Network specialists, three6five has today announced details of a managed services toolkit, that it believes will reshape the managed services market, bringing a layer of consultancy and proactivity that helps businesses better utilise and plan their network requirements.

“What we have seen from other large IT networking and security players is a very reactive managed services offering, invariably backed by a big master service agreement that only covers monitoring, break and replacement and other fixed type services,” explained Nick Treasure, three6five CIO.

Treasure believes that this reactive approach, which is locked into long term contracts of three years or more, is not only outdated, but does not provide the kind of transformative approach that businesses need.

The three6five Managed Services Toolkit has been designed to provide businesses with a customisable solution that matches what it actually needs, versus what service providers think it wants.

“It is a far more consultative approach to managed services.  We want to make sure our customers can see the bigger picture, and know what’s coming down the road in the next three years, without the lock-in,” he explained.

The company works alongside its customers to create a technology roadmap that spans three years, but signs a one year service contract.  It believes that the managed service contract should be renegotiated annually to make provision for a rapidly changing technology and security landscape and decreasing costs.  

This Managed Service is best suited to enterprise organisations that rely on technology to deliver their products and services, and can scale from SMEs to the largest entities in South Africa.  Consisting of 14 tools, the toolkit focuses on the customer’s WAN, LAN, Voice, Security and Wireless infrastructure, which is backed by a high-end vendor portfolio and experienced technical advisors who tailor-make managed services plans. 

“Static contracts and reactive only services no longer makes sense.  It is about adding value and moving from managed to strategic services that not only make a tangible difference to our customers but meet their business requirements at the same time,” concluded Treasure.