Cloud-based “as-a-Service” offerings give organizations more choices than ever when utilizing technology solutions. Today, virtually any technology, application or tool can be delivered “as-a-Service,” from IT infrastructure to enterprise applications to unified communications. Freed from the need to buy, manage and maintain hardware and software, organizations can conserve capital and reduce operational overhead while becoming more agile and minimizing risk.
Communication and collaboration technologies are a case in point. Legacy phone systems are expensive and difficult to implement, and unable to meet the demands of today’s remote and mobile workforce. Cloud-based solutions give users access to full phone system features from virtually any device, along with an array of conferencing, collaboration and file-sharing tools.
With choice comes complexity, however. There are hundreds of as-a-Service products on the market, each offering different features and packages at varying price points. Many organizations struggle to determine what functionality they need and how it will enhance their business processes. They simply lack the skills and resources to evaluate the various options and select the best fit for their requirements and objectives.
Ongoing Management Headaches
Choosing as-a-Service solutions is only the beginning. Service provider contracts are often complex, with varying SLAs among the solutions that touch various parts of the business. Few organizations have the resources to hold service providers accountable for service quality issues. Simply paying dozens or even hundreds of invoices is a time-consuming chore.
Cloud sprawl is another common problem. Various departments may select different service providers, further increasing complexity and limiting the organization’s ability to obtain bulk discounts. Software-as-a-Service solutions may overlap, resulting in excess costs and the inability to share data among various apps. A lack of standards for collaboration tools can sap productivity and cause communication problems.
As the service provider environment grows, many of the solutions become dependent upon one another. This complexity adds to the management headaches.
Organizations need a trusted partner to assist with telecom and cloud purchasing decisions, address service quality issues and ensure that services deliver the anticipated ROI. Qualified partners bring multiple options to the table and help customers compare and evaluate them. They will provide a cost / benefit analysis of the shortlisted solutions, explain their strengths and limitations and demonstrate how they will meet the customer’s financial, technical and operational requirements.
How Technologent Can Help
Technologent has developed a framework for vetting service providers to facilitate purchasing decisions. We begin with a thorough review of the customer’s business operations, and discuss use cases with management and end-users. We then narrow the field to a select group of offerings and provide customers with accurate and easy-to-understand data. The aggregated data enables side-by-side comparisons based upon real-world capabilities and common terminology.
More importantly, our Service Provider Network solutions don’t end with the customer’s purchase. We oversee the entire environment, using project management tools, processes and resources for post-sales account management. Our team will ensure that service providers meet their SLAs to help ensure a high-quality customer experience.
We also believe that the customer experience should stay consistent even as the vendor ecosystem changes. If a service provider changes product functionality, divests its assets or goes bankrupt, we can insert another vendor into the framework. Our people, processes and programs serve as a wrapper around the solution to ensure customer success.
In today’s as-a-Service market, customers have a vast array of options to choose from. Technologent serves as a trusted advisor and overarching management resource, helping customers maximize the value of our as-a-Service solutions.
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