In response to evolving market trends and the growing demand for more efficient, data-driven operations, I recognized the need for the Company’s Managed Services organization to shift from being solely a “people business,” reliant heavily on manpower, to a “people and data business.” This transformation is essential to drive operational efficiencies, enhance service maturity, and accelerate business outcomes. By integrating data into our service model, we can optimize resources, improve decision-making, and proactively address client needs. This strategic shift not only enables us to respond to increasing client expectations but also positions the Company to remain competitive in an industry that is rapidly embracing automation and data-driven insights. My ability to anticipate these market shifts and lead the Managed Services organization towards this crucial evolution highlights my commitment to both operational excellence and future-proofing our business model for sustainable growth.

The Project

The Managed Services Observability Project aims to enhance the observability capabilities of the Company’s managed services by assessing, integrating, and potentially migrating to more advanced tools like Elastic. The project is driven by several objectives, including reducing operational costs, improving service efficiency, and exploring additional revenue streams through enhanced monitoring functionalities. The project is centered on evaluating the capabilities of the current observability tool, LogicMonitor (LM), against Elastic, which has demonstrated superior features in the company’s scoring exercises.

Project Overview and Objectives

The primary goal is to evaluate the functionality of LogicMonitor in comparison with Elastic to enhance client operations and reduce operational costs. The Company aims to improve the Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR), minimize noise errors, and maximize proactive and reactive issue resolution. Additionally, the project looks to capitalize on emerging opportunities by ensuring that the chosen platform can handle new functions, clients, and platforms. The key outcome is to either adopt a more capable observability tool (Elastic) or enhance the existing one (LogicMonitor) to increase operational efficiency and unlock new revenue opportunities.

Financial Impact and Cost-Saving Opportunities

One of the key drivers of this project is cost reduction. Elastic is projected to save the Company approximately $500,000 annually, even with its increased functionality. However, these savings will not be fully realized until the existing LogicMonitor contract expires in June 2025. The financial strategy includes reducing LogicMonitor pricing and gradually migrating clients to Elastic. By keeping LogicMonitor’s device count capped at 45,000 and allowing attrition to occur naturally over the contract term, the Company can contain costs while gradually shifting new clients to Elastic.

Migration Strategy

The migration from LogicMonitor to Elastic will follow an agile, sprint-based approach, starting in Q3 2024 and expected to conclude by mid-2025. Approximately 70 clients will be migrated over 12 months, with 6-8 clients transitioned per month. The project will prioritize clients already using Elastic for security, which allows for a smoother transition.

Timeline and Key Phases

The project will kick off with a ServiceNow integration in early 2024, followed by operations training and Elastic dashboard creation. Full migrations will begin in Q3 2024, with the goal of completing all transitions by Q2 2025, aligning with the expiration of the LogicMonitor contract. The project also accounts for re-architecting decisions by early 2024, where the Company will choose whether to fully transition to Elastic, enhance LogicMonitor, or use a hybrid approach.

Vendor Comparison

Elastic has been identified as the superior platform for observability, outperforming LogicMonitor in both pricing and feature set. Elastic also provides application-level monitoring and more robust dashboards, which are expected to reduce MTTR and provide operational efficiencies. The project will include a detailed cost-benefit analysis to compare the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI) for both platforms, factoring in historical data from LogicMonitor’s billing and projected Elastic costs.

Desired Outcomes

The desired outcomes include a more cost-effective and scalable observability solution, reduced labor costs through predictive alerting and faster problem resolution, and a seamless integration with other tools like ServiceNow. Additionally, the Company aims to position itself as a forward-thinking leader in the market by adopting AI-based analytics and sustainability metrics, opening new revenue streams and aligning with clients’ digital transformation needs.

The Managed Services Observability Project is a strategic initiative designed to future-proof the Company’s observability services while delivering significant cost savings and operational improvements through a phased migration to Elastic.