This year, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC), 3rd Platform technologies (i.e. cloud, analytics, mobility, social) have been responsible for one-third of all IT spending and account for virtually 100% of all IT spending growth.

As more enterprises engage in digitally collaborative partnerships, we'll see more dollars being allocated to ensure companies can keep up with the diverse and ever-changing technology of the day. With greater collaboration comes greater complexity.

Think about it. Every time an enterprise adds a new service provider or the service provider adds new partners the dynamics of the support ecosystem changes. The ability to actively track provider performance for service level agreement (SLA) adherence and vendor management becomes more and more difficult. But, enterprises can't be expected to manage this multiparty dance alone.

Service Providers Are Part of the Equation

That's why today enterprises are looking at IT differently and rightfully so. In this age of 3^rdPlatform technologies, enterprises want and need their IT departmentsand service partnersto operate seamlessly while supporting overall business goals. This requires an effectiveservice integration and management (SIAM)system that, at a minimum does three things:

• Remove silos.The infrastructures of today and tomorrow are interconnected. Therefore, it is vital for support processes to be holistic to achieve end-to-end visibility.

• Automate. Given the speed (e.g., cloud provisioning, deprovisioning of compute power) and scale (212 billion devices connected by 2020, according to IDC's latest Internet of Things research) of change, the SP has no choice but to automate processes to ensure service-level agreement (SLA) consistency at scale.

• Facilitate decision making.Next-generation IT infrastructure should make it simpler for managers to make informed business decisions in real time.

According to an IDC technology spotlight report,Automated Service Management: Accelerating Enterprise Insight, Efficiency, and Action for Service Providers, there is opportunity for service providers to become strategic partners and trusted advisors to enterprises by leveraging these three pillars. Furthermore, research has found that service providers who are integrated with their customers enjoy loyalty ratings 25% higher than those that are not.¹

Case in Point: ServiceGrid in Action

Swissgrid, a service provider of Switzerland's energy company, was in search of a solution that would allow automated and accelerated service management processes. They wanted to integrate their internal service management, CRM systems, and service partners on one central platform to ensure efficient collaboration across the service chain.

The use of Cisco ServiceGrid enabled Swissgrid to automate processing of service requests, which improved the service quality and the efficiency of troubleshooting. But the benefits didn't stop there. They were also able to:

• Automate complex and manual provider relationships
• Enable end- to-end SLA governance and automated reporting across the ecosystem
• Drive faster incident resolution

"We recovered our investment within the first year and we will continue to benefit from Cisco ServiceGrid capabilities in our current ecosystem and will look to ways to expand," said Hans Roth, Head of Service Management, Swissgrid.

Where could you see improved results in the integration of your support services? Let's talk about it. You can reach out and learn more about ServiceGrid via email or by visiting our ServiceGrid website.

¹Source: The Outsourcing Institute