Outsource IT Infrastructure to Improve System Availability, Reliability, and Recovery

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Outsourcing infrastructure through co-location, managed services, and IaaS has become extremely popular in the past few years:
- The growing expectations for constant availability from customers call for a higher level of capabilities than the internal IT infrastructure can cost-effectively provide.
- There are more IT infrastructure outsourcing options available now than there ever have been before – there is a suitable option for every organization.
Almost every organization is outsourcing a part of their IT infrastructure.
However, only 42% of Info-Tech’s clients receive the benefits they expect to in the first year of IT infrastructure outsourcing.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

Success results from making the right outsourcing choices and building a strong partnership with your service providers.

Decide what to outsource based on criticality of applications and risk factors involved.
Cost and strategic fit should both be factors in the deployment model decision.
Develop an RFP based on both your current and future requirements.
Treat your vendor as a partner – collaboration works much better than penalties do.

Impact and Result

Maximize your chances of success by following these steps below:

Conduct due diligence when deciding what to outsource.
Evaluate and select the most appropriate deployment method.
Identify infrastructure requirements before developing an RFP.
Assess and select the most appropriate provider for the organization’s needs.
Manage the transition and vendor relationship.

Outsource IT Infrastructure to Improve System Availability, Reliability, and Recovery Research & Tools

1. Assess the organization’s outsourcing profile

Determine whether now is the right time to outsource, select the components of infrastructure to outsource, and select the most appropriate deployment model.

2. Structure the project

Document your project goals.

3. Develop an RFP

Define the organization’s short-term and long-term infrastructure requirements.

4. Evaluate RFP responses

Develop a set of scoring criteria to evaluate RFP responses.

5. Manage the transition and vendor relationship

Transition infrastructure components smoothly and build a collaborative vendor relationship.

Outsource IT Infrastructure to Improve System Availability, Reliability, and Recovery visualization

There are very few IT infrastructure components you should be housing internally – outsource everything else.

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Table of Contents

Need Extra Help?
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Get the help you need in this 1-phase advisory process. You'll receive 5 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.

Call 1: Assess your outsourcing profile

1a) Receive current market pricing for each deployment model and compare the costs to your current IT infrastructure costs. Discuss the strategic fit of each outsourcing deployment model for your organization.
1b) Review the components that you’re outsourcing and your organizational readiness to outsource with an Info-Tech Analyst.
Call 2: Structure your project

Review your business case and project success metrics. Receive tips for achieving buy-in for the project.
Call 3: Develop the RFP

Review your infrastructure requirements and completed RFP to ensure it is comprehensive and accurately conveys your requirements.
Call 4: Evaluate your RFP responses and review the contract

4a) Create a shortlist of candidates.
4b) Review your contract in detail and receive tips on contract negotiation.
Call 5: Manage the vendor relationship and measure value

Discuss ways to overcome your vendor management issues and ways to maintain a collaborative partnership with the provider. Formulate an exit strategy if necessary.