Launching new technology is a considerable investment that can be overwhelming, but it can yield substantial rewards when executed and maintained effectively. However, many organizations, regardless of size or industry, lack the in-house expertise, personnel, or resources to manage this independently. This is where Managed Services become invaluable.
What Can You Get From Managed Services?
Managed services are a comprehensive suite of support services that organizations can outsource to enhance operations and reduce costs. By partnering with a managed services provider, you gain access to a dedicated team of experts who offer a range of services, including:
- Technical Delivery: A managed services partner can provide expertise and manage your technical support needs, providing enhancements, configurations, bug fixes, project management, platform and report monitoring, best practices, support and maintenance, and evolutions. By transitioning from reactive maintenance to proactive support, you can unlock the full potential of your technology investments. Bonus: A high-value partner will implement new and transformative solutions.
- Business Advisory & Strategic Consultation: A team of consultants can work to understand your business goals, challenges, and requirements to help bridge the gap between strategy and technical implementations. Drawing from insights into your ecosystem and industry expertise, they can advise on how you can maximize your technology investments. They’ll work with you to define a vision and build a roadmap that aligns with both short-term and long-term goals. Bonus: An effective advisor will have a range of expertise to accelerate your growth.
- Creative Agency Services: This type of team can act as an embedded extension of your team, bringing resources and expertise to run your website or marketing programs on a day-to-day basis. From digital marketing operations to customer experience improvements, they can create and execute high-value assets and campaigns. Bonus: An experienced team will combine strategy and creativity with the execution of these services.
How Managed Services Can Benefit Your Business
Organizations don’t operate in a static environment. They need services and support to evolve and grow with them. Maybe you’ve just implemented a new platform or have a growing backlog. Perhaps you want proactive guidance on building new features and enhancements. Or maybe you’re looking for a hands-on team to supplement your organization for a project or for daily management of your website or marketing programs.
Managed Services can bring long-term value to both large enterprises and SMBs:
- Added scalability: Managed services consultants can help you create operational efficiencies or supplement your IT team with experts, allowing you to scale your business.
- Lower technical debt: Advisors can evaluate and capture your technical debt to create a plan for you to lower or eliminate it.
- Increased ROI: Consultants can optimize your technology to maximize its full potential. They can also maintain it to ensure it stays up-to-date with the latest enhancements.
- Lowered TCO: By outsourcing your maintenance, you reduce the need for in-house IT and infrastructure, lowering costs and establishing predictable expenses.
- Expanded strategic initiatives: With a managed services team handling some of your operations, you’re freed up to focus on more strategic initiatives.
- Improved customer experience: As you inject greater efficiencies and capabilities into your workflows, you can deliver better customer experiences in any industry.
What to Look for in a High-Value Managed Services Partner
When selecting a managed services partner, it's crucial to consider several key factors to ensure they align with your business needs and goals.
The most valuable partner can provide a range of services, from technical solutions and strategic consultation to agency and business services. With this holistic approach, you need only one partner, making it more efficient and more cost-effective to work with a single trusted advisor.
A high-value partner will also evolve from providing support and maintenance to supporting your business as a whole and helping boost revenue. This partner will not only provide a team structure to lower maintenance costs, they will also help you take your cost savings from lower maintenance and shift it to reinvest it in technical evolutions and business growth initiatives.
Take this real-world example: After just three months of repaying technical debt, OSF Digital took a luxury client’s managed services from 30% evolutions/70% support to 70% evolutions/30% support, fueling their revenue growth.
Here are some other key qualities to look for:
Technical Expertise: Ensure the provider has proven success with the specific technologies and services you require. Though rare, a partner with multi-cloud experience can handle the technical needs across your ecosystem (e.g., commerce, marketing, service platforms) for more scalable and unified operations and experiences.
Industry Experience: Find a partner with experience in your industry and knowledge of the competitive landscape and trends. This kind of partner can tailor solutions and services to your unique challenges, requirements, processes, and industry best practices.
Advisory Expertise: A valuable partner will have wide-ranging expertise to help you build a more informed roadmap that will capitalize on growth opportunities and to ensure your technology accelerates your business growth. With guidance from experts, you can keep up with growth and evolving market trends and grow into the next phases of digital maturity.
Innovative Solutions: Partner with a provider that is well-versed in the latest emerging technologies and trends. This partner will help you transform your digital presence by leveraging the latest technologies and methodologies. You’ll not only improve your customer experience but also increase the productivity and efficiency of your business and technical teams.
Proactive Approach: A good managed services partner should challenge you and bring new thinking to your team, taking a proactive approach to helping you stay ahead of market trends and potential issues.
Scalability and Flexibility: The provider should be able to meet you where you are and adapt to your changing needs. A good provider can scale up with you and help you grow and build your business.
Security and Compliance: Ensure they have robust security measures in place and can help you comply with relevant industry regulations and standards.
Communication and Support: Look for a partner that offers clear communication channels and reliable support, with a dedicated team available to address your concerns promptly.
Our team offers comprehensive managed service offerings to enhance your capabilities. From advice and development to support and business services, we can collaborate with you and contribute to your long-term success. We’re not only up-to-date with emerging technologies, but we are a leader in AI and innovative products that deliver value and efficiency. To learn more about our full-service program with expertise across all Salesforce Clouds, reach out to us and speak to an expert.
