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In the past year or so , organizations have encountered new challenges that require modern solutions to solve their clients ’ increasing needs . In many cases , these challenges were addressed by inefficient legacy technologies , which made the transition to the work-from-home settings more difficult and tedious . Most , however , have managed to rise to the occasion , stretching budgets , skills and capacity .
As a result , many businesses have embarked on digital projects , which accelerated cloud adoption . In doing so , many have realized the need to govern their IT infrastructure differently to access suitable services for their specific requirements in the right way and at the right time .
As they continue to reinvent the role of IT in their business , a new trend of ‘ smart sourcing ’ has emerged . Smart sourcing is the strategic way of taking control of their IT infrastructure by making the right and competent decisions for organizations to become more agile and flexible in managing their IT estates . This ultimately enables them the freedom to innovate rapidly as technology constantly advances .
Following the catalysing effect of the pandemic on a new era of IT , what exactly is smart sourcing and what steps do organizations need to take to achieve it ?
Outsourcing vs smart sourcing
Outsourcing IT is a popular solution by many industries as it is seen to improve productivity and efficiency , while reducing cost and risk .
However , many organizations have learned that , while outsourcing can bring them the required performance in the short-term , retaining key knowledge is vitally important over the long-term to avoid the vicious cycle of reducing capability and increasing dependency on third-party providers .
Consequently , the trend is shifting to insourcing and smart sourcing . This empowers organizations to take control of their technology by upskilling their inhouse teams .
Yet despite the long drive behind the Singaporean government ’ s cloud-first strategy , there is still debate around the best way to harness the technology – a debate that is made more complicated because no two organizations have the same estate and architecture as starting points . So as a crucial first step , each one needs to understand their current situation and their desired destination , in terms of services and technology .
This shift has occurred alongside a significant drive to take up cloud services . While not all leaders of organizations are convinced by the ‘ cloud-first ’ approach , most do recognize the intrinsic role of the
cloud in their plans . As a result , many organizations are now transferring specific sets of data and applications into public and private cloud repositories . This trend has been accelerated by the pandemic , to the point where it is unlikely that there is any organization in the public sector that has not looked , or isn ’ t looking , at the cloud and the best ways to source its technology requirements .
Getting smarter with IT
The accelerated adoption of cloud technology , coupled with a growing appreciation for the need to
Sandeep Bhargava , Managing Director , Asia Pacific and Japan , Rackspace Technology
With the flexibility and agility required in today ’ s digital world , smart sourcing is a continuous process , not a one-off event .
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