C24 10 good reasons insert
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This document outlines 10 reasons for businesses to consider outsourcing their IT infrastructure to a managed service provider like C24. It argues that outsourcing can reduce costs by paying only for resources used, eliminate operational overheads of maintaining an on-site IT system, and provide access to expert resources and the latest technologies. Outsourcing also offers business agility, continuity during disasters, improved security, and reduces risks from system failures and data loss. The document claims a managed service can free up in-house IT staff to focus on strategic work rather than system maintenance.
C24 10 good reasons insert
- 1. 10 GOOD REASONS TO MAKE THE SWITCH In today’s difficult business environment it is more important than ever for your IT infrastructure to always be available and as importantly adding value to you as a business. The challenge now being faced by all businesses is that the costs associated with maintaining and managing this critical business activity is increasing exponentially yearly. Although costs are rising, some areas faster than others, value being delivered to firms is not growing at the same rate. So a significant number of organisations are seeing the benefits of outsourcing all or part of their infrastructure to companies with the expertise and economies of scale to deliver reliable solutions and real value for money. Business benefits are clear to see but sometimes difficult to believe, moving from an cap-ex model to an op-ex model, access to pools of experts as and when needed, anytime anywhere working, removal of on site training not to mention resiliency, disaster recovery and its associated compliance and support 24/7. However, there are also certain fears as for the first time the company’s IT solutions are not in the room down the corridor and they have to rely on an organisation that in many cases is relatively unknown. Below we have listed 10 reasons why Professional Services Companies should evaluate a hosted solution and how these solutions can add significant value to the business. 1. REDUCING COST AND REMOVING WASTE With the utility model you pay for what you use, giving you the ability to scale up or down as required. This method allows for expansion or downsizing of the IT estate reducing if necessary exposure to costs such as software licencing but at the same time remaining compliant. As your solution will be housed and managed out of an award winning data centre you will also be able to plug into technology and solutions that would usually be beyond the IT budgets of all but the largest firms. These include the latest cooling, fire and operational technologies. 2. REDUCTION IN OPERATIONAL OVERHEADS Having your IT delivered and managed from purpose built facilities gives you all the performance without the energy bills, the expansion issues, expensive physical footprint, in some cases the environmental impact and also the expensive external support premiums. If the firm is looking at expansion users and or sites can be added quickly and at fixed costs and in many cases without the need to add further head counts to the local IT. This flexibility can be very attractive to businesses that are looking to grow.
- 2. 3. REDUCTION IN CAPITAL EXPENDITURE Hardware refresh’s that allows you to take advantage of the latest technology benefits can be costly and deliver their own difficulties. Outsourcing your IT spend can decrease spend on server rooms, power, cooling, hardware and software licencing. Further training can allow the IT staff within the firm to concentrate on delivering client or firm benefits. 4. FIXED COST IT In most firms IT can be expensive and in some cases costs can be difficult to forecast accurately. With a fully managed solution from C24, IT becomes a known quantity with fixed monthly charges making for easier cash-flow, forecasting and business planning. In many cases known monthly costs are one of the most attractive elements of outsourced managed IT. 5. ACCESS TO RESOURCE POOL The C24 team have a deep understanding of technology, with decades of experience of server management and application delivery. As a client you will benefit from this knowledge and the continuous learning strategy of the team at C24. Clients can find it expensive to keep on site staff trained and up to date with the latest vendor technology, C24 management invests heavily in training and accreditations to keep our vendor relationships at the very latest level. 6. BUSINESS AGILITY It is well recognised that delivering new business initiatives for an ever demanding client base is now critical. New solutions that deliver value can be deployed quickly, but as important they can be tested to see their value using the C24 sandbox environments. Testing solutions to see the true value is now becoming increasingly important within business; C24’s relationship with major vendors gives us an understanding of how these applications run in a hosted environment and how they will be delivered. The ability for firms to be agile is seen by some as a driving force for success. 7. BUSINESS CONTINUITY Lexcel, Code of Conduct Rule 5 demands that you have made adequate provision for continuing operations in the event of a disaster. The word disaster is used to create fear with scenarios of floods, planes falling out of skies etc.; however the majority of issues usually occur from user error, patches being added to servers and hardware failures etc. Although not as major as a flood the knock on effect of such issues can be as devastating with the firm having major IT issues and users unable to work and so unable to bill. With solutions hosted in a tier IV datacentre these types of issues would be removed and if for some reason a site was unavailable then you can access your data from home, another office or any location with an internet connection.
- 3. 8. IN HOUSE EXPERTISE The IT staff within firms can spend significant time managing general IT house-keeping, data recovery, back-up tapes and general checks which although important deliver little strategic value to the business. A C24 hosted managed solution removes the main house keeping creating time for IT to deliver client side value. In some firms they have no on site expertise and rely on external support staff. Although we would never recommend removing the entire IT function we have the flexibility to manage this if it is the strategy of the business moving forward. 9. IMPROVED OPERATIONAL CAPABILITIES There is a growing complexity of IT in business today. Firms are using remote working, adopting mobile technologies, collaboration technologies and video conferencing to name but a few. The growing demand from users is putting added pressure on IT departments as they are now being expected to understand and support all areas of technology and more importantly understand the security aspects involved in each of these areas. Data security is one of the key areas with more staff carrying sensitive client data are portable devices firms are opening themselves up to potential data loss and so loss of client confidence. A managed service from C24 you don’t get complexity you get a service that is delivered and managed by people that understand how these solutions operate. We remove all the worry giving you the freedom to drive your business forward. 10. REDUCE RISK As mentioned significant disasters are unusual, however WAN or LAN performance, spam, viruses, application crashes are more common and affect the day to day operation of the firm, lowering productivity, effecting staff morale and potential creating issues with clients. With C24 manage services every aspect of your IT infrastructure is monitored and evaluated by trained professionals who are alerted to potential issues usually before they create issues. The monitoring is further supported by a helpdesk function that is also monitoring all areas of the solution form network connectivity, packet loss, application issues, server load etc. C24 endeavours to manage all areas of risk to deliver total piece of mind. C24 Ltd, 2 Borough Court, Grammar School Lane, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 3SW, UK. t. 0121 550 4569 f. 0121 550 7326 e. [email protected] w. www.c24.co.uk Find us on: