In this digital first era, businesses are increasingly relying on software solutions to streamline their operations and enhance productivity. These sophisticated solutions need effective management to ensure they interoperate with one another and so the broad heading of “Application Management Services” has evolved as the management of these applications has become crucial for organisational success.  

It is rare for companies to rely on one system alone, but there are likely to be multiple software solutions from “cradle to grave” or the “hire to fire” processes. And so, as companies grapple with the complexities of diverse software portfolios, the demand for adept and strategic management solutions has surged.

In this article, we delve into the intricacies of Application Management Services, shedding light on the key benefits, challenges, and best practices that underscore this critical component of contemporary business operations. Uncover actionable insights that can empower your organisation to optimise its application landscape for sustained growth and efficiency. 

 

Interestingly, the definition specifically calls out the use of a third party, external organisations to provide this service, which helps businesses monitor and manage the performance of all software solutions in service in the business at any given time. Performance includes the user experience, and thereby a metric of “quality” provided by the software, needs to be applied. This metric can vary from organisation to organisation, but a user satisfaction rating needs to be applied, along with cost of ownership and life of the solution.

The most usual types of software covered by AMS (Application Management Services), or Application Management Software covered in the agreement, include solutions such as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), CMS (Content Management System) and BI (Business Insight or analytics) and even BPM (Business Process Management).  Examples of an application management service may include the support of some, or all, of the above software products the contract that supports and maintains the software estate for a business and includes the above software solutions but might also include bespoke systems designed for the business.

The details around the specific Application Management Service (AMS) will vary by company requirement and by the supplier but in essence they involve the procurement, SAM (Software asset management such as licencing and renewals), the patches, (upgrades, updates and maintenance), as well as the support, fixes and issue resolution.   

Most sources recommend that this service is provided by an external 3rd party to ensure everyone sticks to their “swim lanes” or core strengths, so the business is focused on their business, not the management of the systems and software. Using internal teams to provide this service would necessitate additional training to ensure the services team stayed current, yet this is all part of the service when outsourced as a good AMS supplier will maintain their credentials and solution certifications. 

Remember the difference between an Application Management Service and a more straightforward IT service is the degree of assistance provided to the software estate, not just the hardware and infrastructure.  The AMS provider will typically help when the software is not working as expected, whereas the IT support service will only be concerned with the fact that the user has access to everything, and the hardware is working efficiently.  

When looking for an AMS provider, it is essential to ensure that the team who will be working on your account hold the relevant, up to date certifications for the products and solutions for which they are responsible. Don’t be fooled by being sold the A-team but serviced by the B-Team.  When selecting an AMS provider, another key piece of advice is to take up references, as there is never anything as convincing as a sound recommendation from an existing customer to know that they have the desired quality of service and support.  Some of the technology they are supporting is complex and may be customised, so you need to ensure that the team is up to the job, perhaps even with relevant industry experience. Checking references, particularly within the same vertical or industry sector, is essential.  

Using a 3rd party, outsourced supplier will also give you access to depth and breadth of additional skills so make sure you are making the most of the services available. For instance, you can add user training to the gambit of services included in your personal AMS contract. It is worth spending time with your supplier to see what other services are available as some of these might increase your own company’s response times and efficiencies with your own customers and so be worth the investment.  

The service level agreement will explain how quickly they are due to respond to the different levels of problem (i.e., business critical or minor issues).  Pricing will depend on the level of support, such as twenty-four hours a day, for seven days a week, and through three hundred and sixty-five days a year. Or only during office hours in one time zone.  The SLA (Service Level Agreement) will list all services that are covered by the supplier and explain the scope of the service provided. Since AMS covers such a wide range of services, it is important to study the contract carefully to ensure you have the right mix of application monitoring, incident management, performance monitoring and optimisation, updates, upgrades, fixes, issue resolution and maintenance of any bespoke solutions of base system enhancements.   

Since most organisations have a mix of software and platforms, each product and the level of service needs to be listed clearly with customisations or non-standard configurations called out to ensure their continuity is maintained and any business-critical applications have the right speed of service and attention, with 24/7 availability of support.  

Compliance and governance can form part of the Application Management Service, to ensure that any regulatory requirements are met to industry standards. Finally, vendor management can also form part of the Application Management Service if budget allows so those relationships are maintained. 

The AMS consultant comes in several flavours; they may be business specialists; functional software specialists, integration or technical specialists and your supplier should bring a mixture of each of these to the table.  Each will be required to ensure all your software is running smoothly and efficiently and you have access to the right advice from the team of specialists to ensure you are fully optimised from a software estate management perspective.  

Once you find a trusted advisor and good AMS partner, you should be set-fair and one potential business headache will be solved.  

We are specialist suppliers of Application Management Consultants who hold all the right credentials and experience to help you run your software estate.

For more information on how we have helped other companies manage their systems please see our consulting page.

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