Faced with an increasingly complex technology landscape, and rising
user expectations, more and more iSeries/400 sites are turning to
outsourcing.
In a nutshell, outsourcing describes what happens when companies
decide that they want some or even all of their computing services
provided by a third party. Indeed, a typical AS/400 outsourcing
arrangement could include, installation, maintenance, network
monitoring and administration.
The good news for users is that the AS/400 and iSeries should be an
ideal platform for outsourced services. Guy England, IBM EMEA
channels manager explained: "iSeries represents an excellent
platform to host services on; it can be used to host Windows,
Domino, Unix, Linux, Java, RPG, Cobol, as well as many other
environments."
There are a number of companies offering outsourcing services to
users, including IBM itself and a range of its iSeries business
partners, such as Syan. England, however, acknowledges that local
partners also have a lot to offer users. He said: "Certain local
partners have skills in a particular application or service and may
be appropriate to a given customer situation." Perhaps not
surprisingly, IBM claims to have one of the broadest outsourcing
capabilities in the industry. This covers the likes of server and
software management, as well as network and project
management.
One of the most important things that users should be aware of is
that, contrary to popular belief; outsourcing is not the sole
preserve of blue chip organisations. Companies such as mid range
outsourcing specialist Digica, for example, are aiming to put
outsourcing back on the agenda of companies that had previously
dismissed it as too expensive.
Niki Torrance, Digica marketing manager explained: "There has been
so much press coverage about multi-million pound outsourcing deals
and this has left many companies, especially SMEs, thinking that
outsourcing would be too expensive for them." Both large
multinationals and smaller organisations are struggling with the
effects of the ongoing skills shortage and the technology demands
of the current business climate. Outsourcing could provide the
answer.
The simple fact is that many IT departments need particular
technical or applications skills, but not in a sufficient quantity
to justify employing someone full or even part-time. This is
particularly the case for smaller companies, which have both
limited resources and the current economic downturn to contend
with. Torrance of Digica said: "An outsourcing supplier usually has
a much wider range of skills than most organisations would want or
could afford to keep in house."
Richard Smith, sales director of ERP software specialist GEAC,
which is currently expanding its range of services to include
outsourcing, echoes these sentiments. He said: "A large proportion
of AS/400 users are SMEs and this is one of the reasons why
outsourcing is a valid option." He added: "They are always looking
for pragmatic, cost-effective solutions to help them run their
business more effectively."
OK, so outsourcing can keep my recruitment, management and training
overheads down, but what else can it offer? One of the biggest
benefits, especially in a world rocked by the events of September
11, is security. A good outsourcing provider should be able to
house your server at a purpose-built site, with state-of the-art
security. They should also provide excellent communications links,
power supply and, if needed, disaster recovery.
On a more mundane level, outsourcing servers such as the AS/400 can
also save space and give users a clearer idea of what they are
actually spending on technology over a given period of time. This
should make managing that all-important IT budget much easier.
Moreover, outsourcing a mission-critical machine such as the AS/400
could free an organisation to concentrate on its other business
objectives.
There are a number of options on the market for organisations
interested in outsourcing their AS/400 or iSeries. Digica, for
example, offers Operations/400, an operations outsourcing service
for AS/400 users at a cost of £45,000 per processor per annum. The
AS/400 is housed in a purpose built datacentre as part of the
Operations/400 service with Digica providing full operations and
technical support. If required, the service is available 24 hours a
day, seven days a week. Other options include Remote Disk
Mirroring, Applications Outsourcing and Standby/400, which, as its
name suggests, provides access to a standby AS/400 machine.
Very life-blood
So how should companies set about
outsourcing their AS/400 and iSeries servers? The most important
thing is that users should look for outsourcing vendors that can
deliver. There can be no mistakes or compromises when dealing with
a company's mission-critical server, often the very life-blood of
its business. Mark Mahara, managing director of mid range business
intelligence software specialist Silvon Software said: "Clearly the
most important thing is to make sure that you are dealing with a
credible supplier. You have to be convinced that they have the
infrastructure to run the applications that you require."
Richard Smith of Geac also believes that this is the case. He
explained: "Make sure if you are going to outsource a key
application, that the company you are going to outsource it to
really understands that application in great detail and has all the
skills required to support it." It could even be worth visiting
outsourcers' datacentres and getting testimonials from existing
customers.
Growth capability
It is also worth remembering that
your IT requirement is likely to grow over the next few years, so
users should ensure that their outsourcer is capable of growing
with them. This applies not just to the AS/400 but also to other
elements of the business. Torrance of Digica said: "You may need a
supplier who can provide not just AS/400 operations, but also
applications management and help with your desktop environment, or
someone who understands your line of business and can help you with
your IT strategy."
Perhaps most important of all, however, is to ensure that there are
matrices, against which you can measure the outsourcer's
performance, built into your contract. England of IBM said: "The
key point with setting up any outsourcing deal is to create a very
detailed agreement about what will and won't be provided to the
customer by the outsourcer."
This is where Service Level Agreements (SLAs) guaranteeing specific
service standards come in. Organisations should be prepared to
devote some serious thought to this part of the outsourcing deal.
If effective SLAs are not negotiated, then you could live to regret
it later.
Of course, there is a lot more to an AS/400 outsourcing deal than
just technology. For this reason, it is also worth keeping someone
in-house who possesses company-specific IT knowledge so that they
can help manage the contract with the supplier.