White Paper: IT Service Delivery: From Basic Automation Through To Managed Services

In the increasingly competitive race to attract, retain and generate profits from customers, IT service providers are under tremendous pressure to change the way they do business. Price pressures coupled with inefficient service delivery models are forcing these organizations to evolve and mature in order to increase their productivity, efficiency, service levels and market differentiation.

Many companies are looking towards IT service automation to help them achieve these goals. Some are going beyond strict automation to offer managed services — an innovative business and service delivery model that is revolutionizing the way IT service providers, system integrators (SIs) and VARs do business. Indeed, more and more companies are moving away from the traditional break-fix service model and moving towards IT service automation and then managed services — contracted, predictable, proactive business-focused IT services.

Service automation carries almost immediate benefits for any company, including reduced operating costs and greater productivity, the ability to service more customers without the need to add more staff, and the advantage of offering faster response times and a higher level of service to customers.

Managed services offer the same benefits, but add many other important ones, such as recurring revenue streams, higher business valuation, improved margins and stronger customer relationships. Becoming a full managed service provider (MSP), however, requires a company commitment from the top down and involves significant organizational changes and investment at each stage of the service delivery maturity process.

While IT service providers need to mature their business in order to thrive and survive, many don't have the time, resources or commitment required to transform their business into a full MSP — they need a powerful but low-risk solution that will help them automate service delivery and roll out new services without committing to a total business transformation.

This paper examines the changing IT services market and why IT service providers need to improve the way they do business. It also discusses why a total business transformation isn't always a viable option for many service providers and how many of their business improvement needs can be met simply by automating service delivery and offering additional services that their automation solution make possible.