The research, conducted through Quocirca, highlights that most mid-market IT leaders accept that they will not be able to deliver best in class applications to achieve their desired business outcomes, through their own internal resources alone. Further, they recognise that they lack the capability to scale people, process and technology; requiring the help of IT service providers with a ‘partnering’ mind set in order to achieve these goals.
Commenting on the research report, written by Quocirca, Bob Tarzey, Analyst & Director, Quocirca explains, “This report, commissioned by Attenda, highlights the real mid-market conundrum that exists: these organisations struggle to manage the complexity of IT infrastructure that their businesses require, unable to achieve ‘best in class’ application performance, availability and security at an affordable cost, based purely on using their own resources.”
This latest research also confirms most mid-market IT leaders recognise that best in class applications are a key competitive asset, with 97% of organisations interviewed transacting directly with users from customer and partner organisations, or with consumers. The research also highlights the acceptance that new technologies are a key part of delivering their IT aspirations; however, only 15% felt that they were currently very well placed to use cloud services, with data security remaining their top concern.
Mark Fowle, Attenda CEO adds, “We have commissioned this research report to further validate the experiences that we are finding within our own client base. Our Business Critical IT approach means that we focus at the application level, differentiating our service delivery and ensuring that we harness emerging technologies to consistently deliver the desired business outcomes for our clients.”
The report further identifies that typically mid-market organisations have a better experience of working with IT service providers where both parties view the relationship as a partnership, with shared risk and reward, rather than engaging on a purely tactical basis.
As Bob Tarzey concludes, “The problem for the mid-market CIO is to find the right IT service providers that focus on applications and business outcomes, rather than technology alone; this is as much about values as it is about capability and competence to ensure that the partnership delivers the required business benefit.”