Annual report 2007
Professional Services
MARKET AND SERVICES
The market for IT infrastructure within hardware and software support for companies and organisations – the segment primarily targeted by InfoCare Professional Services – is valued to be a market worth several billion NOK, and includes the value created by internal IT departments. Our opportunities to participate in this market vary, in part with the degree of outsourcing within IT in general, but also with the design of the individual contracts. In recent years, we have seen an increased tendency of selective outsourcing, which means that out options are still good as a partner and sub-supplier of leading IT companies, but it also implies positive opportunities in direct business with the end client in cases where the contracts are clearly limited to the services InfoCare provides.
For several years, the market has been characterised by a downward pressure on prices, and cost reduction over time is often included as a central element in new contracts. Another consequence of this downward pressure is that an increasing number of suppliers secure contracts by way of online auctions where a low price is the strongest criterion “to win”. Herein lies our opportunity to handle this pressure on prices through a continuous streamlining of our own activities, partly by embracing new technologies, but also by way of engaging in dialogue with our partners through operations meetings, where we together can find opportunities for improving our supplies through changing our processes and procedures.
Twenty years of continuous expansion by integrating new and competent enterprises within many different industries has provided us with an unsurpassed broad range of experiences. We understand the challenges facing our clients, and we are quick to develop and adjust to our own delivery process, which gives us the chance to offer up-to-date and standardised services that can easily be adapted to fit the specific demands and needs of each client.
Our many authorisations, primarily for servicing hardware, puts us in a unique position in comparison to our competitors in terms of warranty service assignments, but we have experienced strong and broad competition, primarily due to price, in many other areas. The recruitment agencies has enjoyed great success in recent years in terms of support services with few or no requirements to infrastructure, logistics solutions, service systems, and industry knowledge, where they have been able to compete with very low prices. In this regard, the merger and our improved forms of delivery provide us with a much better opportunity to compete on similar terms in the future.
Within the outsourcing segment there is also a clear trend that the reasons for outsourcing are shifting, from pure cost efficiency to actual efficiency, which benefits us. We are also able to draw on our day-to-day experiences, our flexible range of services in combination with a superior infrastructure, and all our different models of delivery to find smart solutions that offers clients the best possible price/performance for their service and support needs.
BRIEF INFORMATION ABOUT OUR SERVICES
InfoCare’s complete independence, along with all of our authorisations and certificates for virtually all brands on the market, is a solid foundation for all of our contracts and individual services.
We carry out installations and provide service and support for IT hardware and software on-site on client premises, with predefined and guaranteed terms of response and completion. Our services are available all day, every day. Our technicians possess comprehensive knowledge and skill, further strengthened and documented by certificates for both hardware and software.
Our support services include maintenance, support, and proactive service with a wide range of service options, where the client selects the appropriate term of response and completion, and the scope of spare parts management. This selection may include comprehensive function plans or a prepaid hours arrangement, where the client prepays for a number of hours, which later may be used whenever needed and according to the clients wishes. Even this plan can include predefined terms of response and completion.
Our installations and Roll Out projects include both individual installations, such as project management, and comprehensive roll out management for large and national projects. Here, the client has a wide range of options to choose from, so that the execution matches the scope and geographical distribution of the installation. Examples are logistics and delivery services, pre-configuration, installation planning, removal of packing material, retrieval of outdated equipment or environmental scrapping, etc.
IMAC services include most services found in the entire life cycle of a product, including the services described in connection with roll out projects. Service packages may also be part of the solution, where our technician installs the equipment, connects it to the network, provides a brief introduction and user instruction, and, if relevant, handles planning, transport, and reinstallation of equipment, if the company were to move, for example.
Network and security services include LAN and WAN networks and servers. We offer installation of firewalls, conduct virus checks, backup procedures and other services that contribute to a secure IT environment. Erasing hard drives, destruction services or retrieval and restoration services are also key security services within a highly functional infrastructure.
