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Infrastructure Management
Services (IMS)
A new and emerging market segment
is remote infrastructure management services, which
though still in a nascent stage, represents a
significant business opportunity for IT- ITES companies
going forward.
Infrastructure management services
(IMS) encompass all the services that relate to
monitoring, managing and enhancing performance of a
client's IT infrastructure backbone. These include
helpdesk services, server management, data center
management, network management, asset management,
desk-side support, IT security services, maintenance
services and applications operations.
Global business intelligence majors
and leading market analysts have been attempting to
define the size of the infrastructure management
services industry. While a report by Deutsche Bank has
estimated the size of the sector to be in the region of
US$ 86 billion, Forrester states it would be around US$
111 billion. ?According to Gartner, IT management, which
refers to day-to-day management of IT assets and
processes and would represent IMS, presents a market
opportunity of US$ 150 billion. The US market alone is
expected to account for IMS revenues of US$ 80 billion
in 2006.
Analysts state that over 60 percent
of an organization's IT budget is allocated to
infrastructure management. Typically, 75 percent of a
company's IT spend is for operational or run costs; this
includes infrastructure and application management.
Infrastructure spend is typically estimated to be around
50 percent of the entire cost of running a business,
including manpower, depreciation, asset maintenance
contracts, software and hardware. It is estimated that
40-60 percent of the overall IMS pie may be efficiently
delivered through a global delivery model, translating
into a market potential (for remote infrastructure
management) of approximately US$ 55 billion.
The key verticals that are opting
for infrastructure outsourcing includes financial
services organizations, retail banking, insurance and
other financial companies. Other sectors with high
potential for growth include travel and hospitality,
logistics, retail, manufacturing, energy, utilities and
healthcare.
The factors that are catalyzing the
growth of this market globally, which are also having a
spillover effect in India, include the
following:
· The increasing trend among CIOs
to opt for offshore outsourcing of infrastructure
management services.
· The trend of efficiently
delivering these services through a global delivery
model.
· The move by global vendors of
these services such as IBM Global Services, EDS, HP,
CSC,Perot and Unisys to expand their offshore
capabilities to low-cost destinations such as
India.
· The increasing capability, owing
to process maturity, of Indian vendors to enter this
market.
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