If you're considering selecting an outsourcing provider for your network/communications infrastructure, it might be helpful to know a few of the trends identified by IDC in research for service provider Equant.
According to a survey of CIOs and CFOs from 300 or more multinational companies, 50% of respondents report that the most popular part of an IT function to outsource is the network/comm infrastructure, followed by security services (32%) and server management (32%).
For those network/comm services, more than half (54%) prefer to go with a telecommunications specialist rather than a generalist IT company (32%) or local outsourcing provider (14%).
According to coverage in Communications News' article "Pick and Choose," large companies "typically entrust their communications infrastructure to a specialist in order to drive down costs and focus on core business functions."
The same issue of the magazine profiles a telecomm outsourcing gig performed by Infinity Consulting Group, which had to move out of its headquarters for the duration of the Republican National Convention last fall in New York.
According to "Firm taps into IP system," the system set up by M5 Networks allowed calls to go through to individuals whether they worked from home, at a remote office, or from a temporary space leased by the company for the week.
CEO Lou Forino says the outsourced initiative, which moved Infinity from a premise-based Nortel phone system to an IP phone system, allowed his firm to avoid setup and equipment charges and to realize a $500-$1,000 savings each month on total telecom costs.
