Just a few short years ago, if your car broke down, you would automatically take it to your local mechanic who would identify the issue and fix it. Fast forward to 2013 – today we live in an era where our cars tell US when there is a potential issue or it needs a service and, more often than not, they just don’t break down at all. We’ve gone from a reactive, break-fix model to a proactive and, sometimes, even a pre-emptive approach, or warranty as they call it. It’s the technology – specifically the software embedded in our cars and the software that supports and maintains it from the manufacturer – that has fundamentally changed this industry.
There is a similar shift happening in IT. Customer care-abouts are evolving from simply, “make my technology work” to “make my business better.” Drivers such as cloud and mobility are causing us to pause and rethink our traditional approaches and consider new ways to both consume and manage IT. As more and more business and IT activities move into the cloud, the services needed to keep everything running seamlessly become ever more critical.
Services can help companies maintain IT health and, by providing expertise and support, can support this transition to cloud as customer and partners explore new opportunities. Services – in the form of automation, analytics and software – play a crucial role in both extracting more value out of existing infrastructure and driving innovation in new areas. How?
I recently spoke about Cisco’s Smart Services, which use intelligent automation to collect network data, then analyze that data using Cisco’ s deep knowledge base to provide actionable insight to customer and partners. These software-enabled services automate network operations, reduce risk and lower costs – top priorities for any organization, regardless of size.
