CenterBeam
Infoworld, 5/27/02: CTO Connection, A satisfied customer
Chad Dickerson
A FEW MONTHS ago, I wrote about the decision to outsource much of our internal technology infrastructure to a unique company called Centerbeam. (I should note that there are other companies, such as Everdream, offering similar services, but the offerings have some essential differences. Also, for the record, Centerbeam's CTO is a member of the InfoWorld CTO Advisory Council.) Since I made the decision, we have successfully implemented the service for our entire enterprise, including our headquarters, four branch offices, and almost 20 home offices. In the end, the service was delivered exactly on schedule and was better than I thought it would be when I first signed up.
Simply described, Centerbeam supports and backs up our file and printer servers, supports and backs up all of our PC desktops, supplies and manages our VPN, provides secure dial-up services, and fields help desk calls for us -- all remotely. That's right, not one Centerbeam employee is stationed at InfoWorld, yet the company runs our infrastructure as well as I've seen it run. The system is actually very simple. If one of our users has a problem at any hour of the day and any day of the week, he/she calls a toll-free number and the phone is answered by someone familiar with InfoWorld's environment, usually in a matter of seconds.
The Centerbeam person on the other end of the phone either walks our employee through fixing the problem, or remote controls the system to fix the issue at hand. In the event of a hardware issue, Centerbeam images a system from the user's last backup and sends it out immediately with little time wasted tinkering with the machine and inconveniencing the user.
One of the things I like most about Centerbeam might seem like a minor detail to some -- it backs up every desktop system every night. A lot of companies do this themselves, granted, but Centerbeam leverages a service called Connected that securely backs up your system over the Internet. Not only does this mean that you can back up your system from anywhere (and all of our remote users do this), it means that a user can restore files from anywhere. Even better, Connected has an easy-to-use self-service interface, so a reasonably tech-savvy user can restore a deleted file without assistance. Our users can still call Centerbeam to help if they are uncomfortable with restoring files themselves, but the process is stunningly simple either way.
There are some who would argue that good IT support should have a face, and I agree that technology folks need to be visible within any company. But we all know that the best IT support is the kind you never see, because that means everything is working as it should. As a manager, even if you have a world-class desktop support staff, it's likely that your best people want to move on to higher-level IT positions as soon as possible.
There are a lot of similarities between what is happening with the evolving service model of desktop support represented by Centerbeam and what has occurred in the banking industry over the past few decades. When ATMs first came out, the public was skeptical: How can you do most of your banking with a machine after you've been doing it with a live bank teller for so many years? Even today, there are people who prefer a live bank teller, but that number is fading, and banks are increasingly charging extra for these high-cost services. The Centerbeam model is the best of both worlds, an IT support equivalent of an always-on ATM -- but it's an ATM with a phone attached to it so you can get a live person on the other end of the line quickly whenever you need it. IT support has changed forever.
Chad Dickerson is InfoWorld's CTO. E-mail him at chad_dickerson@infoworld.com.
[complete article above]
Outsourcing
Gartner, 5/15/02: CIO Alert: Look at the High Rewards and Low Risks of Selective Outsourcing
When time, money or expertise are in short supply, selective outsourcing can enable the IT operations group to keep IS services up-to-date and efficient. If leveraged properly, several IT services can deliver high rewards. Many CIOs are struggling to deliver everything that their enterprise management and business units are demanding. Gartner points out that when time, money or expertise are in short supply, selective outsourcing can enable the IT operations group to keep IS services up-to-date and efficient. If leveraged properly, several IT services can deliver high rewards.
[more]
9:15:00 AM 
|
|
