How businesses benefit from colocation technical expertise

What is colocation technical expertise?

Colocation technical expertise is the deep-seated IT knowledge and skills a colocation provider’s internal team brings to the table. At a minimum, this includes maintaining critical systems, devising, and executing emergency response plans, and monitoring the network to promote data center availability and performance. However, colocation technical expertise can extend beyond these responsibilities to help customers identify, architect, and implement innovative IT solutions that drive business efficiency and address customer expectations and industry requirements.

The benefits of colocation technical expertise

Organizations have a lot to gain by partnering with a colocation provider with on-staff expertise. Regardless of how experienced an organization’s internal team is, the expertise and certifications of a colocation team can help organizations take their IT strategies to another level.

Deep expertise and diverse certifications

A colocation team holds multiple certifications and offers highly specialized skills across various disciplines, such as security, compliance, and cloud solutions. Most organizations cannot afford to have this depth of knowledge internally. Colocation allows organizations to tap into this vast experience to supplement their internal teams.

Access to cutting-edge solutions

A colocation provider’s core business is data center operations. By regularly attending trade shows and speaking with industry experts, colocation team members acquire crucial insight into emerging trends, innovations and approaches, and best practices they can use to solve customers’ existing problems and evolving needs. It also allows them to serve as trusted advisors.  

The sheer quantity of IT deployments that colocation teams are involved in also makes them more adept at successfully executing these solutions. By working with many customers across diverse industries, colocation professionals gain tremendous insight into common pitfalls and other issues that can impact the speed of the deployment as well as its ability to meet intense SLAs, support corporate objectives and improve performance and efficiency.

Offload internal teams

Internal IT teams have widespread responsibilities that may limit their abilities to research new opportunities or best practices. By relying on the expertise of a colocation partner, organizations can alleviate pressure on their teams, allowing them to focus on the core business.

Improve the bottom line

Controlling costs is always a top priority for organizations, and it is no secret that specialized IT skill sets are not only expensive but in short supply. According to Gartner, “86% of CIOs reported facing more competition for qualified candidates and 73% were worried about IT talent attrition.” Organizations can leverage the expertise of a data center’s team as needed, contracting for the managed IT services or professional services they need to support specific requirements. This allows organizations to lean in when needed, without keeping expensive—and rarely needed—skill sets on the payroll.

How to gauge the technical expertise of a colocation provider

While the technical expertise of a colocation partner can be a key differentiator, not all providers are created equal. The following factors can help organizations assess the technical acumen and accessibility of the colocation team.

Who was at the meeting?

The initial meeting—as well as follow-up interactions—can help organizations evaluate a provider’s expertise and customer commitment. A data center provider that brings the right resources to a meeting demonstrates a commitment to ensuring the customer’s challenges are understood and can be handled effectively. For example, a meeting to discuss a cloud deployment should include a cloud engineer. Additionally, engaging resources that can offer additional insight or alternative solutions can also enhance the deployment.

Does the technical team listen to customers?

Listening to customers’ business objectives and pain points, rather than pushing pre-packaged solutions, ensures the provider can deliver tailored solutions that meet customers’ needs. This attentiveness must continue throughout the relationship. By developing a collaborative partnership, organizations can ensure the long-term success of the IT solution as needs change and new technologies emerge.

How available are these technical resources?

Having technical expertise is only half the battle. Organizations need access to these resources so they can discuss issues and evolving requirements. Too often, colocation customers must navigate time-consuming escalation tiers before reaching the appropriate support. Colocation providers that foster relationships can direct customers to the right technical resources more quickly to save time and improve the customer experience.

With colocation, technical expertise can be just a phone call away.

Key takeaway

The expertise offered by a colocation provider can help organizations achieve next-level capabilities as they establish, strengthen, and evolve their IT strategies. Finding a provider with the right skill sets and an unwavering commitment to customer success can be a critical differentiator in driving business success.

Paperwise, a software organization with a leading process automation platform, enhanced its IT solution by partnering with Flexential.

Read the Paperwise customer story to learn how the Flexential expert team helped the software company’s highly skilled internal team address a unique customer requirement on a tight schedule.