Part II – Modernization and the IT Dilemma

In my last post, I posed a number of questions that IT leaders must feel confident in answering before they embark on any modernization project, and I’d be encouraged to hear your thoughts on what questions IT executives should pose to their teams before they embark on any modernization strategy.

With these questions in mind, I wanted to offer some advice as to how organizations can make the most of the technology partner they make in this journey. Businesses looking to embrace digital models need, and expect, a modernized service and support experience to do so. In fact, according to a Enterprise Storage Group study of IT executives, service and support is listed as the top criteria is selecting a storage solution or vendor.

I believe there are three important things IT leaders must consider before making a commitment to a particular vendor:

• How future-proof and flexible is their offering? Technology and business moves incredibly fast so whatever your organization does must not only work for the now, but also continuously evolve and improve in-line with market demands. Ease of use and least time to adopt become other important considerations on which the offer needs to be evaluated.
• Are they adding consultative value? Perhaps the most important thing to consider is that a good partner should get under the skin of your organization to help you develop a outcome-orientated modernization journey. A comprehensive and cohesive modernization project must take a 360 view of infrastructure, operating model and applications. A partner’s recommendations must add real business value.
• Is their customer service responsive and holistic? A successful modernization journey requires holistic 360-degree support. Organizations need partners to understand their needs and take action, regardless of who they contact. They also need visibility of all their own technology environments so that they can self-serve and resolve urgent issues as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.

These are three key values that Dell EMC Services embodies itself in any partnership for businesses looking to modernize, and was one of the key reasons a Singapore based IT enabler worked with us to provide the suite of IT services, solutions and business applications to an investment company that owns and manage a portfolio of more than S$260 billion in Asia.

EMC Consulting was engaged to support the several phases of modernization the investment company need to achieve in order to realize its modernization plans.

The first phase of this involved EMC identifying gaps in the plan and developing a process design for the required Change Management, Incident Management, Problem Management and Request Fulfillment processes. In addition to this EMC also performed a Service Catalog assessment and provided a framework.

Now as part of phase two, Dell EMC is helping build the additional service design blueprints which could be operationalized by targeting the self-service portal launch, and with several future projects ahead as a part of this journey. This is just one of many examples of the work carried out by EMC Global Services across the region that reinforce why our three golden rules are so valuable to any IT leader looking to resolve the IT dilemma of balancing old with new, of working out how to invest in modernization projects while ensuring operations continue seamlessly.

While I’ve only discussed the tip of the iceberg when it comes to IT modernization, I’d love to hear your thoughts as to what you have found helpful, or what topics you think we should be delving into next. Do feel free to leave your comments in the box below!

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