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FEATURE: IT OUTSOURCING
IT’S ALSO
IMPORTANT FOR
OUTSOURCERS
TO PLAY AN
ACTIVE ROLE IN
CO-DEVELOPING
NEW SERVICES
WITH CLOUD
PROVIDERS.
before truly addressing governance, risk
and compliance requirements. By bringing
established discipline to the cloud strategy,
ICT partners cannot only guide their clients
on what to migrate (and when), but also
help them to mature and re-engineer
their business processes for the cloud era.
They’ll be able to provide guidance on
when additional bandwidth and other
infrastructure is needed when, for example,
additional systems and controls should be
added to secure one’s data.
be orchestrating all of these clouds, aligning
each environment with a high-level strategy.
New areas of focus
Sonja Weber, Lead Delivery Solution
Manager at T-Systems South Africa
of merely articulating the benefits of cloud
platforms and tactically helping to migrate
applications, but rather about designing
strategies, helping the client to manage,
simplify and extract maximum business
benefits from the cloud.
Progressive outsourcing players are
pivoting towards providing these kinds of
executive consulting services that guide the
organisation’s cloud strategy, in the context
of the overall business vision.
This is especially relevant when we consider
that many large firms are operating multiple
cloud environments, each one appropriate
for different needs. The outsourcer should
www.intelligentcio.com
There are a number of other ways that
ICT outsourcers should be evolving, to help
their clients capture the greatest cloud
advantages. Perhaps the most important of
these is applying firm rigour and discipline
to compliance matters, ensuring continued
compliance with new incoming legislation
like GDPR and POPI, addressing any data
sovereignty issues and anonymising and
protecting sensitive data in the most
secure manner.
With deep sector-specific knowledge, ICT
outsourcers will be able to confidently guide
and implement cloud strategies that give
clients strong levels of assurance and then
remain closely involved to ensure continued
compliance in the future.
Unfortunately, too often an organisation
will wait for a negative audit finding
With every organisation having unique
needs and walking its own, unique cloud
journey, it’s also important for outsourcers
to play an active role in co-developing new
services with cloud providers, all within the
ambit of clear standards and certifications.
It’s worth noting the root cause of Shadow
IT, of ungoverned cloud subscriptions across
the organisation. Generally, this is driven by
a sense of urgency, as business heads want
to quickly rush services to market, worried
they will start lagging behind their peers.
Without some form of central co-ordination,
this can pose huge risks. The onus is on CIOs
and their technology partners to create
compelling cloud strategies that address
(with speed and agility) the needs of all
business stakeholders.
It’s time for local outsourcers to step-up and
evolve from being a simple supplier or broker
of services, towards a digital partner that
truly understands their client’s business and
brings a depth of experience to the table. n
INTELLIGENTCIO
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