Let’s start by talking about why this is even a topic for discussion. It all comes down to the desire to have successful data center outsourcing initiatives – whether you are looking to completely outsource your data center operations or just pieces of them. Nobody goes into a project expecting failure yet there are plenty of stories about best efforts that went wrong, sometimes very wrong, like Texas Ousts IBM, Takes New IT Outsourcing Tack. To be fair, the majority of organizations looking to outsource all or part of their mission-critical infrastructure won’t have to deal with the scale and complexity of the state of Texas. Where, as we know, everything is bigger. However, I think you would agree that your IT infrastructure is no less important…to you!
Let’s get back to what we mean by “experience-based”. In a nutshell we are talking about the key to a successful data center services provider relationship. Yes, we mean relationship. If you aren’t looking for a relationship with your data center services provider you will probably be looking for a new provider – sooner or later.
There are two key elements to “experience-based” that differentiate data center outsourcing service providers; technical experience and customer experience. Technical experience means the long track record of been-there-and-done-that level of competence that ensures the provider knows what they are doing. You can spot this by understanding the tenure of the people working for the provider, the maturity of their processes (especially on-boarding), as well as certifications like SSAE 16. The second element, customer experience is the level of customer satisfaction that indicates the provider is someone you want to do business with. You can spot this through customer references that speak to their level of satisfaction with the providers’ customer service and support. You can’t have one without the other, they are both required and are what set the best-in-class service providers apart from the masses.
The Bottom Line: “Experience-based” as defined above is important to ensure the success of any relationship you might have with your data center provider. You can identify the best-of-breed with a few pointed questions like: How long have you been in business? How many customers like me have you implemented? What is your churn rate? How frequently does ownership of the company change? Be careful of organizations that have changed ownership every few years, the chances are high that they haven’t been able to retain the experience needed to support the infrastructure you are betting your business on.