Technology drives innovation. The ability to leverage it with speed and agility to produce specific business results is what helps many companies differentiate and grow. That’s what we do in Dell Services every day – we’re the glue that binds IT solutions to operational processes to deliver consistent business outcomes over time.
In a recently commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell Technologies, March 2023, more than 500 global IT decision-makers weighed in on what they really need from IT services providers.
What it revealed in a nutshell: IT services providers are increasingly important to implementing and managing modern, secure environments, while also acting as strategic advisors and extensions of the organizations they support.
Below are five insights based on the study:
- Companies of all sizes are prioritizing cybersecurity – and they need a trusted partner.
This topic is prevalent in every customer conversation I have. Companies need help getting proactive about their security posture. The Forrester data shows nearly 80% of IT decision-makers surveyed have increased prioritization of their overall security posture this year. In fact, 83% indicate they need external services to enhance security initiatives and increase business resiliency.*
Forrester states in one of its key recommendations that “IT services provider engagements are evolving towards a more trust-based model – one that focuses on co-creation.” A great example of this is the proactive solution we put in place with Phoenix Children’s. They asked us to provide the security, visibility and resiliency required to thwart modern cyberthreats, and our Managed Detection and Response (MDR) was a perfect fit.
Dell has been our infrastructure partner for at least 10 years. We wanted to put them in the mix because we already had a relationship.” – Tim Foss, Director of IT Security, Phoenix Children’s Hospital (CISSP)
- The adoption of “multicloud by design” continues accelerating.
This is all about multicloud by design, not default. Forrester’s study revealed 66% of respondents will engage an IT services provider to help them establish a multicloud operating model, and 73% feel it is important or extremely important the OEM offers deployment/implementation services for modern data infrastructure. Clouds can get complex and expensive, so it’s important to have flexibility, scalability and simplicity across your public clouds, on-premises, co-location and the edge.
- Professional services are increasingly essential to achieving tangible business value.
Services like consulting, managed services, onsite resident experts, education services and cloud services have significant impact on IT and the business. Among respondents, 75% indicated they need external expertise to achieve specific outcomes, with 69% citing a lack of sufficient resources or expertise to realize the full value of their technology. Professional services provide the strategic and technical knowledge and skills needed to fill this gap, enabling our customers to focus on their core business.
- Demand for edge computing and management reaches new heights.
The massive influx of data generated outside the data center requires the adoption of end-to-end edge computing solutions to manage, process and extract value from the huge volume being produced. According to Forrester’s findings, 84% of IT decision-makers prefer to outsource or seek help from an IT services provider versus relying on self-implementation for edge solutions. There are tremendous edge applications across vertical markets, including telecommunications, manufacturing, industrial, healthcare and more. IT staff cannot be at every edge, and customers need skilled partners that can accelerate automation and scale.
- Technology defines the “work from anywhere” experience.
The dynamics of hybrid work have changed the way organizations implement, manage and optimize technology, but one thing remains constant: Experience matters to customers and team members. In fact, 64% of respondents agreed IT services providers help them deliver a better experience to their hybrid workforce.
Technology remains a constant in the do-anything-from-anywhere economy. Research continues to show IT services are critically important to how customers leverage technology to drive innovation and achieve the intended outcomes their end-customers expect.
See the full study from Forrester, and schedule a briefing with Dell Technologies to learn more about the results.
*Forrester Opportunity Snapshot: A Custom Study Commissioned By Dell Technologies September 2022
