IT Insurance – Investing in support services improves technology ROI

The Polycom® guide to proactively managing your solutions

Whether you are purchasing a brand new solution, or renewing a

contract, the question isn’t, “do I need support services”, but rather

“which ones do I need?”

It’s not about platinum, gold, or silver levels these days, instead think

modules; what specific support services does your business need to

be successful? For example, there is a different set of considerations for

selecting support services when deploying a new solution versus those

for maintaining a mission critical enterprise environment.

Benefits of services support

• Great services and support contracts help organizations to achieve

beyond their expectations, fill gaps in expertise, and allow for

efficiencies and savings by taking commodity services off the payroll.

• Most communications and IT departments cannot address all of

their users’ IT needs and find it beneficial to augment their internal

resources with external expertise.

• It’s a competitive advantage when you have access to unlimited

support for technical questions, to obtain replacement parts and get

important software updates, in addition to increasing uptime and fully

utilizing all your solutions.

Introduction

• Having direct access to your own account specific service manager

and engineering resources saves time, money and resources.

• Purchasing support services helps drive adoption and usability,

allowing you to maximize your return on investment (ROI).

• Expert support enables you to be in total control of your solution and

ensures timely, efficient, and hassle-free trouble resolution.

You achieve faster ROI because:

• End points, including video conferencing solutions, run optimally due

to the latest software developments, thus allowing your business to

improve productivity and output.

• You get immediate access to technical expertise for answers to

questions regarding product migrations, software updates, moves,

adds, or changes.

• If needed, defective equipment is advance replaced rather than

returned to factory, bringing your video network back into production

as quickly as possible.

25% of IT projects fail outright,

20- 25% don’t provide ROI.

did you know?

A recent survey discovered that most

organization’s delivery models are unsuitable

and application deployments are failing up to

30% of the time, 75% of respondents gave their

deployment process a failing grade.

did you know?

New deployments

Why do you need support for a new IT deployment?

• New deployments are most at risk of failure. But vendor support

personnel are experts in delivering their own solutions and can

minimise this risk.

• A new deployment requires key IT staff with specific knowledge, and it

can involve time-consuming, complex processes. Your IT staff can’t be

experts in every single solution you deploy, which is why having access

to expert assistance, when you need it, is so critical.

• A successful deployment positions you and your team as experts who

made the right choice for your company. You are viewed more as a

valued consultant to the business and less as the ‘break/fix’ guy.

What happens if it goes wrong?

• A badly executed deployment means downtime for your workforce or

frustration for your customers, sometimes both, and it’s hard to come

back from that. Adoption and therefore ROI may fail as a result.

• The cost of a single call-out for an issue can be more than a whole

year’s services contract.

What should you do?

• One of the key issues in failed IT deployments happens during the

planning/purchasing phase when organizations overlook service-level

agreements and assurances, warranties, performance and uptime

guarantees. Discuss these as part of your primary purchase, not as an

afterthought. They are not just added value, they are mission critical.

• Ask the experts – get your vendor to support you every step of the

way and you can avoid many of these issues. They have “been it, seen

it, done it” and know their solution inside out.

How do you get end users interested?

• Don’t introduce too many features which, in turn, make it difficult for

users to adopt the new solution. Simple is better, don’t think like an IT

professional. Think like a user who doesn’t have all of your IT prowess

and experience. Choose a solution that includes training and learning

resources in your support contract.

84% of UK IT departments want to pay for

managed services with a single invoice on either

a monthly, quarterly or annual basis.

did you know?

Why should you continue support after the first year?

Just because something has been in place a year or more doesn’t mean

that you don’t need support anymore. The IT landscape is changing,

internal support desks are no longer enough.

In the age of ITSM (IT Service Management) IT support needs to act more

rapidly than ever before to satisfy customer demand, with less formal

processes and more interaction and collaboration with a broad range of

partners and stakeholders. Maintaining support services is essential for

those peak-periods where you have demands on several of your mission

critical solutions.

There is a general consensus among industry experts that IT service

management cannot keep pace with today’s business demands. Gartner

research fellow Steve Prentice says: “There is an evolution happening in

traditional IT.” While IT used to be managed and progressed at a steady

pace, that pace has accelerated.

“A year is a lifetime. The old approaches worked well and gave stability;

but now you have to keep the old systems running and you need to

support a new app on an iPhone and Galaxy S6. This is a challenge to

most organizations.” To be most effective your IT department’s focus

should be on making your environment cohesive, not on the maintenance

of individual solutions.

Existing deployments

IT services spending is projected to reach $940bn

in 2016, up 3.1% from 2015, thanks to accelerating

momentum in cloud infrastructure adoption.

did you know?

Environment is getting cloud-y

The cloud presents new challenges for IT managers.

Many companies adopt cloud so they can take away the challenges

related to managing their IT, and reduce the burden on in-house IT staff.

Therefore, the need for ongoing support and services will naturally be

reduced, as it is outsourced, yet when using any service, you want to be

able to ask questions – whether that’s to learn how to configure a server

or to query a bill – and you should be able to do this without having

to pay a hefty premium. An ongoing support contract is the most cost-

effective way to do this.

Some of the most common complaints users shared about their

experiences of using cloud support services centered on slow response

times to customer queries (47%); the low-levels of tech knowledge

demonstrated by call center staff (41%); and the use of automated phone

systems (33%). A dedicated, on-site engineer who knows you, your

team, and your environment is far better placed to help you quickly and

efficiently.

33% of CIOs/IT managers said they feel moving

to the cloud has meant forfeiting access to most

IT support; while 84% said service providers could

do more to reduce the maintenance burden this

places on in-house IT teams.

did you know?

There’s a wealth of support options to choose from: service management and

integration, user support, IT security, end-user computing, hosting and storage,

communication and collaboration, application support, maintenance and project

management. To make sure you select the options that are right for you, here are

some top tips.

1. Choose wisely – Pick a vendor that offers what you need in terms of support

through tailored packages. According to a poll of 200 UK CIOs, commissioned

by cloud hosting provider ElasticHosts, 93% are now using off-premise

technologies, but 75% feel making the move has forced them to make

sacrifices in service and support.

2. Don’t think product, think ‘Product-as-a-Service’ – changing purchasing and

vending models means that you should no longer expect to purchase product

in isolation. Support is standard and support is a key component of mission

critical solutions.

3. Be in the know – Performance and monitoring analytics can be part of

support, be sure to pick a package that offers this. With analytics, form

needs to follow function. Since each product and the environment in which it

operates may be different, a great deal of thought needs to go into this area.

What is the data and what thresholds need to be set to signal good or bad

performance?

4. Deep-dive data – Make sure your Service Provider/Vendor is learning from

their mistakes. With the Product-as-a-Service model, data collection across

the life of the product is essential. Analyzing failure should be important

no matter who owns the product (the customer, the service provider, or the

manufacturer), but when you are the product or service owner you absorb all

the cost (and recovery).

5. Select a sidekick – Every good superhero knows you are only as good as

your sidekick. Pick a vendor who will work with your channel partner to create

a bespoke service that saves the day for you.

6. Take it slow – You don’t have to commit to a lifelong contract the minute you

and a vendor start a relationship. Think of it like dating; pick a vendor who

is willing to give you a length of contract you are comfortable with. The CIO

needs to be aware of the pitfalls that can lead to a supplier having a quasi-

monopoly over the business. In line with this sentiment, there is a general

consensus that it’s the end of the old 10-year monolithic contract.

7. Let go of the legacy – Lengthy contracts is the common problem of being

locked into legacy systems as a result of contractual obligations. A good

vendor will offer contracts that allow for the fast-paced rate of change in the

technology industry or the ability to migrate to new technology.

8. Make new friends – One of the things that successful IT managers look for

in a supplier is a good support community, and the attitude of that company

towards its customers. It should be a partnership with a company, and the

vendor should listen to customer feedback and suggested best practice.

9. Look for leaders – One key quality that your suppliers need to demonstrate

is innovation, not only coming up with market-differentiating solutions but also

adapting to the pace of change. It’s not just invention for the sake of it though;

how does a new product or idea support your business? Look for leaders or

visionaries developing truly useful and applicable solutions. Be a leader and

help drive the innovation that will improve your business.

10. Hire helping hands – Organizations need partners who can move quickly

and handle surges to scale up for high volume. You want suppliers who have

top people who can come up with good solutions. It’s easy to sell a service,

but to deliver a service always requires good people.

10 Top Tips

64% of IT service providers are keen for their

customer relationships to move towards greater

strategic consultancy - but only 13% of IT

departments felt the same. 12% of customers

want more focus on tactical, technical IT support.

did you know?

10 reasons to choose Polycom

1. Polycom invests in global service infrastructure, dedicated spares

warehouses and call centers. Technical support is available at the end

of a phone as well as a dedicated online portal with everything from

blogs and forums, to self service requests and updates.

2. You can save time, money, and resources with direct access to your

own account-specific service manager and engineering resource.

3. Polycom may consider shorter contract terms to accommodate

customer plans.

4. Our comprehensive Adoption Services methodology will help you

build a culture of collaboration within your organization.

5. Polycom’s Managed Services team uses advanced tools for problem

identification, resolution and reporting, with more than 50% of issues

proactively identified, 85% resolved remotely, and 99% availability

Service Level Objectives.

6. Polycom offers a modular approach to support services, which

enables you to better match your IT needs with a solution that is

targeted, tailored, and flexible to meet your business needs. You won’t

pay for things you won’t use!

7. We provide valuable information and analytics about your network

performance, system usage and call stats, enabling better decisions

that lead to lower TCO and improved ROI.

8. Our Managed Services offerings allow you to outsource day-to-day

technology management responsibilities to our team of experts as

a strategic method to improve operations and accelerate a return

on technology investments. As IT moves from the back office to

the boardroom we support you by keeping your mission-critical

communications online.

9. We have a network of award-winning partners who are primed to

provide support options for Polycom solutions, in combination with

your other deployments.

10. Polycom offers a range of professional and support services to

enhance your experience across the entire spectrum of designing,

deploying, supporting, optimizing, and managing your collaboration

solution. Polycom will consider creating customer services solutions to

meet your individual needs.

For more information visit the Services page on our website.

Got a question? Use the instant chat tool on our website or

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