More and more businesses now prefer outsourcing application management (AMO) and hire the services of software development companies externally. That’s because of the amazing benefits it provides and the burden it reduces. But to be successful, companies need to be aware of a few things.
Let’s discuss them below.
What is application management outsourcing?
Application management outsourcing is simply the support, management and maintenance of applications via a team that’s not in-house. Application management is one of the IT functions that is very famous for outsourcing. It is growing rapidly because outsourcing reduces its cost and improves the quality.
Application management may include the following:
- Monitoring and troubleshooting
- Management of performance
- Management of incidents
- Evolution
- Help desk services and much more
You can also read about enterprise application integration and multi-tier IT support development and improve your knowledge reserves.
How to AMO Successfully
If your company is interested in outsourcing application management then following the steps below will increase the chances of success.
1. Outsourcing Initiative
In this stage you ask yourself different questions like, what will be the form of outsourcing. What do you intend to achieve? Do you plan to bring innovation, improve quality or customer satisfaction? You first analyze the present state of the application and the system. In order to reduce costs and for better management you can include the application modernization step-by-step in your contract. For example, Chirpish is of great help for startups and SMEs.
2. Internal Prep
In order to determine the outsourcing form and the goals you want to achieve you must take into account the workload, complexity, size and age of apps.
3. Selecting the Vendor
When selecting the vendor you probably won’t know who will be managing your apps. That’s why you should take your time in interviewing their people. They should have all the technological and soft skills and the ability to quickly understand what’s expected of them.
Prepare a strict security policy. Make sure that the vendor has experience in dealing with sensitive data and multiple security challenges. Large businesses may even select multiple vendor policy.
4. Contract Signing
After everything is finalized, you come up with two important document and sign them: statement of works and service level agreement. You clearly define the responsibilities of the vendor in the documents and what you expect from them and specify indicators for evaluation of performance.
5. Transferring Responsibility
You should make everything available to the vendor as they study the underlying infrastructure and the present application management process to start the work. You should at least give them 3 to 6 month time to for knowledge transfer. Your in-house app management team should be easily reachable during this time.
6. Negotiations and Adjustments
Your first priority after transfer of responsibility should be to make sure that everything works fine. Get feedback from your end users via email or other platforms. If the results are not satisfactory, find the reasons and come up with corrective measures. If they don’t work you can negotiate with the vendor and revise the SLAs. You may even switch the vendor.
Final Words
Outsourcing application management can bring many benefits to your company. Cost reduction quality and improved quality are just some of them. However, it not be that easy. You must do the necessary work in order to reap the benefits.
This means getting involved with the vendor, interviewing the candidate team, making comprehensive security measures, transferring all the knowledge, preparing detailed contract documents and ensuring communication with the service providers.
Salman is a prolific environmental writer, and has authored more than 500 articles in reputed journals, magazines and websites. He is proactively engaged in creating mass awareness on renewable energy, waste management, sustainability and conservation all over the world.
Salman can be reached on salman@cleantechloops.com
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