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As the number and complexity of applications grow, application management, maintenance, and development are consuming an exceptional
amount of time and resources. To ensure availability, improve performance levels, and support mission-critical tasks, more and more businesses recognize the importance of professionally managing, integrating, and enhancing their application portfolios.
Initially, companies turned to Application Management Services (AMS) providers for assistance in managing specific applications. However, while this type of project-based application management helps organizations access scarce resources, true economies of scale aren’t possible – which limits cost savings.
To realize greater value, corporations began looking for new ways to leverage the power of AMS. Relying on application management outsourcing, organizations started to move their IT teams off-site to work in association with AMS professionals. True Application Management Services came next, enabling organizations to enter into fixed-price service-level agreements with AMS experts, who assumed full responsibility for all application management tasks.
These incredible improvements raise an important question for forward-thinking enterprises: How will AMS continue to evolve to create more value? Already, Inbound Application Management Centres exist, housing experts who specialize in specific industries and/or applications. Some companies are exploring the possibility of working with Application Service Providers capable of giving them access to leading-edge application functionality on a pay-per-use basis. With e-business on demand, businesses may soon be able to access an e-business application on a pay-per-click basis. There is even precedent for eventual Business Process Outsourcing, a solution that may one day see organizations handing over full responsibility for entire business functions to their AMS partners.
Clearly, the possibilities for AMS value-creation are vast, and the opportunity extensive. IBM is committed to remaining on the forefront of AMS evolution to ensure our customers have access to innovative service delivery models as they evolve.
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