Transforming application delivery to an end-user focused one. An Anunta Case Study.

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1 Transforming application delivery to an end-user focused one An Anunta Case Study

2 The Context The Context Anunta s client Firstsource Solutions is a leading global BPO company. In the BPO industry or indeed in any back-office environment, revenue generated, productivity attained and, customer satisfaction created is a direct function of application performance experienced by end-user. Whether it is a customer service agent s need to access a customer profile to resolve an issue or an outgoing telemarketing call that requires an agent to capture customer information, applications are core to optimal functioning in terms of time management and turn-around. Additionally given the 24x7 nature of a back office, end-user discontent can spread quickly with application downtime. The customer facing nature of the business means one unsatisfied customer can send more business away from a company than ten satisfied ones can attract. That said, like in every other industry, application performance from end user perspective hasn t received the attention it deserves. In most operations, application performance continues to be measured at server level making it non-reflective of business performance. The Firstsource Agenda Recognizing this, Anunta embarked on a project to transform Firstsource s application delivery model to achieve superior end-user experience, improved business availability and performance of applications, while lowering IT operations costs. The ultimate aim was to align IT performance to business goals of reducing revenue leakages, improving productivity and the bottom-line.

3 The Context The Anunta Solution Anunta suggested a 2-stage transformation. In the first stage, Anunta architected an environment where IT re-aligned to deliver end-user experience and in the second stage, move it to a managed environment where it defined a proactive framework for issues management based on an ITIL framework using a process-led approach. Delivering the end-user experience Aimed at migrating from traditional IT management where the goal is application deployment to one that has application performance from end-user perspective as a goal, Anunta focused on architecting the exact-fit application delivery using appropriate innovation at the technology and infrastructure design levels: Technology: The use of right-fit desktop and application virtualization technologies to deliver applications. Additionally, migrating to secure thin clients contributed to carbon credits and supported the company s green IT/ sustainability goals. IT Infrastructure management: Management was done from an end-user perspective and processes were aligned around this. Design specifics included a high level of detailing such as application base lining, cost of application delivery per hour, process improvement aimed at enhancing end-user experience and providing a process and business view of IT monitoring.

4 Moving The to Context a managed environment At the second stage, with the aim of gaining a 360 degree view of the IT infrastructure and making issues management a proactive process, systems were moved to the Managed Application Delivery as a Service model with a remote-managed IT support solution. Coupled with a unified framework that went beyond desktop and hardware management, it guaranteed application performance to end-users. The key aspects of this set-up included: Integration: All areas of IT support were integrated as a cohesive managed application delivery service from the centralized location. Subject matter experts in domains like network, telecom, systems and development, lead staff in monitoring critical services and related systems for clients, provided round-the-clock monitoring, troubleshooting and support for IT infrastructure, network services and environmental control systems. Anunta Metric Proactive monitoring of end-to-end IT infrastructure with end user experience management as a central goal, allowed Firstsource to change the dynamics of incident management. 74% of the faults/ incidents were identified and resolved proactively before it could affect the end-user. Ongoing support: Remote support scope included diagnostics and root cause analysis, security management, tune up and performance management, patch management, backup and archiving and remote user assistance.

5 The Context Service Desk operations were consolidated using a process excellence approach based on an amalgamation of various tools and methodologies. These included Fish-bone Analysis, Cost Effect Analysis, Event Process Chart (EPC) and Six Sigma quality controls to deliver consistent levels of quality to improve first call resolution rates and reduces restoration times for issues and problems. Measurement: To make measurability more tangible from an end user standpoint, application performance and availability measurement standards were redefined to: Measure the time applications are available to end-users for its productive use (productive use excludes any downtime, slowness and brown-outs). Establish a process for periodic application performance base lining which facilitates identifying of performance breach and slowness issues. As is evident therefore, the transformation provided significant business value to Firstsource. A superior service quality based on rapid, pro-active problem management, increased application availability therefore increasing productivity, reduction of IT costs and improving internal/external customer satisfaction were among the many business benefits. Anunta Metric Application availability to business users consistently above 99.5%. There were zero brownouts and application delivery cost per hour fell by 30%. A well-defined cost management framework, tracking hourly cost of application delivery as a key metric was implemented to align the IT cost structure with the business revenue model. The project helped Firstsource achieve improvement in profit margins by 100+ basis points!

6 Corporate Headquarters: Mumbai 4th Floor, Paradigm, B Wing, Mindspace, New Link Road, Near Toyota Showroom, Malad (West), Mumbai Application Performance Guaranteed