 BUYER S GUIDE IT Managed Services Buyer s Guide for SAP customers May 2012 flexible service delivery Moving to the beat of IT innovation with SAP Managed Services to control costs and harmonise IT landscapes. Top 5 reasons for adopting SAP Managed Services Remixing SLA s! Managing the post merger IT landscape How to get the most out of Managed Services Questions to ask your SAP partner R Client focused. Results driven.

2 MANAGED SERVICES BUYER S GUIDE FOR SAP CUSTOMERS How do you go about choosing a Managed Services Partner? How do you get the most out of collaborating with potential suppliers, how do you harmonise your IT landscape and optimise cost management with service performance? Image page 1 Copyright Carlos E. Santa Maria, 2012 Used under license from Shutterstock.com The difference The difference between managed services and outsourcing Why SAP Managed Services? Why you should investigate Managed Services? So why investigate beyond SAP? Why not include the rest of your IT landscape? Top 5 Reasons for adopting a Managed Services Strategy What to look for in a Managed Services Provider? How do you get the most out of a managed services contract? Ciber Managed Services About Ciber

3 MANAGED SERVICES BUYERS GUIDE FOR SAP CUSTOMERS 01 The difference between 'managed services' and 'outsourcing' Outsourcing, on the other hand, is where the business process has been outsourced. e.g. the 'purchase to pay' process in an organisation, where the service provider takes ownership of, and responsibility for, managing the entire process. In this scenario the consumer is less concerned about software and related technology and focuses on business outcome. Managed services offer a significant advantage over outsourcing by the creation of customer intimacy. A good example demonstrates trust, strong people relationships, shared close working practice and agility. 02 Why you should investigate SAP Managed Services? A managed service involves an external service provider delivering services to ensure the smooth operation of a customer's IT landscape either remotely or on-site. This can include any combination of application database or technical infrastructure services, with day-to- day related management activity transferred to the service provider. The external provider takes responsibility for the services as defined in Service Level Agreements (SLA's) where ownership of software and equipment is typically retained by the organisation. SAP applications help to improve operational efficiency throughout your organisation, while providing powerful business insight to help drive decision making. But to get the most out of SAP, you need assurance of continued systems performance and availability alongside delivery capability to react to constant business change. Keeping on top of application services, support and maintenance is a major challenge, add to this the rest of your IT service landscape (LAN/WAN/IT infrastructure, telecommunications, collaboration, file and print), it's hardly surprising that local IT teams are stretched to breaking. Furthermore, add to the mix the demand for rapid change to support the complexities of merger and acquisition activity, and your IT landscape can reach unmanageable levels. When your IT team ends up spending more time fighting fires, the inevitable occurs, either loss of service or a lost opportunity to deliver competitive advantage with compromises in efficiency and productivity. Many organisations in the UK running SAP software have overcome the significant challenges of maintaining their SAP configuration by utilising an experienced SAP Application Services Provider. However this is still typically based on a reactive application helpdesk service basis.

4 03 So why investigate beyond SAP Application Services? Common issues facing the CIO include cost management, accountability, predictability, quality of support, inter-operability, keeping pace with demand for change and scalability. In response, sizeable in-house specialist teams, ticketing systems and a variety of 3rd party help desk arrangements (on a per application basis) attempt to manage the diverse IT landscape and end-user requests. The CIO, tasked with service delivery and IT strategy is left to manage cost rather than deliver change and in effect builds a mini IT services business within a business - as the IT team identifies, tracks and attempts to fix issues. However, rather than building a mini IT services business in-house, owning all of the people and juggling multiple contacts, the CIO can manage the entire IT landscape by working with a managed services partner with an external service centre and Service Level Agreements that ensure predictable costs, accountability and service availability. Any device, any application, any connectivity, delivered with vetted authorisation and corporate governance, can be included in a managed services agreement, with day-to-day related management activity transferred to the service provider. The myriad of IT systems which may include a mix of SAP applications (ERP, CRM, HCM, SRM, SCM), Microsoft applications (Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Active Directory) compounded with a variety of other line of business applications i.e. CAD, PLM, T&A and integration architecture, which previously involved multiple contracts, different SLA's and different renewal dates, can now be managed under a single contract. The service provider takes responsibility for the services with ownership retained by the organisation. Duplicated effort is thus removed, smoother operation of your IT landscape is ensured and the management of your corporate IT strategy and support framework becomes far easier with a tight grip on support costs. This allows the role of the CIO and his supporting team to evolve towards that of information management, process refinement and business intelligence.

5 MANAGED SERVICES BUYERS GUIDE FOR SAP CUSTOMERS Ciber can offer a portfolio of Managed Services across a range of business applications from the user's device all the way through applications, operations and IT infrastructure - providing a single point of contact with a rigorous based SLA service Top 5 reasons for adopting a Managed Services Strategy 1. Cost control or reduction Predictability Measurability 2. Business Change Merger, Acquisition, Divestment, Consolidation, Harmonisation, Globalisation 3. Cost to maintain application and domain knowledge Improve access to innovation Lower adoption cost of innovation 4. Workforce optimisation Focus on the business activity not maintenance Maximising functional expertise for innovation Avoid the minimum full-time employee trap 5. Resource Flex Reduce lead time for systems enhancement Avoid lost productivity through administration and testing What to look for in a Managed Services Provider? There are a number of different types of Service Providers ranging from Systems Integrators, Value-Added Resellers (VARs) and traditional consulting organisations, through to off-shore services providers. Such organisations may specialise in one or more; implementation, hosting, SAP application support or IT support services. A high quality managed service provider should be able to not only address these key features, but also be able to demonstrate process, quality and an ability to manage, on your behalf, complex support agreements. The following areas will help you to qualify potential candidates: Single sourcing A partner who can not only offer complete SAP lifecycle services, but also the capability to manage your entire IT landscape from the user's device through connectivity and authorisations to applications management, operations services and IT infrastructure provides competitive advantage. There is a clear value proposition around the full management of IT systems with benefits which include cost advantages, resource continuity, process continuity, third party management and the potential to build successful long-term partnerships.

6 Location of services Sending managed services offshore may initially sound attractive, but many organisations suffer from cultural differences, language issues, timing of service delivery and difficulties in establishing long-term relationships. Consider working with a partner who can offer a fine balance between cost optimisation and local intimacy. Service providers who offer blended delivery mechanisms with local accountability are driving IT innovation today. SAP expertise and Industry alignment Ensure your managed services partner has extensive skills and resources in SAP, backed up by SAP accredited partner status and expertise in your industry. This can be demonstrated by references which prove their capabilities. Additionally, how satisfied are their existing customers? Ask the provider for recent customer satisfaction research highlighting their customer service ability. Compliance Today's legislative and security-conscious world generates the demand for compliance! Such regulation (e.g. ITAR, SOX) extends to managed services agreements and is an important consideration when evaluating managed services proposals. Ensure you are aware of industry regulations affecting process and the location of services and data to meet your compliance requirements. Financial Stability Ensure you select a managed services partner based on the lowest risk to you and your organisation. Look for long term viability of your supplier, what is their corporate reputation, check their finances, confirm they are well established, and are sizeable enough to be relevant to your organisation. Shared Goals Service Level Agreements should reflect 'business outcomes' rather than technical models. This will provide greater value to both the customer and the service provider - with both parties incentivised for delivering results. 06 How do you get the most out of a managed services contract? Key questions to ask: How can the Managed Services partner continue to drive value over time? What is the depth and breadth of the managed service portfolio? Does the provider offer sufficient scope with multiple accredited strategic vendor

7 MANAGED SERVICES BUYERS GUIDE FOR SAP CUSTOMERS relationships such as ERP vendors and multiple applications (e.g. SAP, Microsoft, Oracle, Lawson) and other enabling / productivity tools - BI, Mobility and CRM? Choosing the right partner is critical. The organisation you choose should be an expert in transition and rich process orchestration. They should have experience of implementing How does the Service Desk operate? and running the SAP applications your Understand the tools, management organisation uses and should be a partner you applications and systems. Also, is the can trust to provide cost-effective IT services service management system centralised? securely and reliably today, and in the future. What incident management, problem management and change management processes will be in place to support the organisation? 07 To ensure safe and predictable systems operations - what configuration management processes and standards are defined? Ciber Managed Services Regarding Infrastructure Management, are Ciber provides high-quality Managed Services suitable server, storage and network across the entire IT landscape with extensive management processes in place within expertise in harmonising, simplifying and data centre operations? Are suitable optimising your IT investments. With Ciber backup and recovery processes in place? Managed Services, you gain access to best-in- Additionally, are virtualisation / class IT capabilities, find highly specialised consolidation services effective? support for custom operating environments, Are flexible pricing options available? operate within pre-certified and compliant (Contracted hours, pre-billed service frameworks, and take advantage of latest credits or pay as you go?) operating models, such as cloud or as-a- Can the service provider demonstrate service environments. practice and compliance against ITIL foundation process? The components that create a complete How will the service provider manage the Wall2Wall Ciber Managed Services solution support transition process? include End User Computing, Application Ÿ Finally, what are the scope of management Services, Infrastructure Services and Service and reporting capabilities? Desk solutions. Use them separately or as an integrated solution to gain efficiency in your

8 08 overall IT systems. We balance local accountability with global service delivery through our optimised delivery model. This model combines onshore, offshore and nearshore capabilities ensuring speed, flexibility, IT innovation and continuous business improvement. About Ciber Ciber is a global IT consulting company with 7,000 consultants in North America, Europe and Asia/Pacific, and approximately $1 billion in annual revenue. Client focused and results driven, Ciber partners with organisations to develop technology strategies and solutions that deliver tangible business value. Founded in 1974, the company trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CBR). For more information, visit R Client focused. Results driven. Ciber UK.