#3. Managed Services 3.0: CSPs want partners (not vendors) to support transformation

While lowering costs is a key driver for managed services, it most definitely isn’t the only one. As the complexity of business skyrockets, CSPs are looking for experts to not only run core systems but help them manage the wave of change. We call this the new era of managed services, or Managed Services 3.0.

In this next generation of managed services, CSPs are going beyond relying on third parties to optimize, manage and maintain core systems. Instead, they are bringing in partners to collaborate on innovative new ideas, identify ways to support new offerings within those existing systems and help actually navigate the change.  And it makes complete sense. Why not entrust the companies that actually make the software to operate, optimize and maintain it?

Through these managed services partnerships, operators are looking for trusted partners who can play a long-term role in supporting their business today—and help them plan for the future. They want partners who can understand their business challenges and help them manage future risk.

This is supported by TBR’s study, which reported that 30% of CIOs surveyed said they were looking to use outsourcing to reduce business risk.

The new CSP mantra: let someone else operate so we can innovate

The reality is that to compete—and succeed—in the digital world, CSPs must continually focus on innovation. The irony is that the traditional IT models (which worked so well in decades past) no longer give them enough time, energy, resources and focus to innovate.

To achieve the innovation goal in light of today’s challenges and pressures, CSPs must embrace a new approach, a model in which an eco-system of partners with a high degree of domain experience, can serve them as trusted guides on this incredible journey of connectivity in the digital world.