Special Feature

February 24, 2006
Remote infrastructure management

Ujjwal K Dey

NEW DELHI -- Outsourcing does not only implies to the customer contact centers where the agents do the sales, collections and other customer services, but it holds the key for managing infrastructure that supports all these services. Infact, it goes much beyond in its contribution toward outsourcing.

However, it has been observed that 60 and 70 percent of the IT services surrounding data center, specifically support functions that manage and maintain data center, have been successfully executed remotely, and hence are offshore-able. The potential for remote (offshore) infrastructure management is further underscored by three factors:

1. Changing attitudes amongst CIOs in favor of selective and offshore outsourcing of infrastructure management services;
2. All the traditional global vendors for these services are expanding their offshore capabilities to lower-unit cost locations; and
3. Indian vendors, with their process maturity and offshore service delivery capabilities, are rapidly breaking into the segment.

Various experts quoted the market size of IMS somewhere between US $86 to US $150 billion . According to a NASSCOM study, an estimated 40 to 60 percent of the overall IMS pie may be efficiently delivered through a global delivery model. This translates to a market potential for remote IMS of approximately US $55 billion. Currently, the remote IMS business out of India is nearly US $200 million to US $300 million.

Remote need of an organisation

Commenting on the need of RIM, Martin Ashby , d irector, sales and alliances, Kaseya Asia, said: “The growth and penetration of technology in almost every facet has resulted in opportunity advances never before experienced. However, with increased technology adoption comes an increased dependency on systems and an increase in abuse (e.g. the proliferation we see today in viruses, malware, spam, etc). RIM solutions allow a corporation to protect its investment and apply common policies to all systems on a timely and consistent basis. It allows the organisation to react more quickly to change, maximise operating treads and efficiencies regardless of location while maintaining consistent operating standards.”

Prateek Garg, managing director and chief executive officer, Progressive Infotech, commented: “In today’s critical and complex environment, it is becoming increasingly difficult to monitor and manage IT as a service. For this reason, such automated tools as HP Open View have been introduced to help effectively provide IT as an uninterrupted service. The deployment of such tools at each of dispersed location, however, is not a cost effective solution; thus necessitating monitoring and management from a central place. RIM, therefore, is not only desirable but a necessity now.”

“RIM provides the best alternative to organisations -- to outsource the entire management of a companies infrastructure and benefit from the expertise of IT service companies who’s core capability is to manage infrastructure efficiently,” noted Sai Gundavelli, chief executive officer, Solix Technologies.

Ponnanna Uthappa, head, enterprise solutions and marketing, Team Computers, pointed out a few points on why organisations should go for RIM:

• Nearly 90 to 95 percent of problems can be resolved remotely;
• 24x7 monitoring and management of IT infrastructure;
• Infrastructure managed by companies whose core business lie in IT management and hence better competence levels;
• RIM services can be measured and service provider is accountable;
• Customers cannot afford to have resources having knowledge of all technology domains; and
• Relocation and in some cases reduction of on site manpower.

“The trend toward remote infrastructure management is largely driven by positive customer gains at the following level,” said Anant Gupta, chief operating officer, HCL Comnet while pointing out few points.

Flexibility;
Quality and process edge;
Domain expertise and dedicated skill-set;
Visibility and control;
Proactive problem resolution;
10x cost reduction; and
SLAs and best practices .

India vis-à-vis globally: Performing remotely

Ashby commented: “However, the opportunity today in India is not just with internationally-focused organisations, it is with domestic companies that are growing their India geographic coverage, market share and competitiveness. Within India many of these organisations face logistical challenges in travel and language difference over huge distances. The problems are compounded in certain areas by an emerging public infrastructure that can make peak-hour travel in the same city a nightmare. These companies are looking at ways of improving their competitiveness and at ways of implementing common IT management and operating practices. Again, RIM plays a vital role.”

“India's emerging communications infrastructure can be a challenge and an opportunity for RIM. The challenge is that not all country areas are accessible with high-speed telecom links. To combat this, RIM technologies have emerged that are equally effective over dial-up, cellular and satellite connections. However, as communication links are established, there is tremendous opportunity for the organisations to expand without hiring and training an autonomous administration unit at each location. Outside of India, the picture is somewhat different”, added Ashby.

“I strongly believe that like software industry, it is going to come as a big wave. Accordingly, we have strategically positioned progressive for our global customers by establishing state-of-the-art remote management center (RMC) at Noida,” said Garg.

Gundavelli feels that like BPO industry, control, security standards and quality assurance are the major challenges for the Indian RIM providers. He also pointed out that RIM service providers will require offshore and near-shore facilities to manage the infrastructure remotely. This can be a major hurdle for smaller Indian companies to get into RIM services. India has a great pool of technical expertise, and RIM will give us an opportunity to show our prowess in the technology and service industry.

“RIM is a far more established concept abroad vis-à-vis India. In India, companies are just starting to think on these terms. However, as the Indian IT industry matures, the outlook for outsourced infrastructure management solutions should become more appealing. Presently, the industry commits to a much lower IT spends as a percentage of revenue compared to the US and other western countries. With Gartner predicting this spending to increase at a CAGR of 20.8 percent by 2009, businesses will increasingly look toward best-of-breed solutions to support their underlying technology demands. This should fuel the growth for outsourcing of applications and infrastructure, and lead to the emergence of a robust domestic infrastructure management market,” noted Sabharwal.

Uthappa pointed out a few points for the challenges and opportunities for India.

Challenges in India include:

• Organisation mind-set in the following:
• Not secure!! Service provider shall know all the details of the network;
• Need to have resources on site always;
• Resolution of complex problems require resources to be on site; and
• The bollywood hero syndrome:
• A crisis problem resolved, a job well done!!
• No problems in IT Infrastructure, less manpower required!!

Opportunities in India:

• Manpower cost in India increasing;
• Reduced IT budget, increased problems;
• Manpower turnover; and
• Customers not able to keep pace with latest technological advancements and all domain knowledge.

Indian organisations waking up

“India IT specialists may feel that their positions are threatened via RIM, but in reality it is an opportunity for them to move away from simple administrative functions to providing higher value-added and more strategic services within the organisation. Organisations in India are generally very "technology aware" and are adapting to centralised and remote infrastructure technologies and practices very well. Over time I expect this trend to increase,” commented Ashby .

Garg seemed worried about one’s IT infrastructure management strategy that seemed to be at the top of every CIO’s mind. He said, “They want increased service levels, improved end-user response time through pro-active management and reduced costs. Organisations worldwide have been able to effectively achieve these objectives by off shoring infrastructure management. Given the wage arbitrage between the western world and India, the first obvious savings, which Indian vendors can deliver to customers is through gains achieved through lower per unit cost of manpower. I am sure that India would be leading this wave as well.”

According to Gundavelli, while global enterprises have been quick in perceiving the great possibilities of adapting RIM, Indian organisation have woken up just now. He said: “It is all about controlling and saving costs. Companies in developed countries found that managing IT infrastructure in-house greatly increases the pressure placed on operations staff, leading to larger expenditure on recruiting more staff and paying existing staff for support operation that are not a part of their core competencies. Whereas, in the Indian scenario, small and majority of medium businesses have been little slow in recognising the benefits of RIM, though large Multinationals have been quick in equating cost vs. operational efficiency.”

Uthappa added: “Out sourcing is still the word used among many CIOs. They have started using RIM for routine jobs and keeping the core IT management in house. However, I see this changing in the near future when organisations realize the full advantages of RIM.”

Gupta, on the other hand, said that the Indian IT Firms have a competitive advantage over global IT players in this segment as they have adopted a flexible approach in their service delivery to their customers. “Global leaders in this space such as EDS and IBM continue to provide total outsourcing contracts, Indian service providers will differentiate on the basis of providing selective or discreet outsourcing from offshore locations,” added Gupta.

Increasingly tight IT budgets

“Industry averages show us that a single IT technician can manually support approximately 150 to 300 computers depending on their proximity to these systems, the consistency in technologies, technicians’ own skill/qualification, and so on. With RIM systems in place, a single technician can support anywhere from 600 to 1,500 machines,” informed Ashby.

“In using the services of RMC, one of the most revealing value propositions is the enterprise’s ability to incorporate finitely predictable budgets. The research shows that a typical company of about 5,000 employees can get savings from 35 to 50 percent of the total IT infrastructure management cost. This saving is accrued due to two reasons; first, saving in cost due to reduced in-house IT infrastructure management staff, and secondly, better SLA deliverables due to the nature of the contract that can be made,”suggested Garg.

“RIM has faster RoI and will help organisations achieve large savings with time and with the changes in technology. The major benefit lies in the efficiency and the services levels gained by the business through RIM,” stated Gundavelli.

Sabharwal is of the thought that tight IT budgets and an increasing expectation of running IT like a business have made outsourcing and RIM a much more feasible proposition. As companies examine their spend on IT and look at alternatives to increase service levels and reduce costs, a service like RIM becomes an appealing candidate. He added: “With RIM, companies are able to streamline and/or completely eliminate investments in tools and technologies to manage the underlying IT infrastructure.”

“RIM costing for a service provider works on economics of scale hence cost effective to organisations, like the reduction in own manpower and as we know most RIM work on a fixed monthly price which ensures up-time vis-à-vis an FMS who earns during a down time,” stated Uthappa.

Latest remote trends and technologies

With the global market for outsourcing services hit US $84.6 billion in 2004, it predicted to grow by six percent in 2006. Global trends suggest that the next 12 months will bear witness to a greater spell of IT outsourcing. Businesses will continue farming out an increasing number of tasks to service providers and are likely to work with multiple vendors. Industry reports also suggest that there will be an expansion in the kind of work that gets sent offshore.

Ashby, while commenting on the latest trends and technologies, said: “For some organisations, RIM means remote infrastructure monitoring. However, at Kaseya we believe organisations need effective solutions not only to monitor, but also to manage and support their systems regardless of location. If systems are removed from the office network they should be managed as easily as if there were still behind the corporate firewall.”

“Major trend is how businesses will move from traditional vendors to RIM vendors due to cost advantages. Traditional vendors like IBM, EDS will have to setup their own centralised operation for providing RIM. Countries like India will see a major spurt in investments in this area,”  Gundavelli pointed out.

Gupta stated that selective outsourcing is gaining traction vis-à-vis full IT outsourcing and o ffshore is becoming the chosen word the following trends in RIM. Globally, organisations are demanding a fixed price per month for IT infrastructure management and stressing more on proactive management rather than reactive, looking for managed security services and RIM service provider who are acting as a virtual CIO to organisations.

Managing various facets of hybrid network

“RIM solutions need to operate independently of the network. Network bound infrastructure management solutions are typically cumbersome to manage and less flexible,” suggested Ashby .

“RIM employs a three-tiered customer support system. Offshore personnel staffed working in a 24x7 model in a NOC provide tier-1 support. If the NOC personnel are unable to resolve the problem, they escalate to a tier-2 support organisation, provided by offshore engineers who provide specialised services in various areas including Windows, Unix, networking, security, messaging, etc. Where required, these tier-2 engineers escalate to an onsite tier-3 team to provide any hand-on work including replacement of hardware or rebooting of machines,’ statedSabharwal.

Downtime tolerances and 24x7 operations

RIM typically provides monitoring and alerts on system unavailability. Rather than waiting for someone to detect the downtime, the RIM solution will perform the same task on a real-time basis. “However, we believe in predictive monitoring that allows an organisation to forecast pending problems. Such problems include pending failure brought about by unavailable disk space or processor overload,” said Ashby.

Garg added: “With the IT industry gaining maturity, availability and uptime are taken for granted. The current focus is on improved performance of applications over the network. RMC, by its pro-active and predictive approach, can provide un-interrupted availability of all applications crucial for business.”

“The above-mentioned reasons have lead organisations to get out of the daily hassle of managing their infrastructure. It is up to RIM vendors to worry about these now. RIM vendors have a very efficient way of utilising resources to enable low-cost services to companies. The vendors also have in place a very proven way of managing the attrition as it has become the name of the game in the IT industry. They have their own technical training centers or have outsourced the same”, commented Gundavelli.

Fulfilling challenges without compromising performance

RIM does not necessarily have to lead to attrition in human resources. Certainly it allows an organisation to automate and manage many of the day-to-day tasks that a technician might perform, however this means that the technician has more time to concentrate on value-added and strategic activities for the organisation.

RIM helps an organisation to cope with technology obsolescence but maintaining a complete inventory of hardware and software systems. This allows the organisation to re-deploy older technologies to less critical areas; upgrading as necessary on a planned basis, rather than waiting for systems to fail without understanding the consequence. It also helps an organisation to implement its desired security policy. For organisations that allow individual administrator access to machines, RIM can monitor systems and alert on policy violations. For organisations that lock down all security elements, RIM can provide a central management point for all system actions.

Uthappa pointed out that by creating a challenging atmosphere, where the latest technology in use and the excitement to work on these technologies is what human resources in IT always looks for, and all this is made available in RIM. It will also provide compensation for latest certifications done and give them an excellent growth opportunity - mentally, socially and monetarily can help in curbing the attrition in human resources.

To be in the business of RIM, one has to be abreast with the latest technological developments in IT. Encouraging staff to attend seminars and training ensures that RIM keeps pace with the latest. From the security angle RIM provides role based access control to engineers, audit trail, with date and time stamp so that engineers activity can be tracked.