I have talked to many clients recently who have experienced the challenge of trying to replace a rare skill set within their organization. Unexpectedly watching that skill set and knowledge walk out the door puts a strain on operations, and usually puts high business impact efforts on hold. Those same clients are feeling the same challenge that we experience — trying to find the right resource to hire and invest in for the long-term.
Many of them are transforming the tone of the discussion from a challenge into an opportunity — the exciting prospect of re-evaluating staffing and operations needs to determine what is core to the company and worth retaining in-house. At the same time, companies are identifying areas of their operations that would benefit from a managed service that leverages a team of specialists.
Handing off to a team of specialists results not only in offloading the service operations, but it relieves the company of dealing with hiring, training and retention efforts for these rare skill sets. The company is no longer burdened with managing the people, process, and tools for the service. Instead, the company focuses on the higher level architectural and business discussions, while holding their partner accountable for service levels.
At Datalink, these conversations are happening all the time, often leading to a discussion about managed services and providing clarity to an organization’s current operational plans. Consequently, the dread of finding another person to replace transforms into optimism and becomes an impetus for change.