NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: MARK EHR ON OUTSOURCING 08/25/04 Today's focus: Lessons from the trenches
Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], In this issue: * EMA's own experience with outsourcing * Links related to Outsourcing * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Alterpoint Read the latest analyst report on Network Change and Configuration Management (NCCM) written by EMA's Dennis Drogseth. This report discusses the latest developments in the NCCM market, including an in-depth look at DeviceAuthority Suite, a comprehensive solution for configuring, changing, and controlling today's complex, multi-vendor IT network infrastructures. Download the report today to learn how you can leverage NCCM to reduce the cost and complexity of managing network change. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=73289 _______________________________________________________________ CONTEMPLATING A CAREER MOVE? For many of us, it is time to contemplate a change. You're great at managing networks, but what about your career? Get information and advice for managing and developing your career and guiding your staff's career choices at NW Fusion's Career Research Center. Click here: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=73227 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: Lessons from the trenches By Mark Ehr Those of you who follow this space regularly may remember that a few weeks ago my company decided to outsource our entire IT function to a local MSP/ASP (MASP) called JustConnect, now a part of MicroSource. The reasons for making this move included cost savings, increased productivity for our workforce, and higher levels of service (not to mention that I have been handling our IT function, and I don't want to be an IT guy - been there, done that). MicroSource (MSI) provides a fully supported Citrix-based desktop and takes over network and (optionally) desktop management duties. The company provides a 24-7 help desk for users to call into and tracks all issues using CRM software - both of which are minimum requirements for a MASP, in my opinion. Part of the justification for outsourcing was financial. ROI calculations showed we could realize a 100% payback on the annual cost of service within a quarter using a simple comparison of MSI's costs compared with the costs of a full-time IT person and other IT-related capital and operational expenditures. An even bigger "soft" benefit not included in the calculation was increased productivity by allowing our users to work anytime, nearly anywhere, while still enjoying the same desktop environment that they use when they are in the office. The final justification was disaster recovery. Not having our data and applications hosted in a real carrier-grade data center (that we could never afford to build ourselves) was a major concern of mine. With MSI, all of our data would be stored on and backed up from a storage-area network. If all of our offices were to disappear tomorrow, our entire IT infrastructure would remain intact and available. Unbeknownst to us, we would take immediate advantage of this feature. During migration planning, I set an aggressive date for cutover to MSI - two weeks from contract signing. The reason for this was simple. We were moving our office just a week after the cutover date, and I wanted to have our IT virtualized prior to the move. MSI delivered in spades - it not only met the planned cutover date, but also beat it by two days. Exactly one week before our move I drove our servers down to their data center (on a Friday evening), and the following Monday morning we were live with Citrix-hosted desktops, Office 2003, and an MSI-hosted Exchange server. Granted, we did not have all of our applications virtualized, but 95% of our mission-critical systems were online and available. That Friday, we performed our physical move. We hired an independent telephone contractor to move our phone systems, and the contractor also offered to help us move our T-1 line (bad idea). To make a long story short, the order for the T-1 move was either not entered or executed properly and today (four days after our move), we still have no data connectivity in our office. Not to worry - since all of our IT is virtualized, I just told everyone to work from home until the T-1 line is in place. Our company has been able to maintain productivity through the entire move, saving us tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue, and that makes a big difference when you're a small company. Now that is ROI you can take to the bank. I have a few minor bones to pick with MSI around service-level agreements and the migration planning process (which will no doubt become the topics of future articles), but overall we are extremely happy with the levels of service and the responsiveness and technical acumen of the staff. For example, MSI has gone beyond the call of duty, helping us escalate our T-1 problems with our telco. Without its help, I believe we could have been without our T-1 for many more days or even weeks. I welcome your ideas, suggestions and comments on the subject of outsourcing; my e-mail address is below. RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS Is security ripe for outsourcing? Network World, 08/23/04 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/082304outsecure.html?nl2 _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Mark Ehr Mark Ehr is a Research Director with Enterprise Management Associates in Boulder, Colo., a leading market research firm focusing exclusively on all aspects of enterprise management software and services. Mark has more than 20 years of experience working with distributed systems, applications and networks. His current focuses at EMA are applications and systems management, mobile and wireless, enterprise application integration, security, and Web services. He can be reached via e-mail at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Alterpoint Read the latest analyst report on Network Change and Configuration Management (NCCM) written by EMA's Dennis Drogseth. This report discusses the latest developments in the NCCM market, including an in-depth look at DeviceAuthority Suite, a comprehensive solution for configuring, changing, and controlling today's complex, multi-vendor IT network infrastructures. Download the report today to learn how you can leverage NCCM to reduce the cost and complexity of managing network change. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=73288 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Archive of the Outsourcing newsletter: http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/asp/index.html Breaking outsourcing news and resource links: http://www.nwfusion.com/topics/outsourcing.html _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE WONDERING IF YOUR PAY IS UP TO SNUFF? Check out Network World's 2004 Salary Calculator to see if you're getting paid what you're worth. Using data collected in the 2004 Network World Salary Survey, we've programmed this calculator with several categories that could affect your pay. Answer the questions and find out what the average salary is for your job category. Click here: <http://www.nwfusion.com/salary/2004/calculator.html> _______________________________________________________________ May We Send You a Free Print Subscription? You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. 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