Take the time to clearly understand the boundaries of responsibility so you can judge what functions and costs remain on your shoulders. Only when you get this big picture can you judge whether outsourcing makes sense financially and operationally for your organization.
Bruce Boardman is executive editor of Network Computing, testing and writing about network management and systems. He has 12 years' IT experience managing networks and distributed computing for a financial service provider. Write to him at [email protected].
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Network & Systems Management Services
How big a staff, network or business do you need to find happiness in a network and systems management outsourcing relationship? That depends on your goals. Do you aim to fire IT employees and save buckets of money, or reassign them and start to fulfill those ambitious business plans that have been on hold? Do you have specialized services and applications? What's your tolerance for giving up hands-on, day-to-day control?
For the most part, big management service providers are not targeting small and midsize businesses because of the need to tailor services, which equals razor-thin profit margins. But it's only a matter of time before they lust after this potentially lucrative market segment. Be ready when their reps entice you with promises of money saved and efficiencies gained.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
