Enterprises and governments have long been served by the IT industry for their IT needs and the telecom industry for their communications requirements. But with the new wave of technology innovations, that strategy dependency may be shifting. Smart devices and applications, new business models (using the cloud), and new strategies such as shared services, are creating a conundrum for enterprises and governments.
David Liu, Huawei's Southern Pacific solution sales & marketing VP, explains why organizations are looking to telecom service providers as their full-service ICT partners, not just suppliers.
Vision Supplement: Why are large enterprises and governments now rethinking their ICT strategies and considering handing these responsibilities over to telecom service providers?
Liu: With globalization and new competition, rapid advances in technologies, and new cloud-based business models, companies and governments around the world are rethinking how they acquire and consume ICT services. IT departments are evolving, as is the role of the CIO, from a technology and operations focus, to that of a catalyst and driver of business innovation.
As we enter this new online world, where goods and services are sold, brands are created through social media, and consumers and employees bring their own devices and applications, CIOs are faced with daunting challenges, not only in transforming their business but also ensuring that their IT departments have the necessary skills. It's no wonder they are considering outsourcing some of their ICT capabilities to focus on innovation.
Telecom service providers are uniquely positioned to provide a full suite of end-to-end ICT services and solutions. A good example of this capability is cloud computing, where both IT infrastructure and networks need to be optimized and managed as one to support the needs of the application and end-user access, either mobile or fixed. This ICT convergence is where the telecom service provider really shines as a premium provider of ICT solutions.
Are TCO considerations a big part of that move?
Financial advantages are of course one of the main reasons why companies outsource ICT. Historically, it's been about how to reduce operational costs and increase service levels. More recently with cloud this has been extended to include significant savings in both capital and operating expenditures with the "pay for what you use" model.
However, most companies are gradually coming to the realization that outsourcing has other even more significant business value by enabling access to a pool of talented global expertise, and providing business efficiency and agility through the access of new applications, infrastructure and business processes on demand and as required.