Why It's Time to Consider Managed Services
by Jason Oakley
As seen in
Security
Magazine January 2010
In recent years, many
organizations have benefited from the outsourcing of key functions.
Specialist providers are able to provide high-quality service at lower
total cost than an organization can achieve using their own internal
resources. This trend has long impacted functions such as payroll and
accounts payable, and in the IT industry for help desk support, software
development and other technical services. Today, the outsourcing trend
is also gaining traction within the security industry. Specialist
providers enable integrators to offer their clients a "Managed Services"
option for delivering an integrated physical security solution tailored
to specific customer requirements.
What are Managed Services?
Managed Services contracts enable a customer to select which
particular services they need and for what length of time with the
ability to make adjustments as a result of changing circumstances.
This business model is commonplace in other industries. For example,
telecommunication service providers have offered business customers
managed services for broadband connections, VPNs, data security services
and IP communications for many years. A managed services approach
presents a practical alternative for virtually any business system with
the common objective to sustain consistent and reliable operation while
reducing overall operating costs.
In the physical
security space, the shift to managed services is partially the result of
new standards and technologies, and the fact that economic drivers have
shifted organizations' focus from capital expenditures to operating
expenses.
Benefits of Managed Services
in Security
Managed Service contracts can help organizations standardize
security processes and procedures while reducing or eliminating the
capital investment in a physical security system. Providers typically
charge organizations with fixed monthly costs for a defined service
offering.
Budget constraints are the most frequently cited
reason for organizations opting for a managed services approach, but
there are also tangible benefits including higher levels of support,
availability of expert technical support, predictable recurring costs,
and access to the latest technologies and upgrades.
Managed
services are an especially viable option for small and mid-size
organizations that do not have the scale to support a large security
budget, and where managed services contracts can be used to replace or
augment a company's own in-house technical resources. This allows the
organization to focus on supporting strategic objectives. One common
advantage of such services is that they can frequently enable
organizations to extend security coverage to 24 hours in a cost
effective manner.
In recent years even larger
organizations have taken advantage of the benefits that specialist
providers have to offer. This is particularly beneficial in an
enterprise environment with remote branch locations where, for example, a
managed services solution can be deployed to provide a consistent
implementation of the organization's security technology strategy.
Finally, managed services can enable an organization to
respond to changing business conditions quickly and cost effectively.
New technology can be deployed based on incremental increases to the
existing monthly payment schedule accelerating implementation and
minimizing the budget impact of a large capital expenditure. For
example, a new contract from a government agency might require that an
organization install additional security measures such as biometrics or
visitor management systems. Adding these solutions becomes much more
manageable from a budgetary standpoint when approached in this manner.
Systems integrators use a managed services offering to
develop tailored solutions for individual clients and in so doing,
provide higher levels of service and increased customer satisfaction.
This leads to building higher quality long-term relationships with
benefits for the customer, the system integrator and equipment
manufacturers.
