Hardware Maintenance and IT Outsourcing – Knowing What Is Needed
Park Place Hardware Maintenance
IT outsourcing is gaining prominence as more businesses face rising technology demands beside stagnant budgets. The solution, in many cases, is to turn to a global data center networking and optimization provider that can handle some, or all, of a company’s IT needs for:
Providing this level of support should also help the fiscal and management burden facing organizations. Developing an IT outsourcing plan rarely creates a situation in which IT employees are unnecessary. In most cases, a company will still maintain some systems internally and will need IT workers to provide oversight. Within this arrangement, businesses must seriously evaluate issues of ownership, and IT leaders need to understand who is responsible for different hardware systems and data.
Hardware Maintenance for 3 Common Situations
Besides security and regulatory concerns, IT managers must also understand who controls different hardware elements when establishing an IT outsourcing plan, and the decisions vary based on the strategy.
1. Cloud Computing
The cloud is emerging as a prime option for organizations looking to outsource elements of their IT operations. However, it is worth noting that the cloud also presents numerous challenges that require careful IT oversight. Furthermore, few organizations can move all of their systems into the cloud, meaning a well-staffed IT department is still necessary. This can give IT leaders the ability to balance cost effectiveness in the cloud with internal control, creating an extremely efficient IT setup.
When moving into the cloud, IT managers are responsible for hardware maintenance operations on their internal systems, but vendors own the hardware and must maintain it. The private cloud is an exception to this rule, as most private cloud’s fall under the IT department’s control.
2. Colocation
Long-used in only specialized settings, colocation is rising as a means of IT outsourcing, particularly for backup and recovery processes. In a data center colocation setting, organizations maintain control and ownership of their own hardware, even if they are having a private cloud hosted in the facility. It is possible, though rare, to find a colocation plan in which the vendor will purchase, manage and own the hardware, but such a strategy is not common. As a result, most companies using colocation still need to keep hardware maintenance and system support in mind.
3. IT Services
Traditional IT services still have a prominent place in the IT outsourcing landscape, and such plans involve companies giving a third-party IT hardware maintenance provider complete control. However, issues of ownership vary from one plan to another, so IT managers must carefully evaluate SLAs and identify what they are responsible to handle.