Computer Network Support Services
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Complicated technology, rising costs, and a dearth of information technology (IT) workers have made network support services a fast-moving business. However, as advances in networking software and hardware continued to integrate voice and data technology, the basic definition of network support services began to change and the differences between network support services and more general IT support services were scant. During the mid-2000s, a number of key trends were driving industry growth. These included rising security concerns, the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID), increasing use of wireless technology, and growing acceptance of voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP).
Although many customers have approached IT outsourcing with trepidation, fearing poor service and lack of accountability, service-level agreements (SLAs)—detailed contracts specifying a minimum quality of service and monetary penalties for the service vendor if the standard isn't met—have done much to allay concerns. Businesses that use outside network support are also increasingly selective about which tasks they farm out, so they are less likely to find themselves in an unsatisfactory blanket arrangement. Cost savings remain a key motivator for companies that hire network support services.
With service options proliferating and quality improving, some analysts envision IT services growing ever more pervasive in network computing—to a point where a company doesn't need its own network but relies entirely upon services. High speed fiber-optic networks, the ubiquity of the Internet, and new networking paradigms such as virtual private networks, have all helped make this possible on a limited scale and point to a future where network services figure prominently.
In May 2005, the research firm IDC predicted that the worldwide network consulting and integration market would increase at a compound annual rate of 8.2 percent between 2004 and 2009, growing from $24.2 billion to $35.8 billion. Within the United States, spending on network consulting and integration services was expected to reach $13.7 billion in 2005 and then grow at an 8 percent compound annual rate through 2009, reaching $20.1 billion.
In a typical network support agreement, the service provider may assume daily responsibility of a local area network or wide area network and guarantee a specified response time to all problems and difficulties. Additional services may include 24-hour/seven-days-a-week support; planning for optimal capacity; and preventive maintenance activities such as scheduled upgrades. Help desk services include handling trouble calls, resolving problems, and staging or coordinating inventories. Often the network support services provider becomes the liaison contact with other computer vendors involved with the contracting company, including software, hardware, and telecommunications providers. Profit comes only with experienced personnel and volume, as additional customers are incremental costs to a support operation.
Companies supplying computer network support services range in size from large vendors, such as IBM Global Services and HP Technology Solutions Group, down to much smaller resellers. Resellers, often called value-added resellers (VARs), may partner with larger corporations. That is, the VAR enters into a reseller agreement with the large corporation and the giant wholesales its hardware and/or software to the reseller. VARs such as CompuCom Systems customize products channeled from the vendor, bundle them with network and other services, and add value in other ways. VARs serve as the distribution channel for vendors and are often the primary source of computer equipment and services for small and medium-sized companies.
Due to growing client demand for support services and escalating hardware and software complexity, the interaction between large vendors and VARs is not always clearly defined. There is money to be made in services, and it seems everybody wants to take advantage of the opportunity. In response to the demand, and in an effort to boost revenues, vendors such as Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM Corp. run integration, consulting, and service units or divisions that often compete with their channel partners for customers.
To gain an edge on the competition, a VAR can concentrate on available niche opportunities that are more appropriate for its smaller, more tightly focused organization, or the reseller can work in a joint venture or subcontract mode with a large services provider. A third option, which allows the reseller firm to be acquired by the giant, nets a nice profit for the business owner at the cost of the VAR's independent existence.
Telephone companies and their subsidiaries perform network support and systems integration without a direct stake as reseller or vendor channel. Telecommunications companies such as MCI Inc. and AT&T have become active in providing network support services and systems integration.
Finally, consulting firms such as Accenture Ltd. and staffing service firms such as Adecco and MPS Group Inc. provide network support services from a large pool of technical personnel.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, the word network, as used in the term computer network, was a simple noun referring to "a group of computers and associated devices that are connected by communications facilities." It was easy to define and easy to visualize. A network's activities, which consisted mostly of making shared files and printers available to network members, were coordinated by a network operating system installed on a server. The network's activities were fairly limited and routine, and a few information technology professionals could tame, control, and manage them.
By the mid-1990s, hardware and software advances had gradually expanded the basic...
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