Going beyond: Managed Services
Managed services is becoming a top model for reducing costs and driving strategic priorities such as growth, resilience, and agility
With this increase in enterprise value, it鈥檚 no wonder that the C-suite, board, and other leaders are becoming more involved in managed services decisions.
But not every service provider knows how to translate their work into a context that鈥檚 meaningful for senior leadership: business enablement. As you explore managed services for sustained transformation, seek providers who:
- Speak both business and digital.聽The most capable managed services firms have board-level credibility, broad experience, and subject-matter knowledge across functions, processes, and technology domains. They don鈥檛 just execute processes; they work to understand your strategic vision鈥攁nd translate it to new operating models and technology.
- Avoid technical jargon.聽Look for providers who communicate聽in a language of risks and opportunities, not speeds and feeds.聽What kinds of cybersecurity can protect your organization while also differentiating your customer experience? Which emerging regulatory compliance requirements could affect your expansion? As collaborators in your transformation, providers should discuss their services in the context of your growth, revenue, costs, customers, and brand.
- Demonstrate expertise in your industry.聽How can financial institutions grow through mobile and cloud-based channels while mitigating security threats? How are healthcare companies managing regulatory risk with connected medical devices? Choose a managed services provider who can speak to your processes and technology and your industry鈥攊ncluding relevant challenges, threats, and operational strategies.
- Contextualize their insights.聽Many providers offer data-driven analytics and market insights, but leading firms customize those insights to your business priorities鈥攚ith actionable recommendations. For example, should you implement the new functionality in the next cloud software update? How will it impact your processes and, ultimately, the speed to market for your key products in development? Answers to these kinds of questions come from predictive analytics聽and聽respected advisory capabilities.
Remember that the best managed services providers are strategic collaborators in the transformation journey, not transactional processors. That means they don鈥檛 speak in technobabble. Instead, their language should be one of enterprise outcomes, ongoing evolution, and competitive advantage.