Why you should consider a Managed Service Model for Integration

In the current climate, it’s essential your business is ready for connectivity with the digital ecosystem – quickly and effectively, which should be a sign to you of an increasingly network-oriented economy. Because of the various services even small businesses now employ, the need to manage & maintain and integrate all the different necessary software is creating a whole service of its own. Enterprise Integration is now a business-critical function, which if not leveraged will restrict your business growth agenda in the current digital world.

Managed service providers take away the complex responsibility from business owners of managing and maintaining an array of software or functions, essentially outsourcing responsibilities rather than managing complex setups in-house. While delegating important and complicated tasks to professional service providers may seem like an easy solution, you should consider if you need a managed service model for Enterprise Application Integration. We want to run you by some of the advantages of managed services we have detected here at Pace Integration through our years of experience so you can make the right choice for yourself!

Managed service providers all work in different ways, so which one should you choose?

Managed service providers run in ways that suit their setups and each has its own unique methods for integration. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they have the best process for your unique company needs. Pace Integration takes careful consideration of the fact that clients have specific requirements. So how does our Pace Integration Managed Service (IMS) work?

We can divide our services into two key areas: consultancy and services. Our consultancy services start with the selection of integration technology; we determine what specific needs your company has, what type of services you are currently employing and more in order to fully grasp how to approach integration. We will then select the optimum integration technology, which leads to the delivery of integration designs. The delivery phase includes the setup and integration of services in what is known as iPaaS, which is a Cloud-based integration approach. We will also design and build interfaces from the payroll to Bank.

The Pace Integration Managed Service (IMS) is unique in the market and optimal for enterprises that need accelerated iPaaS platform enablement with a proven delivery and operations model, that is scalable and flexible. Our IMS is an end-to-end complete systems integrations management system, replacing the traditional time and money model. We provide a high-quality service, at low monthly costs. This package has clear benefits of predictability and completion, whereas competitors still operate on traditional models which don’t assure exact cost, timeframe and full lifecycle integration.

Managed service providers allow you to outsource complex tasks that your business does not specialise in, rather than piling pressure on internal resources:

In-house integration offers business owners more control over managing and even choosing the services and software to suit their unique business needs. While more control always seems to offer greater flexibility, but to effectively manage integrated services you need the technical know-how that a lot of businesses do not have, nor do they have the budget to employ somebody or a team full-time to take care of that for them. There is a lot of effort, time and hidden complexity in building an internal integration capability.

Outsourced integrated services such as our Pace Integration Managed Service (IMS) allows businesses to relieve the pressure of managing a critical capability they do not fully understand the runnings of. A managed service in place allows you to focus on doing what your business does best: providing the goods or services you specialise in!

Does your business have the right skills sets and knowledge to deliver an end-to-end integration?

As said above, managed service providers may seem simplistic in the choices of services offered in their integrated models, but that comes with a secret advantage: specialisation. Our IMS service comes with the benefit of a dedicated model that has been put together by our specialists, being more adept at micro and macro managing problems or developments, something that in-house management may have to use up resources to keep up with.

Even businesses that have staff capable of managing Enterprise Integration must take into consideration the ever-changing climate of service integration. There are growing numbers of communications protocols and even changes to existing setups and data links; technological developments certainly help service integration, but also create a growing range of needs which is why companies feel the specialism of managed service providers is increasingly required.

Pace Integration’s unique IMS provides businesses with not only expertise in managed services and data integration, but also the benefit of not hiring in house staff that need management and may not be required for the level of work your integration needs. We are more efficient for both small and large integration needs.

Are the benefits of in-house agility and control really enough to outweigh the cost advantage of specialised support?

It goes without saying that in-house models give you more control over the types of services and functions you employ, but they also bring the advantage of having a dedicated team for your issues on hand. You can quickly resolve any issues or adapt things as per your operational requirements. While that sounds overwhelmingly in favour of in-house models, there are several related drawbacks which point many businesses towards managed service models.

In-house integration is more expensive than outsourcing to a managed service provider. In-house integration, while highly flexible, requires businesses to procure their own software and hardware which can balloon costs as can the required support and maintenance which are dealt with by the company.

As technology is becoming exponentially cloud-technology driven, managed service models for Integration provide a cost-effective solution to the many in-house related expenses; cloud technology helps reduce the costs of employee salaries and allows businesses to only pay for their share of the services they are using.

Our IMS is a monthly subscription service that includes design, delivery and operations for integration. The aim is that this package is a one-stop-shop wrapped into a simple package for our clients. However, we take great measures to ensure that integration works optimally for your services and don’t take any shortcuts. The general timeframe for integration is between 6 and 12 months, but that may depend on your company as well as the new developments taking place in your industry.

Why you should think about managed service models for your business?

The promise of professional, specialised guidance offered by managed service providers is drawing many small and large businesses towards outsourcing management of their integration models. Our team of experts here at Pace Integration has been working on our IMS model, making sure that an end-to-end integration delivery is completed with the client having access to clear benefits as briefly mentioned above. You may still wonder if an integrated managed system is suitable for your company or industry, well our IMS model is industry agnostic, we are able to integrate any software types in any industry, and that includes yours.

As technology is becoming more and more cloud-centric and increasing software management price efficiency, companies will likely remove themselves of bulky, high maintenance hardware and move to managed services. Your business may benefit from making the jump too!

If you are now considering a Managed Service for your Integration, our experienced specialists can help your business benefit from our IMS model with end-to-end delivery!

Find out more by clicking here to download our free Pace IMS offering brochure, or contact us directly at [email protected]