Outsourcing hardware and infrastructure support allows IT service providers to focus more on their core business and become more customer-centric. In this blog post you can read why IT service providers no longer have to do everything themselves.
The shortage of skilled workers in the ICT sector continues and the technologies and applications used in the IT services sector are becoming increasingly complex. "I believe that technologies and applications have reached such a level of complexity that - if I want to cover the entire range of IT topics - it is a great challenge for the company but also for the employees to do so accordingly," says Michael Dudli, CEO of Xelon. "Practice shows again and again that if I focus on a whole range of different things, I am never as successful as if I really concentrate on the points with which I can create added value and in which the DNA of my company is contained. The more topics there are, the more likely I am to get lost," he continues.
The ICT skills shortage is causing problems for the IT services sector. According to a report by the Swiss ICT and Internet industry lobby group (SWICO), all segments of the ICT industry in Switzerland say they are struggling to recruit specialists. "We all know that recruiting in the ICT sector is extremely difficult at the moment. If you don't manage to get the right people as an IT company, it makes sense to outsource tasks such as looking after the IT infrastructure," says Michael Dudli. IT service companies can thus cushion the consequences of the shortage of skilled workers and use the manpower to build on their strengths and unique selling points. This ensures more focus and stronger customer centricity. Instead of carrying out routine activities with high automation potential, IT service providers can focus more on acquiring new customers or deepening existing customer relationships.
When is it worthwhile for IT service providers to outsource hardware and infrastructure support? This trend report on the strategy question "Make or Buy?" provides decision-making aids and practical examples.
This is why it pays to outsource repetitive task
More and more IT service providers are therefore outsourcing the time-consuming hardware and infrastructure management. When working with an IaaS or PaaS provider, an external partner provides a highly available, stable, secure and scalable IT infrastructure or a platform for managing IT infrastructures. IT companies that know their infrastructure is in good hands can concentrate more on their core business and thus consolidate and improve their position in the market. Especially in the IT services sector, many companies purchase cloud services. With the purchase of cloud services, the required computing power can be continuously adapted as needed. IT companies can expand their offering quickly and easily without having to make large investments. Cloud storage is usually billed monthly, which simplifies budget planning for new projects.
Outsourcing infrastructure management saves time and, as described above, enables a stronger focus on business-relevant work and on innovation - which is not only an advantage when recruiting new IT professionals, but is also important for retaining IT talent. Investing in the right IT infrastructure, cloud platforms and other technologies that allow repetitive tasks to be done more efficiently benefits digital natives - who currently make up a large proportion of applicants. They generally find it easier than older employees to delegate work to technology. "We hear so many IT service providers saying 'I can't find people who want to go into the data centre and screw in servers. I'm finding people who want to work with the cloud; I'm finding people who want to focus.' This focus not only gives you a weighty advantage in recruiting. If you manage to focus on the issues that move you forward as a company and add value to the customer, it's a huge opportunity to differentiate yourself accordingly," says Xelon CEO Michael Dudli.
Michael Dudli
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Xelon AG Poststrasse 15, 6300 Zug Switzerland
