IT Modernization: A Minute to Learn, a Lifetime to Master

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Have you ever played Othello? To me, IT modernization is a lot like that game. It takes a minute to learn, and a lifetime to master.

It has been a while since I’ve played Othello, but what I remember is that you could pick it up in no time. The Othello board is an 8×8 grid, and the object of the game is to flip your opponent’s discs to your color by sandwiching them between your discs. You win if you have the most discs with your color on the board at the end of the game.

Figure 1: Othello Board Game

Simple, right? Not really. The rules and the game are straightforward, but the depth of play and intricate nature of the game are notoriously complex. In fact, conducting a quick online search on Othello reveals a vast quantity of resources dedicated to mastering the strategy of the game. There’s even a World Othello Organization that organizes an international tournament each year.

That brings me back to the concept of IT modernization. While it may not have an official tournament, the connection is clear; infrastructure is easier than ever to learn, but integrating and optimizing it over time poses a lot of challenges.

Many of our customers are asking themselves:

  • How can we make our staff more productive?
  • How can we make our processes more efficient?
  • How do we shift our IT staff away from routine system maintenance to taking on initiatives that improve our bottom line?

When you’re introducing new infrastructure into a mature environment, it drives a lot of change. Learning the new technology is only your first move; it’s the integration over time that can be the challenge. There are dozens of people who need to understand the infrastructure, expand their skillsets, as well as learn new processes and procedures. In many ways, your experience with new technology truly begins after deployment.

Many Companies Turn to Resident Engineers for Help with Their IT Modernization

One solution that many of our customers are using to address these challenges is our Residency Services. To gain insight into how customers are leveraging these resources to drive faster technology adoption and increased optimization, we engaged IDC. The research company surveyed and interviewed CIOs and IT managers to gain insights into how IT organizations are using resident engineers, as well as the value derived from using the service.

We rely heavily on our Dell EMC resident engineer, and losing them would hurt our team. They’re very good at what they do: applying their product expertise to keep the trains running on time. -Storage and Converged Team Lead, Partners Healthcare

More than 97% of Those Surveyed Recommend Residency Services

Here’s Why:

  • Adoption: As we expected, the top use case for Residency Services was technology adoption. It is surprising that enterprises reported that Residency Services helped them increase staff adoption and use of technology by 56%.
  • Technology optimization: Respondents felt Residency Services helped improve their overall technology performance by a whopping 53%. They also helped to slash their number of problems by more than 50%.
  • Knowledge empowers: Residents provide knowledge transfer to increase the overall expertise of your IT staff. According to IDC, organizations reported 49% improvement in the efficiency of their IT staff as a direct benefit of their service.

Residency Services Can Help Boost Your Bottom Line

Over 60% of survey respondents found two critical things to be true: residents helped their IT organizations realize greater value from their new technologies, which led to direct increases in overall company revenue.

Leveraging new technology to boost your company’s revenue. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

Up Your Game with Residency Services

Here’s What You Should Consider:

  • Outline your business goals up-front and identify your specific technology requirements
  • Look for Residents with deep expertise: find a person with expertise in your technologies, with the flexibility to manage their time and priorities
  • Prioritize your Resident’s time: define how your Resident will use his or her time to ensure you’re getting most out of your service engagement
  • If knowledge transfer is important, outline a progress plan with your IT staff
  • Be selective with your service provider. With Dell EMC Residency Services, you’re getting the assurance of having a Resident who is certified in your specific technology.

Like our customers have learned, there’s a significant level of complexity that comes with modernizing your IT organization. The journey starts with learning the technology – it doesn’t end there – but there are resources available to help you make the right moves.

So what are you waiting for? It’s your move.

Click to view a full copy of IDC’s report “Accelerating Digital Transformation with Resident Engineers

IDC - Accelerating Digital Transformation with Resident Engineers

About the Author: Kathleen Kimball

Kathy joined Dell EMC as the Global Services Offer Manager for Residency Services. She is excited about the potential for Residency Services to help customers focus on their business while letting the experts at Dell EMC take care of the rest. Kathy brings a breadth of technology services experience to the position. Prior roles include sales and business development, service product management, operations and sales support at multiple computer systems and software companies. Kathy is passionate about serving our customers and truly believes that Dell EMC brings them the best service experts and supporting capabilities in the industry.
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