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| Managed Application Services |
What are Managed Application Services?
Managed application services refer to third-party management and support of
custom and packaged business applications. Under managed application services,
external service providers take full or partial responsibility for ensuring
that critical business applications perform optimally and deliver expected
business value. They help organizations optimize application performance,
availability, security and adoption with ongoing administration, maintenance
and support.
Core Components of Managed Application Services
Application Management
Application management services involve monitoring applications for performance
and health issues, applying software patches and upgrades, fixing software
bugs, managing application configurations and high availability. Service
providers optimize and scale applications as per changing business needs
through proactive management and preventive maintenance activities. Their 24/7
application monitoring helps resolve issues quickly without any disruption.
Application Support
Most organizations lack dedicated in-house resources to provide 24/7 support
for business applications. Here, Managed
Application Services help address user queries, incident logging and
resolution, change requests and problem management. Experienced support teams
offer various support channels like phone, email and ticketing systems. They
are trained on specific applications to provide faster resolution.
Advisory services
Service providers also offer advisory services to help optimize existing
applications and strategize new application rollouts. Their advisory teams
conduct application assessments and health checks to identify performance
bottlenecks, security risks and compliance issues. They provide optimization
roadmaps, upgrade strategies, migration plans and post implementation support.
Benefits of Managed Application Services
Cost Savings
Managed application services help organizations minimize significant in-house
capital expenditures on infrastructure, resources, tools and training. By
outsourcing non-core operational activities, organizations can focus more on
their core competencies. Service providers achieve economies of scale and offer
competitive fixed monthly pricing.
Improved scalability and productivity
Outsourcing application management frees internal resources to focus on
strategic initiatives rather than firefighting daily issues. Organizations have
the flexibility to quickly scale resource capacity up or down as per their
evolving business needs without any significant cost. Expert application support
also improves employee productivity.
Ensured compliance and security
Service providers make significant investments to implement latest security
controls, access policies, data protection measures and compliance frameworks
for applications in their managed infrastructure and facilities. This helps
organizations adhere to stringent industry regulations and prevent security
breaches.
Better performance and availability
Proactive monitoring and fast resolution of issues ensure optimal application
performance. Preventive maintenance and upgrades minimize downtime risks. High
availability features such as database replication, load balancing and disaster
recovery further improve application reliability and resilience.
Key Considerations for Choosing a Managed Application Services Provider
Solution offerings
Leading providers offer end-to-end management of both custom built and
commercial off-the-shelf applications. Check their portfolio of application
types, components covered and optional value-added services.
Expertise and certifications
Preferred providers should have proven track record of managing applications in
your industry with relevant technical expertise and vendor-specific
certifications. Request case studies and references.
Infrastructure and processes
Ensure providers have robust internal processes and infrastructure for
application monitoring, testing, change management, backups and disaster
recovery aligned to your organization's expectations and regulatory
requirements.
Support capabilities
Check support channels, SLA parameters, scalability, localization, skill levels
and overall quality of support delivery for different application classes and
issues.
Security and compliance
Select providers adhering to ISO 27001 and other industry-specific
certifications covering physical security, access controls, data protection,
vulnerability management and regulatory compliance assistance.
Pricing transparency
Preferred models include fixed monthly pricing, pay-per-use pricing without hidden
costs for infrastructure, resources and integration with your systems. Request
service level agreements and penalty clauses for SLA breaches.
Overall, working with reputable managed application services providers can help
organizations optimize costs as well as ensure consistent business application
performance for accelerated innovation and growth. Careful vendor evaluation
helps select the right fit based on core requirements.
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