TechChatTues

Multivendor Support Services
Exploring benefits of a single point of contact when managing your complex IT environment.
   8 years ago
#TechChatTuesIT as a Service Live from Gartner with presenter Mickey Iqbal, IBM Fellow and Master Inventor
IBM Global Technology Services
Q2 IBM can service software & hardware devices by many manufacturers, in turn what are the benefits to an IT environment?
Kristin Busch
A2) It allows companies to spend less time managing vendors and more time supporting their core business.
Nelson Kavatoko
Single point of contact...customer does nott need to manage multiple vendors and can have a unique service provide with high quality.
Mohtashim Nomani
I think they will more prefer to get service from vendor directly i.e IBM
Todd Kelsey
A company doesn't have to worry about finding and staffing a very broad range of skills
George Herbert
Having a single vendor navigate through a complex cross platform problem results in quicker uptime.
John Furrier
Multivendor are table stakes for the new cloud and mobile app environment; so IT becomes more strategic for overall ops
Aman Vohra
A2. Over a period of time, the fundamental of Technical Support has changed from just providing Tech support to providing Tech Support in the shortest possible time. Which can be achieved through single provider.
David W Messina
A2: IBM can extend the productive life of installed hardware beyond End of Service Life.
militza
A2: Problem resolution won't be slowed by different vendor interaction and final ownership of resolution is clearly identified as IBM's responsibility.
Justine Milne
A2 the width and breadth of expertise and knowledge IBM can bring to bear in supporting both IBM and non IBM is pretty powerful.
John Furrier
benefits are more app driven solutions and the key will be mgt software across all platforms
David W Messina
A2: To reinforce Justine's comment, IBM has over 50 years of data center support.
Lei Wang
A2: it gives IBM unique advantage to serve as the single support service provider of clients' IT enviroment
Kristin Busch
A1) Multiple vendors allows users to select the best technology for their business, even though it can add complexity in terms of integration, management and problem resolution.
IBM Global Technology Services
In terms of resources, can managing multiple vendors within an IT environment affect a business?
Martin Keen
Multiple vendors bring both business benefits of diversity and IT challenges of support
Justine Milne
managing multiple vendors can be time consuming and expensive
David W Messina
A1. Also, a single vendor supporting multiple vendors has more of an agnostic view and will help the client maximize the product life of individual IT devices.
Mohtashim Nomani
A1: one window solution always helps and it avoids ping pong situation in terms of support.
Aman Vohra
A1 I agree with Justine! Also to seamlessly integrate the support for all the different devices is the key to manage effectively!
Eduardo Andreotti
Multiple Vendor can be increasing the TCO.
George Herbert
Managing multiple vendors prevents a client from focusing on their core business.
Nelson Kavatoko
a multivendor environment make the business more complex, but depends on the strategy...I think this is applicable if the company is ok to have less cost in hardware acquisiton and more cost during hardware lifecycle...
David W Messina
A1: Eduardo, what are the key components of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) that you worry about?
Nelson Kavatoko
the positive side of a multivendor environment is risk reduction. The company is not dependent of only one manufacturer...
militza
A1. From a support perspective, customers have to manage different vendor contract end dates, gaps in coverage, and multiple relationships. It's time and resource consuming.
John Furrier
Most companies I talk to are not "a certain vendor shop" anymore