Application-first approach taking hold in Europe

European IT leaders are putting their applications first when selecting their IT services providers, the latest independent research from Claranet has found. When asked about their reasons for choosing their IT services providers, application expertise came out as the most important reason, followed by support and security expertise. The findings, according to the MSP, highlight the critical nature of applications and data to business success today.

The pan-European research report, which surveyed 900 IT decision-makers from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and the Benelux, from a range of mid-market organisations, found that application expertise stands as the most important factor in helping to select an IT services provider. 76 per cent of the entire sample felt that this attribute was either important or very important. Looking at the top end of the sample (organisations with more than 1,000 employees), this figure climbs to 79 per cent. The next most valued were security expertise and support, selected by 72 per cent, followed closely by price (71 per cent)*.

Commenting on the findings, Claranet’s UK Product Director, Neil Thomas, said: “The fact that organisations are putting their applications first when selecting an IT services provider suggests that the majority have got their priorities in order. The software revolution is in full swing, affecting every industry – applications and data, and the IT teams that manage them, are more important to a company’s success in the market than ever before. However, the modern IT estate is comprised of a whole host of different applications, each of which will have different requirements as to how and where they are managed. Most enterprises have a diverse mix of workloads – some heavily regulated, which might need to be kept in-house or on private infrastructure; and others for which public cloud might be appropriate.

“Applications, and how well they operate, will make or break a business, so finding a partner that can help manage and support them is critical, as shown by this research, which highlighted support as the second most important priority for IT decision makers. The reality is that organisations will increasingly need to use a blend of services to arrive at the optimal solution. Service providers that have experience in working across different infrastructures can help with matching the availability, performance and security requirements for each application to the right infrastructure service, and can offer enterprises the support and guidance on what will work, and, importantly, what won’t,” he concluded.