Logicalis: The partner for helping with today’s problems and providing solutions for the future  

In February 2022 TBR spoke with Logicalis Group Chief Operating Officer Michael Chanter and Chief Technology Officer Toby Alock for an update on the company’s strategy as well as an overview of the company’s new Global Services Organization (GSO), including its solutions portfolio and road map. The conversation, which contained specific details on strategy, was a continuation of the journey Logicalis embarked on nearly two years ago when it appointed Bob Bailkoski as CEO.  

In TBR’s special report Know-your-tech strategy could be invaluable as Logicalis aims to disrupt peers in cloud managed services, we wrote, “Logicalis’ efforts to optimize its legacy operations while doubling down on key growth areas such as cloud will largely depend on the company’s ability to develop integrated scale to ensure standardized service delivery.” The launch of Logicalis’ GSO highlighted these efforts and marked a new stage in the company’s ability to deploy practical solutions that build a foundation of trust with partners, employees and clients.  

Transforming into a modern managed services provider  

Logicalis Group’s executives understand the need to develop an ever-evolving strategy that allows the company to stay abreast of market trends. Pivoting from historically employing a regional focus to now building outcome-based solutions that are global in nature paves the way for Logicalis to build scale. Ensuring internal organizational silos are removed will be key, as clients expect vendors to deliver services locally through globally integrated operations.  

At the same time, Logicalis realizes the importance of nurturing local relationships, ensuring its consultants and professional services organization continue to operate as close to the customer as possible. Developing a “modern managed services organization,” as Chanter describes the company’s transformation, is not an easy task, especially when executed at scale.  

Accounting for the permeation of automation to drive efficiency and fine-tuning operations and business models to facilitate cloud-enabled sales, service delivery and support are among the key pillars of GSO. Continuing to provide existing clients with support also enables GSO to secure foundational revenues and maintain relevance, as often clients take time to move to the next phase of their digital transformation (DT) programs.  

When TBR asked about the change management that typically comes with such evolution, especially due to the increased use of automation in service delivery, Chanter provided a strong use case for how the company is handling it. Starting with the appointment of an executive dedicated to overseeing transformation, the main focus then has been teaching staff how to be agile while also considering new compensation models in connection with cloud-enabled service delivery.  

Providing support to external clients has been enabled by a three-part framework: Align, Transform, Scale. Logicalis first assesses where clients are in their DT journey compared to their desired outcome. The company then maps out the kind of support it can provide at different points in the journey, relying on its professional services organization to feed regional market nuances. With sales teams trained and certified before going to market, Logicalis also tries to align and close the feedback loop with staff at the Centers of Excellence (CoEs), which are typically responsible for the development and management of global solutions.  

As Logicalis Group aims to increase its share of the managed services market, we believe the company will continue to work toward striking the right balance between developing automation-enabled services P&L and achieving integrated scale. Previously, TBR wrote, “Logicalis has begun to identify areas across geos, industry verticals and horizontal areas that can support its goal of expanding share of highly profitable ‘as a Service’ managed service sales, which currently garner about 25% of its global revenues. … As Logicalis works out the details around managing its partner ecosystem, Bailkoski and [Chief Customer Experience and Service Transformation Officer Vincent] DeLuca are also increasing the company’s investments in internal portfolio offerings that will not simply standardize global service delivery but also pave the way for an innovative approach to engaging with clients. Launched in June, we believe Logicalis’ AI-enabled Digital Service Platform (DSP) will be the center node of Logicalis’ solutions and services ecosystem, similar to how iTunes has helped Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) build a community of die-hard brand followers.”  

Logicalis is on the right path to achieving its managed services goals, but like many of its peers, it needs to partner better and differently than it has in the past, especially as buyer expectations around managing partner ecosystems also evolve. Meanwhile, expanding its global footprint, similar to opening an engineering center in Portugal to house about 200 employees in support of the Agile, Transform, Scale framework, will continue to bolster Logicalis’ resource bench for building and delivering solutions at scale as clients seek support around migrating and transforming operations. Chanter noted that the new Portugal facility will “help transform clients quickly and help Logicalis transform.” TBR notes this dual-track approach has proved successful for other IT services vendors undergoing their own digital transformations.