Remote Infrastructure Management

Remote Infrastructure Management services consist of remote (outside the physical premises of a company’s facilities) monitoring and managing the infrastructure components and taking proactive steps and remedial actions across the IT landscape. It is undertaken through a combination of offshore/near-shore/global delivery center which is often termed as an Operations Management Centre (OMC) which manages the infrastructure, ensuring uptimes and availability.

Why should I be aware of this?

The offshore delivery of infrastructure management services—from network services and help desk support to server maintenance and desktop management—is becoming more mainstream.

In a global environment where IT budget escalations taking place globally, Remote Infrastructure Management is growing in importance as organizations are keen on focusing on their core strengths and outsource the rest.

Effectively optimizing IT infrastructure and related operations and deliver ever-improving service levels to meet and exceed the expectations of their business-users without compromising on quality and security are some of the biggest challenges faced by business today. More and more companies are turning towards Infrastructure Management Service to resolve this need.

All about Remote Infrastructure Management

With increased globalization enterprises have been trying to work out innovative methods to service users 24x7 across the globe at reduced cost while increased efficiency and effectiveness. This has led to increased awareness of the Remote Infrastructure Management and acceptance of Remote Infrastructure.

RIM provides opportunities to enterprises to gain significant efficiencies and cost reductions by adding labor arbitrage within the infrastructure space backed by mature processes and powerful visibility tools. It is becoming an IT strategy of choice amongst Fortune/Global 500 companies across the globe.

Next big source of revenue

Offshore vendors see infrastructure management as the next big source of revenue as demand for offshore application development and maintenance stabilizes. According to a report by India's National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) (compiled by McKinsey) up to three-quarters of all infrastructure management roles could be offshored, creating a $26 billion to $28 billion revenue opportunity by 2013, of which Indian companies could capture about half. Meanwhile, more established U.S. and European infrastructure outsourcing providers view offshore delivery as a way to compete on price with their offshore rivals and improve their own slim margins

Benefits to customers

The trend toward Remote Infrastructure Management is largely driven by customer gains derived from these factors:

• Flexibility – Customers get a flexible model where they have an option of outsourcing a single specific function, several functions or entering the engagement in phases. This kind of greater scalability and cost predictability make companies more agile.
• Domain expertise - a RIM service provider gives the customer access to experts on a 24/7 basis. Moreover, these specialists are constantly updated with the latest technology trends.
• Visibility and control –the customer retains control of its strategic components such as physical IT assets, technology refresh, policy and architecture which provides visibility into the availability, performance and utilization of each component. This visibility further enables them to take control of the situation, make informed decisions on future investments in IT and improve current service levels.
• Proactive problem resolution – New web-based tools provide proactive monitoring and management, advanced correlation engines and qualified resources. In this way problems can be resolved in a faster and structured manner.
• Cost reduction – Offshore RIM has a spiral effect when it comes to cost arbitrage. It reduces not only the manpower cost of managing the infrastructure, but also brings down the costs related to future infrastructure investments.
• Transformational benefits – Like infrastructure optimization, standardization and consolidation, process and tools re-engineering, etc.

CopperBytes

• Remote Infrastructure Management Services are expected to drive the next wave of growth in the outsourcing market.
• IT budgets in most countries will grow just 1–2 percent.
• Global IT services giants are expanding their offshore operations in low-cost nations.
• The total market for remote infrastructure management services is anywhere from $80 billion to $120 billion.

References:

• Remote Infrastructure Management
• Remote Infrastructure Management: The third wave of outsourcing!
• Remote Infrastructure Management
• The Pros and Cons of Offshore Remote Infrastructure Management