Rethinking managed services: transforming operations for the future

Explore how managed services, powered by AI, can transform operations and drive strategic growth in today’s competitive landscape.

In brief

• Managed services is evolving from handling routine tasks to becoming a strategic ecosystem partner driving operational transformation through AI integration.
• Organizations can unlock value by shifting legacy business functions into strategic capabilities.
• A comprehensive approach to managed services fosters accountability and innovation, enabling organizations to achieve their transformation goals effectively.

As the pressures of competition and market forces create a drive for new efficiencies, organizations are realizing traditional models of operation may no longer be enough. Some are embracing both a new perspective and emerging technologies to reimagine a transformed and more innovative approach to growth. Managed services, once a method solely for managing operations, is now, with integrated artificial intelligence (AI), fast becoming a sophisticated tool for modern transformation and unlocking new value. For leaders re-examining their value creation strategies, here are six new ways to rethink managed services and drive true operational transformation.

1. Apply AI for insights and high-value function execution

AI is no longer optional, it’s foundational. Organizations should look to AI for more than operational efficiencies, embedding AI and generative AI (GenAI) across service chains as advanced, integrated, system-wide tools that will enable data insights and high-value function execution.

The trusted integration of AI into high-value functional areas allows organizations to analyze vast amounts of data quickly and accurately to uncover hidden patterns, trends and anomalies within their data. And this data-driven approach enables informed decision-making that can aid shifts in strategy and real-time agility for the changes needed to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Companies can then harness and operationalize these insights to optimize workflows and enhance overall performance. By adopting an AI-first approach, it’s possible to turn operational data into a living intelligence layer that fuels continuous improvement and proactive service delivery across the organization.

2. Leverage insights to unlock trapped value

Once organizations have gained valuable and actionable insights from their operational data, the next step is to leverage those findings to unlock trapped benefits. This begins with identifying inefficiencies, redundancies and areas for improvement within existing processes. Sectors within tax, finance, supply chain, regulatory and compliance are high-value target areas to reduce costs and enhance profitability. Unlocking trapped benefits not only improves the bottom line but also fosters a culture of continuous improvement. This data-driven value realization also helps to create business case alignment with leadership to further reinvest and drive agile experimentation.

3. Build a resilient ops stack

Organizations looking at optimizing managed services must embrace modern engineering practices that include:

• Site reliability engineering (SRE): The alignment of software engineering and IT systems to enhance the reliability, availability and performance of financial systems. This can help improve service uptime, self-healing and toil reduction in organizations.
• Platform operations: A set of practices and methodologies that facilitates the maintenance of a reliable and scalable platform for application delivery. This creates a self-service environment for internal developers to deploy and operate cloud infrastructures effectively.
• Development security operations (DevSecOps): A framework that integrates security into every phase of the software development cycle. This allows organizations to accelerate secure software deployments.

This “ops stack” is now becoming the new, essential foundation for agility, automation and resilience across IT, finance, customer service and other business functions.

4. Reimagine GCCs and shared services as innovation hubs

Global capability centers (GCCs), once hubs for scale, are now pivotal for transformation. Instead of lifting and shifting legacy processes, companies must replatform GCCs as digital operating backbones that:

• Deliver productized, AI-powered services
• Host pods of domain, data and tech talent
• Operate on cloud-native platforms with FinOps and GenAI embedded

Doing this transforms GCCs from back-office engines into value-creating innovation centers.

5. Move beyond traditional managed services

Legacy managed services treats operations as a function. The future sees operations as a product — with its own outcomes, roadmap and embedded teams.

The final way to rethink managed services is to leave traditional models behind and envision the future of critical functions such as finance, risk, supply chain and technology. This requires a shift in mindset, embracing a more holistic approach that integrates advanced technologies and innovative practices. By reimagining these functions, organizations can enhance agility, responsiveness and strategic alignment, positioning themselves for long-term success in an increasingly competitive environment. Modern service delivery must pivot to:

• Cross-functional squads aligned to domains
• Outcome-based service-level agreements (SLAs), not just traditional ticket metrics
• Continuous deployment and platform-driven service delivery

6. View managed services as a strategic mandate

In conclusion, rethinking managed services presents a significant opportunity for organizations to transform their operations. The shift from “run the business” to “reimagine how we run the business” is not just a technical change, it’s a cultural one. Organizations that embrace this pivot can put changes into place that help to gain:

• Improved run-rate efficiency
• Faster digital cycle times
• Higher stakeholder satisfaction
• Better resilience and agility