CRN Exclusive: CompuCom Rolls Out Network Operations Center Service Tailored To SMBs

CompuCom has unveiled a new service that will put enterprise-grade network monitoring and reporting capabilities in the hands of small and midsized businesses.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based company, No. 23 on the 2014 CRN Solution Provider 500, said it has taken network management services typically consumed at the Fortune 500 level and brought them to every market segment in an affordable and easy-to-consume manner, according to Christopher Opat, senior vice president of CompuCom's cloud technology services.

"We look at SmartNOC as an attractive entry point into a relationship with our customers," Opat told CRN exclusively. "Our goal is to create customer delight by simplifying a set of rather difficult conversations."

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The bulk of assets under CompuCom's management today are in the Fortune 500 space, and Opat said the company has been very successful in delivering IT services to customers at that size and scale. When putting together its SmartNOC bundles, Opat said CompuCom looked at both the most popular services among long-tenured customers as well as services that are commonly requested by new clients.

CompuCom's basic SmartNOC offering will provide conventional, around-the-clock monitoring and incident resolution, Opat said. The enhanced SmartNOC Plus offering will additionally include asset lifecycle management features such as code releases and patch management for operating systems, Opat said. All SmartNOC services will be delivered by full-time CompuCom employees working at NOCs situated on company-owned real estate, Opat said. SMBs had access to NOC services prior to SmartNOC, he said, but many firms struggled to take advantage of it given the complexity and customization surrounding the service offering.

Opat declined to provide specific pricing information for CompuCom's SmartNOC program, but said customers will be charged on a per-device basis. Each asset will fit into a certain product segment, which in turn will be converted into a very defined and predictable cost model.

Given the challenge smaller businesses face with managing their own technology budget, Opat anticipates that most SMB customers would like to partner with an outsourcing provider that can assist with managing the device's lifecycle. Larger customers, however, sometimes have specific or rigid specifications around device management, Opat said. As a result, these clients either offload some commodity monitoring services to CompuCom, Opat said, or work together to accommodate the customer's lifecycle process.

The company has seen strong demand from both customers coming to CompuCom for the first time as well as existing SMB clients working with the company around end-user experience or service experience management, Opat said. He notes that many SMB customers are looking to bundle device management of network assets with managed security so that they can address the connectivity and security of endpoints in one fell swoop.

"When a customer places services with us across multiple business units, we can consistently deliver a more complete and beneficial experience," Opat said. "There's a compelling strategy when you tie together all of the product families within CompuCom."

Although CompuCom has serviced the SMB space previously, Opat said SmartNOC will greatly simplify the conversation with SMB customers. SmartNOC is CompuCom's first highly-bundled and pre-configured offering with the cloud technology services space.