EXPERT SPEAK
SMEs to drive regional
managed security services
SMEs are expected to
drive double digit growth
for managed security
services, as they take over
as the primary growth
engine from enterprises,
writes Sachin Bhardwaj at
eHosting DataFort.
I
n today’s business environment,
organisations need to adopt new
technologies in order to expand their
operations and improve productivity
and customer experience. Even small
to mid-size organisations will not be
able to function, let alone scale-up
their businesses without a strong IT
infrastructure to support their growth.
Many companies do not have the
required resources to support a dedicated
in-house IT team. Faced with mounting
costs and an increasingly complex IT
environment to manage, organisations are
now more than ever looking at managed
IT services as an alternative to in-house IT
infrastructure management.
There are a number of benefits that a
managed IT services model offers:
Converting Capex to Opex and reduced
Total Cost of Ownership
Minimising technology investment
Access to skilled resources without
having to spend on hiring and training
Access to state-of-the-art infrastructure
without having to build
Upgrading infrastructure without
having to worry about buying,
deploying, maintaining
24x7 Service Desk access
Guaranteed SLAs which provide a high
quality of service
Sachin Bhardwaj, Director, Marketing and
Business Development, eHosting DataFort.
Security is one
of the biggest
concerns
because of which
companies
show resistance
to managed
security service
providers.
Managed security services market in the
Middle East is seeing a surge as enterprises
look to sidestep the need for investment
in ICT infrastructure and skills that are
an expensive distraction from their core
business. From network and datacentre
management services to disaster recovery,
storage and backup, server management,
security and IT support, it is possible to
offload the day-to-day provisioning of
significant chunks of the IT function.
This liberates financial and human
resources to focus on productivity and
efficiency. Companies can opt for various IT
infrastructure outsourcing options which
range from fully managed hosting to cloud
hosting and collocation, as well as remote
monitoring and management of their IT.
Traditionally, large businesses have
been relying on the expertise and services
of managed hosting providers to offer
secure, flexible and scalable solutions.
However, over the last few years, we are
seeing a growing trend amongst SMEs
choosing to work with service providers
for their datacentre and infrastructure
management requirements.
According to IDC, the managed
and datacentre services markets in the
UAE will grow at a compound annual
growth rate of 19.8% between 2013
and 2018 to reach a total of $971.8M
by 2018. Datacentre hosting makes up
approximately 18% of the managed
services market revenue in the UAE.
Industry sectors such as banking and
finance, aviation, media, government, IT
and Telecom in particular, have taken to
managed services as ensuring a secure and
reliable system is critical.
Security is one of the biggest concerns
because of which companies show
resistance to managed security service
providers. To overcome this, managed
security service providers should ensure
that they have the best and latest
security systems and practices in place,
offer round-the-clock monitoring and
management of the IT infrastructure and
comprehensive customised managed
services - all with a guaranteed service
level agreement that meets international
industry standards.
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