Service providers as a help to business
It is possible to receive all the benefits of outsourcing only if the service provider is selected correctly. Before concluding a partnership contract you should make sure that the service provider's staff is qualified enough, and that the company has a full set of resources and tools which are not available in your company.
Finding, communicating and selecting service providers is an important step in a company's transformation, so it should be taken seriously. The success of your business in the future will depend on the thoroughness and quality of your search.
Stages of selecting service providers
There are three main stages of selecting service providers for your company:
- Direct search for potential providers:
- Study of promotional offers, search results
- Conducting competitions and tenders
- Attendance of specialized events (forums, exhibitions)
- Contact with potential providers , establish communication channels
- Analysis of potential providers. The criteria for analysis at this stage can be:
- the price offer and its reasoning;
- the level of expertise of the supplier's specialists;
- a verified recommendation from a reputable third party - a company that has already used these services.
- Evaluation of the results of cooperation with selected service providers:
- grouping of providers according to their specialization;
- determination of the provider's achievement indicator (ranking);
- making a decision on the advisability of continuing cooperation;
- assessment of the effectiveness and value of cooperation.
It is worth noting that this is the way in which the search, communication and selection of service providers for the company's clients takes place.
Criteria for selecting service providers
Finding, communicating, and selecting providers is a large and varied process. The decision to choose a particular provider for different businesses and needs at different stages of production is based on different criteria. For example, for manufacturers, price, quality of raw materials and the provider's reputation in business circles will be important criteria for choosing a supplier of raw materials or goods critically needed for production. When choosing a supplier of goods that are mediocrely involved in production, the main selection criterion is price.
To make the right decision and not to make a mistake when choosing a service provider, the following 10 main selection criteria will help:
- High qualifications and extensive experience
The service provider must provide documented evidence of the declared level of qualification of its employees and the relevant cases, confirming the experience in providing the services in which you are interested. When selecting a service provider in the IT sphere, you need to ensure that the provider has the appropriate level of expertise in the field of database management, multi-channel networking technologies, integration of developments on different platforms, and cloud technologies. When evaluating a managed service provider by this criterion, do not overlook the model of organization of the provider's employees, how they interact, share knowledge and learn from each other. If you need to implement more than just a service, but an integrated strategy based on in-house resources, outsourcing, cloud technology, and managed services, choose a provider that is an expert in all delivery models and products from different developers.
- Financial stability and reputation
Regardless of the purpose of cooperation, whether it is a one-time provision of services or building a strategic partnership, you should not disregard the indicators of financial standing and reliability of a provider. Previously, an important criterion was the time when the provider company was founded and the total period of presence on the market. At the moment, this criterion is not a guarantee of the company's long and successful existence in the future. More eloquent will be the indicators displayed in the annual reports, tax returns, the opinion of analysts and industry publications. It is not unreasonable to ask a provider for recommendations and feedback from real customers.
- A managed service portfolio relevant to your business model
When partnering with a service provider, it is important for any business to maintain independence and flexibility. This is why at the selection stage you should evaluate the size of the managed services portfolio, which should be relevant to your business model and your needs. For example, a wide range of managed services means managed security, cloud, hosting, infrastructure management, mobility, and other IT services. Equally important is the provider's flexibility and willingness to make compromises in the service delivery process - talk about keeping your equipment, processes already in place and worked out, and the provider's flexibility in this regard.
- Innovativeness and standardization
Compliance with industry best practices, standards and the latest developments is an important criterion for choosing a service provider. With this compliance, you are assured of fast and high-quality optimization of your resource management. Processes that previously took months should be implemented within days. Industry best practices imply better solutions in error and technical failure management, configuration changes, procedure policies, and reporting. Pay attention to the mechanics and complexity, the degree of security of the transition mechanism from your company's internal management system to the provider's management system.
Approach to the work and how technologically it is organized
Identify the fundamental nature of the provider's approach to business: is the team's focus on achieving a sustainable result or on short-term fixes to problems (so called "band-aids"). For example, the use of sophisticated technologies such as advanced analytics, alerting and incident prevention mechanisms can help identify problem areas in time, take action to prevent critical errors or minimize their impact and eliminate incidents as quickly as possible.
- Consistent processes, expertise management and understanding of services as a whole
Only with consistent processes, defined by a clear script of the methodology used, will continuity and stability of service delivery be achieved. Evaluate the provider's willingness to give samples of policies governing the team's actions in routine and critical situations for evaluation. If the provider has an extensive network of branches and offices, the documents provided should contain a mechanism for managing expertise, regardless of the location of the provider's employees, and ensure that all team members have access to information on acceptable ways to solve problems and troubleshoot problems. Today, one of the best solutions would be to opt for online services that provide full access to service tracking, interactive tools to adjust their provisioning and a clear interface for receiving reports in real time.
- Global service delivery with local resource options
Global Service Delivery with local capabilities is the right way to ensure sustainability and scalability in today's economy. The benefits of these capabilities are indisputable: quality and effective management of your projects using advanced tools and techniques, rapid implementation of services in each new office, provision of services in different countries, multi-linguality, compliance with the regulatory framework of the country where the customer is located. It is important to clarify the mechanics of service provision in your region, how the interaction between the local team and the head office is organized, and how groups from different offices communicate.
- Support for multi-cloud environments from different providers and willingness to cooperate
IT infrastructure in today's world is represented by a set of conventional technological resources (equipment, network products, software) and cloud environments of other service providers. Cloud environments can be either public or closed (private). To effectively provide services, the provider must have relevant experience with complex IT infrastructure and be willing to act as an intermediary: to help you in the selection, analysis and planning of purchases from technology providers, software authors, and have practical experience in the application of the cloud models that best suit you.
- Performance-based service level agreements
When you work with a managed care provider, you delegate responsibility for service quality and results to the provider. He or she is fully responsible for the level of comprehensive service and the achievement of agreed-upon performance metrics. When drafting the terms of the agreement, first look at the provider's work style and values, the extent to which they use innovative technology, and then the mechanics of service delivery. The service level agreement should include a list of sanctions and penalties if the agreed upon level is not met by the provider.
- Technology foresight and the path to innovation
A strategic approach to building cooperation involves analyzing the impact of partnerships on the sustainability of your business model, the development of your company and its corporate culture. Let's say your business strategy defines the obligatory use and implementation of innovations - does the activity of your service provider correlate with this principle? Does he have sufficient experience and expertise in implementing the latest technologies and forecasting their development? Will working with this service provider strengthen your competitive advantage? Will the provider's resources and expertise, and its network of partners, help you develop new products, goods, and enter new markets?