Chris Yousey, executive director of product management and marketing at Verizon Enterprise Solutions, discusses Verizon’s extended managed services capabilities, which enable and enhance the digital healthcare transformation initiatives. Yousey leads a global organization with responsibility for product development for security, IT solutions and product marketing for the managed services portfolio, using a combination of market intelligence and customer input to synthesize and deliver innovative solutions that harness the strength of Verizon’s infrastructure and technology assets.
In this age of digital transformation, what is meant by managed services?
The definition of managed services has many different contexts. In the IT and technology arena, traditionally a service provider could take over management of a business function, such as a support help desk, or provide equipment that enables management and control of network infrastructure.
In the digital age, managed services is far more reaching. For many years, Verizon has offered management of one of the most reliable and secure global networks, and this provides the platform for multiple managed services, including unified communications and collaboration as a service, managed security services and IT solutions. As we extend our next-generation product portfolio to include performance monitoring, Verizon will also be able to manage applications.
Another key point on managed services is that it is not just about technology. People are front and center of our managed services offerings. From digital advisory consulting from our professional services organization, all the way through to transformational systems, and vendor integration and governance from our global integration services team, Verizon provides an unparalleled level of expertise for our customers.
Why are more and more customers looking for managed services?
We have to look at the way in which the role of enterprise IT has developed in recent years. While IT has always been a vital delivery vehicle for the enterprise, increasingly there is an expectation of IT to drive innovation. As IT has become more complex and digital initiatives require high performance across the entire IT stack, managed services are a way to unify and simplify. CIOs are challenged with how to deliver game-changing applications, better business results, and a better experience for the end user.
There is fundamentally less time to manage IT than ever before. Customers come to Verizon to be their partner behind the curtain. But it is more than just taking away the administrative burden of network or services management, customers come to Verizon for the value we add to their business. We work with our customers to provide service level agreements that tie to their business outcomes, and offer service delivery models that are global in nature – they scale with our customers’ business needs.
How do you see managed services evolving?
The evolution of managed services is tied to the enabling technologies of digital transformation. As we see a proliferation of disruptive trends such as application deployment from the cloud, mobility driving anytime, anywhere, any device requirements, Internet connected machines and social media driving a need to manage increasing amounts of unstructured data, managed services becomes about management of an ecosystem of people, partners, systems, applications and things.
The evolution of the network and how that is deployed is of primary importance, as it moves away from a premises-centric model to a software-defined model.
Verizon has already launched Managed SDWAN, a software-defined network service that offers the ability to deploy network functions from the cloud. Previously where separate pieces of physical equipment would provide routing, firewall and application acceleration functionality, these functions are now deployed via the cloud to a single box. The impact on efficiency from self-installation, and the reduced time to deploy is another example of accelerated innovation from management of the digital ecosystem. That’s the future Verizon is delivering to our customers today.
Why are managed services so important to the health sector?
While it’s true that managed services have an application for all industries, in healthcare, there is a significant and accelerating momentum toward digital services. From the secure exchange of critical patient data to real-time care coordination between providers, patients, and care teams to integrating the data being captured from disparate sources and devices, the need for managing all the complex and intersecting elements of those operations will continue to demand a truly “managed” solution suite.
Verizon supports these digital healthcare initiatives by providing the transformative technologies such as managed wireless LAN which enables secure connectivity of multiple mobile devices, to Secure Cloud Interconnect which allows cloud-based applications to be delivered reliably from a number of leading cloud providers.
Visit us at booth #4454
About Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) employs a diverse workforce of 177,700 and generated nearly $132 billion in 2015 revenues. Verizon operates America’s most reliable wireless network, with more than 112 million retail connections nationwide. Headquartered in New York, the company also provides communications and entertainment services over America’s most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers worldwide.
For more information, visit www.verizonenterprise.com/industry/healthcare.
