Managed Network Services: The Pros & Cons

In today’s competitive environment, many global organizations prefer contracting with a third-party company to get the kind of network support they need.

Across every sector, the transmission and sharing of massive amounts of data has become ubiquitous, along with an expanding diversity of data sources. During the 80’s and 90’s, enterprise organizations invested heavily in setting up, running and maintaining their own data centres. Today, the cost and flexibility issues inherent in running an on premise data centre mean this is no longer a viable solution. In fact, many experts conclude that before long, there will no longer be a “no cloud” path forward for enterprise corporations. But before you go about procuring a managed network service solution for your business, it really helps to evaluate the pros and cons of such services first.

The Advantages

The following are the benefits or advantages you should look for in a managed network solution:


• Maintenance of infrastructure is no longer an issue. A company that has a managed network service provider no longer has to worry about costly hardware upgrades – only updates that are implemented by the service provider.

• Lower total cost of ownership: By switching CAPEX to OPEX, businesses can positively impact their bottom line – and future growth – with one single action.

• The transition is easy: Managed network service providers are experts in IT – and service. Instead of worrying about transitioning your network to be handled by a vendor, they should be able to evaluate and manage the transition according to best practice.

• Reliable monitoring: Instead of waiting for the day shift to get to work, a managed network solution should include a 24/7 hotline for issues – as well as a customer portal that allows you to view, end-to-end, the status of your network.

The Cons

The cons of a managed network service for a business are as follows:

• Change: Businesses are often path dependent when it comes to IT processes. Even with overwhelming benefits, some IT network managers can cling to the way they have run their own networks for years. Positioning the value to the business’ bottom line is key.

• Redundancies: Without the need for a large IT team just to maintain aging network infrastructure, there will be redundancies. This drawback can be mitigated by an increase in employees that serve customers to grow and maintain this all-important relationship.

The argument for managed network services is overwhelming and may soon be a forgone conclusion for any enterprise that competes at a national or global level. If you are investigating a solution makes sure to research the competition. The following are some best-in-class vendors for the Asia Pacific Region:

Telkomtelstra

Telstra

Dimension Data

NTT

SingTel

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