I D C T E C H N O L O G Y S P O T L I G H T

Transcription

1 I D C T E C H N O L O G Y S P O T L I G H T H ow T o d a y' s I T C h a l lenges Ar e C r e a t i n g N ew R e q u i r e m e n ts in Support Servi c e s D elive r y May 2012 Adapted from Converging Infrastructure Services by Leslie Rosenberg, Curtis Price, Brad Nisbet, et al., IDC # Sponsored by EMC This paper examines how support requirements are changing as IT organizations adopt virtualized environments and cloud solutions to enable the flexibility and agility business units demand across the enterprise. As enterprises increasingly deploy Big Data solutions to drive business analytics initiatives and enable real-time data analysis, IDC expects IT environments will grow in size, scale, and complexity adding significant challenges to ongoing IT management. This Technology Spotlight discusses how support providers are modifying deliverables and processes to address these new requirements for ongoing IT operations. The paper also looks at the role that EMC plays in this strategically important market. Introduction In the face of increasing global competition, enterprises must respond quickly to dynamic markets and changing customer demands. To accomplish this, many organizations are deploying new technologies to enable mission-critical business processes. More and more enterprises are relying on next-generation IT environments including virtualization to improve efficiency in IT management, cloud solutions that can increase the agility and flexibility business managers need to respond to rapidly changing markets, and Big Data initiatives that include complex data management requirements and advanced analytics capabilities to achieve strategic competitive advantage and improve overall performance across IT and business operations. However, while these new technologies can often help address new business requirements, they also present significant challenges for ongoing IT operations. For example, IDC research consistently demonstrates that IT organizations with virtualization deployments require a higher level of support across the virtualized environment. As enterprises continue to demand these new capabilities, maximizing performance and availability while reducing overall IT cost presents an ongoing struggle for most CIOs. As a result, IT managers are increasingly looking for assistance from support providers. IDC support research finds that hardware and software vendors are increasing ongoing investment and innovation in support services to meet new requirements around proactive support, improved collaboration, and new delivery methods. Primary Challenges Facing IT Organizations The most significant challenge facing IT departments in 2012 is maintaining and expanding IT service delivery. CIOs are tasked with improving business process continuity across the enterprise and maximizing the performance of existing IT infrastructure and at the same time deploying and supporting new technologies such as cloud and virtualization to enable Big Data management and analytics. While these new technologies can deliver extensive benefits for business units, they typically add significant complexity to ongoing IT management. This increasing reliance on IT to support mission-critical business processes is forcing IT organizations to meet strict service-level agreements (SLAs) in highly complex environments and with fewer IT resources. IDC 1314

2 In addition, with fewer resources and declining budgets, CIOs continue to struggle with cost management across the IT environment. IT organizations must reduce the cost of IT service delivery while integrating new technologies for cloud solutions and Big Data initiatives to maintain and improve the quality of service for internal and external customers. As a result, IT managers are increasingly looking for projects that focus on cost reduction (as opposed to adopting technology for technology's sake). Recent IDC research has found that new technology implementations must include cost control strategies for serious consideration from most CIOs and IT managers. Efficient utilization of IT resources also remains a critical issue. IT managers are continually refining strategies to improve daily productivity, from adopting IT automation tools and processes to streamlining IT service delivery in the hope of achieving greater efficiencies. As business managers turn to IT for help in attaining better results, IT managers must shift resources from maintaining existing systems to implementing strategic projects that can directly impact the bottom line. Further, most enterprises are demanding that IT and business managers work together to bridge the gap between IT service delivery and business unit utilization. Business managers want to take advantage of the potential benefits associated with cloud solutions and improved real-time data analysis, while IT managers must manage and grow their environments to better enable the enterprise as a whole. As organizations grow more sophisticated in their IT management strategies, aligning IT and business objectives becomes a requirement for achieving overall company success. Growing Challenges, New Support Requirements Most IT organizations are turning to support providers for help managing these challenges and addressing the new requirements for ongoing IT operations. For example, the focus on maintaining and improving system performance to meet strict SLAs is changing the overall approach to support. Historically, IT managers relied on support services for reactive support to fix problems when they affected IT systems. As virtualization and cloud technologies increase the complexity of IT environments, support providers are taking a more preventive approach that can detect and resolve potential issues before they affect critical systems. In addition, when reactive support needs do arise, IT managers are looking for support providers with efficient processes to reduce time to resolution. As IT and business managers work to align objectives across the enterprise, the need for support is also changing from support for specific technologies to support for enterprisewide business processes. IT organizations are utilizing highly virtualized environments to manage new cloud solutions and address Big Data initiatives, and IDC research has shown that deploying virtualization typically increases the need for a high level of external support. These complex, integrated IT infrastructures require support deliverables across multiple technologies to ensure consistent performance, as well as highly skilled support personnel for accurate problem diagnosis and resolution. In the current fragmented support market, most IT managers coordinate support across disparate technologies and vendors with little success. In addition, most vendor-driven support delivery features little or no integration with other technologies. IT managers are demanding comprehensive business process support not just procedures for multivendor support delivery but integrated technologies to deliver automated and proactive support across an IT environment. With a new generation entering the workforce, IT organizations are also looking for new levels of customer interaction. To speed problem resolution, IT organizations are increasingly using advanced tools for self-diagnosis and resolution, as well as leveraging peer experiences and knowledge for a more collaborative approach to problem resolution. IDC also expects organizations to adopt enterprisewide social business policies and applications, as well as implement mobile device management initiatives which will affect how IT organizations engage with their support providers IDC

3 In addition, as IT organizations adopt advanced technologies to improve support delivery, support providers must establish strict security policies and processes. Preventive and automated support deliverables typically require that customers allow support providers access into the IT environment. As such, support providers must demonstrate rigorous security both in the technology itself and in the processes and policies used in support delivery. This includes encryption and authentication technology as well as a commitment to ensuring that all data collected during support engagements is for support usage only. How the Support Market Is Addressing New Customer Requirements Support providers are making significant modifications to accommodate new customer requirements. First, most support providers have invested in significant innovations around proactive and preventive support deliverables. These capabilities can be extensive, including automated tools to identify potential issues and send appropriate notifications to relevant IT staff. In addition, support providers are including functionality that can register and monitor the customer's current IT environment, which can aid problem identification and speed up resolution. Most support providers have also enacted strict security measures around preventive and automated support delivery to protect support data and ensure customer privacy. Support providers have also invested in advanced self-diagnosis tools and utilities. These capabilities include expanded assistance for troubleshooting and problem resolution, such as wizards and decision trees to help users identify and resolve issues internally. In addition, these tools are often paired with advanced remote support delivery capabilities to improve access to direct support when self-diagnosis does not remedy the problem. Support providers are also increasingly leveraging the data collected from these support interactions to extract metrics and analytics that can improve the overall support experience including advanced analysis tools, "just in time" analytics, and other new methodologies from data scientists. As IT organizations adopt social business applications, support providers are updating processes and technology to provide multiple forms of engagement for customers. At a minimum, communication channels include telephone access, online reporting, contact information, and online chat preferably in any language to properly support global customers. In addition, support providers are introducing innovations for mobile support delivery and consumption as more IT staff work from any location, at any time of day. However, to enable these multiple communication channels, support providers must also deploy back-end systems to ensure full integration across all forms of engagement, which reduces the need to restate detailed information with each interaction. One of the most significant innovations in support is how providers are modifying internal processes around support delivery. Historically, support delivery has defined clear escalation paths: Level 1 support for initial contact, easier issues, and information gathering; Level 2 support for more advanced skills; and Level 3 support for engineering and development support. IDC research shows support providers are updating that process to adopt a more collaborative approach. For many providers, support staff can now work together in groups or teams. This allows the support organization to share knowledge and spread best practices while solving customer problems as a team (typically with more senior support personnel overseeing the process). Most support providers also feature innovative, comprehensive online support portals to complement support tools and reactive break-fix support. These portals include access to expanded knowledge base directories and articles, featuring full product coverage and advanced search capabilities. In addition, most online portals include extensive, moderated community forums for peer-to-peer problem solving and sharing best practices. To ensure full customer engagement, support providers are also pursuing deeper integration with user groups and independent user communities IDC 3

4 To deliver support for business processes, providers are adopting a comprehensive, fully integrated approach to multivendor support policies and procedures. This extends beyond the single-point-ofcontact model of most multivendor support today to truly integrated support delivery and crossproduct knowledge and expertise. In addition, business process support requires deeply integrated technology for advanced support capabilities. IDC sees multiple vendors forming partnerships so that disparate technologies can utilize the same tools and utilities for proactive and preventive support delivery across all technology required for the business process. Considering EMC EMC provides hardware and software solutions for customers around the world and reported more than $20 billion in product and services revenue during The company is based in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, and has offices in more than 80 countries worldwide. Founded in 1979, EMC has expanded significantly over the past 30 years through organic growth and acquisitions two of the most notable being VMware and RSA, which operate as independent divisions of EMC. Since its inception, EMC has offered support services for its suite of software and hardware products. EMC has a legacy of support delivery with a specific focus on the "total customer experience," with 7,000 experienced support professionals trained and certified on the latest technologies from EMC, VMware, Cisco, Microsoft, and others. In addition, EMC support features nine global customer support centers delivering support to more than 152 countries worldwide. The EMC support services portfolio starts with the foundational support packages: Basic, Enhanced, and Premium support offer a variety of choices for basic, midtier, and high-level support services agreements. This package structure allows customers to select the support agreement that is best suited for their IT environment. In addition, EMC support offers a mix of selections for add-on support services, such as a Strategic Account Manager, Technical Account Manager, and Designated Support Engineer. EMC also offers Secure Select Support, a specialized support offering to address high security requirements with support delivered by U.S. citizens on U.S. soil. These additional features can allow users to further customize their support experience with specific support deliverables. EMC recently announced a new initiative in the support services organization: Agile Customer Support. This program encompasses a variety of new deliverables, with a focus on delivering a higher level of support for any source of demand across EMC's customer base. This includes specific support delivery tailored for end-user customers, partners, and service providers. EMC's Agile Customer Support also features access to EMC support services through any channel in any language. EMC support customers can access EMC support personnel through traditional support channels such as telephone, online, or . However, EMC is also investing in expanding online support and introducing new channels to enhance support using online chat, social media, expanded self-help capabilities, and mobile device support delivery. In addition, EMC is integrating support capabilities into existing products, which can help customers access online support. As part of Agile Customer Support, EMC continues to offer automated support through monitoring and connect home capabilities. EMC's Agile Customer Support initiative is structured to offer the right method of support delivery according to customer demand source and channel. Direct EMC support can be delivered remotely or onsite and through assigned support staff if required by the customer. In addition, EMC is featuring expanded self-help tools and capabilities through its Online Support services, including knowledge base content and additional support community forums to enable further customer engagement. EMC has also enhanced partner-enabled support by offering access, support management, and support delivery certification to authorized EMC partners. Moreover, EMC is investing in proactive service delivery that can provide customers with asset data, risk assessments, and best practices focused on improving IT environments IDC

5 Challenges However, EMC will face challenges associated with support delivery going forward. First, customers are increasingly adopting tools and utilities for self-diagnosis and resolution, in addition to preventive support deliverables. With this growing reliance on internal support, IT organizations can often view vendor-delivered support as extraneous or unnecessary. In fact, most of the technology used for support delivery is provided by the original software or hardware vendor. EMC will have to make a conscious effort to demonstrate the value of its entire suite of capabilities on an ongoing basis. In addition, EMC must continue to focus on maintaining and improving support delivery when customers do reach out to EMC directly for support. While improving preventive support and selfdiagnosis and resolution can provide significant benefits to IT organizations, these initiatives must be paired with delivering exceptional service when customers require direct assistance with a problem. As the number of customer interactions with support staff decreases over time, the importance of each interaction increases substantially. Therefore, all support interactions should be high-quality, high-value engagements to maintain customer satisfaction and improve customer loyalty. EMC must plan carefully as it expands offerings for integrated support delivery in heterogeneous IT environments. EMC has had good success with the integrated support delivered as part of VCE Seamless Support for Vblock infrastructure platforms, a partnership between EMC, VMware, and Cisco. However, the integrations required for business process support will likely involve a wider variety of partners and competitors, requiring careful integration of people, processes, and technology. The VCE experience should prove helpful as EMC pursues additional support partnerships to improve the overall customer support experience. Conclusion As IT environments increasingly adopt advanced technologies such as virtualization and cloud solutions to streamline delivery and achieve operational efficiencies, they are turning to external support providers for assistance beyond reactive, break-fix support services. Enterprise support services providers face a dynamic, competitive market that requires top-quality service delivery, proactive and preventive support solutions, comprehensive support coverage, and improved customer choice. Support services providers can help CIOs and IT managers address many of the challenges associated with ongoing operations for complex, integrated IT infrastructures. To the extent that EMC can continue to meet its challenges, EMC support services will provide the company with significant opportunity in this competitive market. A B O U T T H I S P U B L I C A T I ON This publication was produced by IDC Go-to-Market Services. The opinion, analysis, and research results presented herein are drawn from more detailed research and analysis independently conducted and published by IDC, unless specific vendor sponsorship is noted. IDC Go-to-Market Services makes IDC content available in a wide range of formats for distribution by various companies. A license to distribute IDC content does not imply endorsement of or opinion about the licensee. C O P Y R I G H T A N D R E S T R I C T I O N S Any IDC information or reference to IDC that is to be used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written approval from IDC. For permission requests, contact the GMS information line at or gms@idc.com. Translation and/or localization of this document requires an additional license from IDC. For more information on IDC, visit For more information on IDC GMS, visit Global Headquarters: 5 Speen Street Framingham, MA USA P F IDC 5