Logicalis US to CIOs: Your New Best Friend Might be a Managed Services Provider

NEW YORK, Oct. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As enterprise organizations begin to adopt a digitally enabled, service-defined approach to delivering IT services, it is becoming increasingly clear that not all IT tasks need to be performed in house. For many CIOs, developing a relationship with a trusted professional services firm that can save them between 10 and 30 percent of their current IT costs while freeing valuable in-house technical resources for more strategic tasks is an attractive option. For organizations just beginning their IT transformations, however, choosing – and trusting – a skilled professional services firm may be a daunting decision. To help, Logicalis US, an international IT solutions and managed services provider (www.us.logicalis.com), has examined CIOs' chief concerns about working with professional and managed services firms, is offering both a video and a webinar to help CIOs investigate what professional services can mean to their organizations, and has identified 11 steps to take when entering a relationship with a managed services provider (MSP).

"Enterprise organizations today absolutely must embrace a service mentality. At Logicalis, we call this the 'service-defined enterprise,' and it's really about the consumerization of IT and delivering the kind of user experience corporate workers get at home and expect in the office," says David Leech, Vice President of Professional and Managed Services, Logicalis US.  "To accomplish this, IT departments must literally re-invent themselves, moving their staff into more business-facing, application-centric, vendor management roles by using a managed services provider as an extension of their IT organization to deliver time-consuming 'lights-on' tasks."

Is an MSP Relationship Right for Your Organization?

To help CIOs in transition decide if partnering with an MSP is right for them, Logicalis is hosting a managed services webinar tomorrow, October 5^th, and is offering access to a WatchIT video, each featuring Logicalis managed services experts.

• Webinar: In this web event, to be held tomorrow, October 5^th, Logicalis' Kevin Clark, Director of Cloud and Managed Services, will discuss the six surprise benefits of managed services as well as the best ways CIOs can leverage outsourced resources to become more strategic players in their own organizations: http://ow.ly/uK9T304giO2.
• Video: In this WatchIT video, part of SmartPros' eCampus Learning Management System, Logicalis expert David Leech discusses the evolution and importance of managed services: http://ow.ly/csVg304xJGq.

11 Steps to Take When Making the Move to an MSP:

"CIOs have told us their greatest concerns in partnering with an MSP include fears about losing control over security measures, concerns about vendor lock-in, and, of course, concerns about the security of their own positions," Leech says. "Each of these, however, can be resolved through a careful MSP selection process. And what we're actually seeing today is that, when CIOs embrace MSP relationships, they and their teams are becoming more strategic, valuable assets to their organizations."

Ready to make the move to an MSP? Logicalis experts have laid out an 11-step strategy to help CIOs jumpstart their planning and internal conversations.

1. Determine which components you need to outsource (i.e., service desk, security, etc.).
2. Don't provide an RFP that is too prescriptive; ask the provider for recommendations on solving your business problem.
3. Look for a firm that is adaptable and willing to meet the needs of your organization, and be sure they are willing and able to transform with you as your organization grows and changes.
4. Be sure there is a cultural fit between the MSP and your organization.
5. Invite all business and IT stakeholders to the table.
6. Bring the vendors that may be impacted into the conversation.
7. Clearly explain to your in-house IT team what their role will be, including future career paths.
8. Provide a clear transformational roadmap with identified checkpoints.
9. Determine a well-defined, two-way, tiered communication schedule between the partner and each level of your own organization that allows you to stay engaged and closely monitor the quality of the services being provided.
10. Define how you will measure the value of the project.
11. Create a flexible contract so you're not locked in for multiple years without an exit path.

"By outsourcing select time-consuming IT tasks," Leech says, "CIOs are now freed to attend board meetings and product development sessions and are able to better help their business colleagues drive innovation and growth."

Want to Learn More?

• Find out what it takes to support business-critical operations with mature managed services in this Logicalis video: http://ow.ly/LoMz304xQwV.
• Explore the business benefits of managed services: http://ow.ly/uhtG304zuwE.
• How much experience does a managed services provider need? Find out here: http://ow.ly/hpJi304zuFp.

About Logicalis

Logicalis is an international multi-skilled solution provider providing digital enablement services to help customers harness digital technology and innovative services to deliver powerful business outcomes.

Our customers cross industries and geographical regions; our focus is to engage in the dynamics of our customers' vertical markets including financial services, TMT (telecommunications, media and technology), education, healthcare, retail, government, manufacturing and professional services, and to apply the skills of our 4,000 employees in modernizing key digital pillars, data center and cloud services, security and network infrastructure, workspace communications and collaboration, data and information strategies, and IT operation modernization.

We are the advocates for our customers for some of the world's leading technology companies including Cisco, HPE, IBM, NetApp, Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow.

The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of over $1.5 billion from operations in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific. It is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the AIM market of the LSE, with revenues of over $6.5 billion.

For more information, visit www.us.logicalis.com.

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To learn more about Logicalis activities through a variety of social media outlets, click here.

Media contacts:
Nickie Peters, Director of
Marketing,
Logicalis US
[email protected]
920-338-7622
www.us.logicalis.com

Karen Franse, Communication
Strategy Group for Logicalis US
[email protected]
866-997-2424
www.gocsg.com

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SOURCE Logicalis US

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