VP, Managed Services
“Re-platforming” may loosely be defined as the periodic switching out of one IT hardware platform for another, usually in the pursuit of faster processing power, more productive and user-friendly applications, and more economical run rates. IT management has been tasked with seeking all these goals simultaneously, while still supporting the mission-critical systems that produce their company’s products and services.
The plain truth is, the “current platform” is the one supporting these very mission-critical applications. These applications, in some cases, may be decades old, which makes them susceptible to review for currency and effectiveness. Most of the time, these applications have been heavily customized to reflect the primary processing needs of an enterprise. Throwing all of that away disrupts business continuity, at the least, and may be a disaster, at the worst.
We are not going to eliminate re-platforming. It is a cornerstone of the IT industry. There is nothing inherently wrong with investigating new and better IT solutions. In fact, a healthy re-platforming discussion may result in either a new solution or additional fire power for the existing one. But, while worthwhile, the incessant demands for “bigger, better, faster, cheaper” may distract IT management from supervising and supporting the day to day administration of the current production systems.
Businesses that employ managed services companies have found a “third way.” Bringing in a managed services firm allows the hiring company to offload both the day to day systems administration and maintenance of the current processing platforms. The advantages are many:
- MS companies can manage an IT platform more economically, through the leveraged use of its resources across multiple clients.
- MS companies can manage an IT platform more efficiently, by virtue of its senior-level consultants, and its adherence to industry-best practices (learned and developed at other client engagements).
- MS companies can manage an IT platform more effectively, literally extending the life of a processing platform by “locking it down,” stripping out the waste, and dedicating it to mission- critical systems only.
A decision for managed services is a decision for economy, efficiency, and effectiveness. The collective years of IT experience brought to bear by a good managed services company far exceed any individual company’s staff. The expertise the Mainline MS consultants bring is world-class, and may be put to work immediately, in the pursuit of the goals outlined above.
Reach out to Mainline’s Managed Services group and discover how our many years of best-practice expertise and experience can help you begin your re-platforming journey.