Managed services providers may be in for a bit of a ride as budgets are cut and companies sit on what little funding they have. This month, Brainstorm asked if managed services are recession-proof or just another service to be cut. The answers varied.

❒ Unfortunately, nothing is recession proof. The question that must be asked is whether cutting back on managed services will result in savings, or unforeseen costs. The logic that applied when opting for managed services in boom times – lower TCO, predictable monthly expenses, access to scarce skilled resources – doesn’t change because times are tight. On the contrary, the argument for managed services might be even more logical during a recession. At the end of the day, managed services is a tool to be used to help the enablement of business strategy. If the strategy has changed, this might mean that it’s time to re-evaluate the tools being used, which may mean opting to start using managed services or moving away from it. But if it hasn’t changed, then the same pre-recession fundamentals should apply. Yossi Hasson, CEO, Synaq Limited