Organizations spend money on managed IT services for more efficiency, reducing downtime, and offload technical business functions and operations. They expect to implement these services without a hitch. Partner with a specialist vendor, update systems, stabilize processes and allow internal staff to get back to driving the business forward. However, this is often not the case.
The problem is not a technology problem. The failure happens because of a problem in the strategy, execution, and the people alignment behind a managed IT service implementation. Any business or organization that fails to implement managed IT with clarity and accountability, inevitably, will quickly become another statistic of failure, miss implementation, and performance.
A good first step to reversing this potential outcome is to rethink what a strong managed IT services implementation should look like from day one.
The Real Reasons Managed IT Implementations Fail
Before discussing what it takes to be successful, we should honestly consider what it means to fail. Organizations give too much credence to the ideal that they need just a vendor and a contract. What they need are alignment, structure, and readiness.
Here is the central list of inefficiencies:
Lack of Define Goals/Success Criteria
“We want better IT” is not a goal. It is a hope or a wish.
If a business cannot clearly articulate what they are hoping/dream of technology achieving, a service provider will just fill in the gaps based on their conclusions, with very little alignment. This leads to poor performance, and no one engages quickly, which results in disappointment.
Definable goal/success criteria could be:
- Increase system uptime by X%
- Reduce the time of IT service requests resolution by half
- Consolidate tools and reduce IT operational costs.
If there aren’t measurable outcomes, it isn’t clear when the implementation is successful.
Lack of Discovery and Incomplete Documentation
Some organizations sign a contract on a Monday and anticipate for optimization to be in place on Friday. That sort of timeline automatically results in the missing of details and technical surprises.
A managed IT services implementation necessitates a comprehensive understanding of:
- Current infrastructure
- Business workflows and processes
- Security requirements
- User needs
The absence of discovery gives rise to reactive support instead on working to positioning to improve.
The Cost of Underestimating Change Management Efforts
Technology alone does not improve performance. The value of technology is realized by the people who use it.
Resistance to change at different levels can show up:
- Employees do not understand the “why” behind the change
- Training does not provide a full understanding of the technology
- Leadership does not communicate well in the change process
- The provider forces the new processes without adjustments to the prior processes
IT cannot move an organization forward if the users are not positioned to make a change.
Missing Ownership and Governance
The managed IT partner does not replace internal ownership and accountability. Someone in the organization and within the business must supervise the relationships and progress, track KPI, escalate needs, and make decisions.
When governance fails:
- Issues persist
- Priorities change
- Expectations vary
- Decisions are waiting for the problem to occur
No strong IT can perform in a vacuum of leadership.
What does a successful managed IT Services engagement look like?
Organizations that get managed IT right, think about the implementation in a completely different manner than a transactional handoff. The implementation and transition become a transformation, not a transactional immediacy.
These six essential building blocks:
Business Driven Objectives
Every decision must link back to the business strategy, thus, while there are many operational priorities you must prioritize the outcome that moves the organization further along.
Strong goals:
- Are specific and time bound
- Link to operational priorities
- Have clear transparency on performance
Your provider can build a target and a roadmap for getting there if they know the target.
Collaborative Planning From Day One
Discovery is not optional, it is the foundation of the partnership.
Discovery or Plan should include:
- Complete audit of IT assets
- Security assessment
- Roadmap for modernization of infrastructure and workflows
- Resource utilization and a timeline
Rushing the planning phase is like building a state of the art skyscraper without a structural plan or blueprint.
User-Focused Engagement
The employees you support should feel enabled during any transition. This includes training, documentation, open lines of communication, and ways to give and receive feedback.
A well-done managed IT services implementation creates user advocates, not users who enter into skepticism.
Defined Roles and Accountability
In addition to whether there is an internal project owner or a change steering committee, leadership should be engaged.
Accountability includes:
- Regularly scheduled check-ins
- Those check ins should be organized visually on dashboards for stakeholders
- There should be procedures to escalate safely and transparently
- You should not assume anything passively.
Strong and engaged Governance keeps your project tended to delivery, engaged, sustainable, and in alignment to strategy.
A Strategic Long-Term Relationship
Managed IT should enable you to future proof and be flexible as the business evolves with technology. This requires a future-ready IT partner who is looking ahead.
Signs you are working with the right provider is:
- They provide proactive suggestions to avoid a problem vs fixing a problem.
- They track emerging risks or threats.
- They make infrastructure scalability part of any proposals; not just stabilization.
- They enable leadership to acknowledge the future of IT inside the business.
Partners are the organizations that help manage the road to growth. Vendors are just maintaining the IT system for your business.
How to Avoid Being a Statistic
Starting or reconsidering a managed IT strategy? The first and best option is to go from thinking tactically to behaving strategically.
Here’s a simple recipe for success:
- Gain executive alignment on outcomes and priorities
- Select a provider that has a record of both technical and advisory depth
- Invest time in the discovery and planning process
- Over-communicate expectations to all stakeholders
- Identify internal champions to be empowered to lead the transformation
- Evaluate and apply learnings on a regular basis – using real business metrics
You cannot simply handover the keys to your IT environment. You are leading the direction.
Innovative organizations utilize managed IT not merely to maintain continuity of service, rather to accelerate innovation, enhance security, increase efficiency, and remain competitive in the fast changing world of technology.
Final Thought
Managed IT failures legion are not typically technology failures. They are cases in which the organizations were treating the implementation as a one-time project or experience and simply disregard the fact that implementation is actually a continual evolution in which transparency, collaboration and commitments take a new precedent in the collective success.
Your organization deserves more than being supported minimally or as a reactive service. Managed IT should provide demonstrable value, sharpened business performance, and capacity for a digital foundation for the future.
Failure can be avoided – if you care enough to be the one leading the transformation instead of hoping someone else will.
If you are considering managed IT or reevaluating an existing partnership, set the bar high. The payoff is worth it.
