Most of today’s IT leaders take a Best of Breed approach to procuring solutions and toolsets for their enterprises. They seek out the top-tier providers for each service, whether it may be for bandwidth, managed network, managed security services, managed firewall, or endpoint protection. The commonly held belief is that by partnering with the leading vendor for each service, they can build an end-to-end IT environment that’s bullet-proof. Makes sense, right? Not exactly.
While it’s very common for silos to develop within infrastructure and support, it can create major obstacles for already strained IT departments. Co-managing multiple systems and vendors with little cross connectivity and integration between each is a complex and resource-draining process.
Inevitably, each provider has its own shared responsibility model that they strictly adhere to. Each model is unique, and they do not communicate or compromise with other service providers to make up for their inherent differences. This leaves considerable disparities and gaps in service that internal IT departments are required to fill in. Furthermore, deploying and maintaining an app that works within each of these environments can be extremely complicated and time consuming.
Real-world scenario #1
A major retail website experiences a breach in its data security. This breach causes millions of buyers to have their financial records exposed to the public Internet. Individuals scramble to disable accounts, dispute unauthorized charges, change passwords, and expedite getting new credit cards. Meanwhile, fingers are pointed at the retailer and the reputation of their brand is at stake. The company’s cloud service provider promptly releases a statement that due to the nature of its shared service model, the breach was due to no fault of its own, but rather the result of negligence or an error made by the managers of the retail site. In addition to helping its victimized customers, the retail company is faced with significant legal consequences followed by months or even years working to restore its reputation. The painful reality for this company is that all of this could have been avoided by having a single provider manage its network and cloud security and eliminate the gaps in service that put customer data at risk.
Real-world scenario #2
A tier 1 manufacturing company has a global network they are being forced to operate in a remote work environment due to restrictions caused by the Covid19 pandemic. From the CTO’s perspective, they are having problems with supporting business units with network outages and moves, adds, and changes. They believe they are in need of a network services provider, however that provider must be able to seamlessly work with their other IT vendors. They soon discover that while it is possible for different service providers to work with one another, it comes at an exorbitant, unnecessary cost to their internal IT department. In short, the enterprise’s disparate vendors – all working in silos – are causing network connectivity problems, security issues, and an overly complicated move/add/change process.
A practical solution
By taking an integrated, “big picture” approach in each of these scenarios, the right service provider can customize an end-to-end solution that consists of any combination of bundled services. For instance, the manufacturer originally seeking network services is offered a comprehensive solution consisting of network and managed services, managed firewall, and managed endpoint security. Going forward, they will have one NOC handling any potential issues and ensuring their environment’s uptime. A single SOC to examine security and mitigate any potential threats. One provider managing all aspects of their IT environment with one single interface for them to work with. When presented with an integrated solution that is single-handedly responsible for Managed Security Services, SOC as a Service, SD-WAN solutions, and NOC as a Service, this customer has an “Aha!” moment. As the solution is being rolled out, the organization is looking forward to working within a safer, more streamlined environment designed to eliminate service gaps and help them realize greater efficiencies while cutting costs.
Expert advice
More than ever, IT departments within organizations are being burdened by securing and retaining talent, procuring and maintaining toolsets, and overcoming budgetary constraints. To assist with this arduous process, the experts at Lightstream recommend taking a 3-step approach to their solution procurement strategy.
First, recognize the challenges your organization is having difficulty overcoming. Next, have a general idea of what the solution to your problems might be. And finally, understand the roadmap for your technology. Will a mobile workforce be a factor in the future? Where is your enterprise currently, and where would you like it to go? Don’t be afraid to use a whiteboard mentality, and don’t be constrained by what you think technology can offer. Clearly articulate your goals and allow the provider to come up a customized solution that supports all of your business units globally.
The current pandemic has forced us all to think differently about the future. It has exposed challenges across industries and within telecom and IT, it has exposed gaps in the network community. In this new world, customers are struggling to promote connectivity and security in networks that weren’t designed to support mobile workforces. Security has been forced to take a back seat, and network capacity is being stretched very thin.
It is critical to partner with a provider who understands all of this and who can customize a solution to not only help you overcome your current challenges, but who can also help you reach your future goals. Contact us to learn more about Lightstream’s integrated offerings and how we can help you simplify the procurement process and decomplicate your IT environment.
