Versiant
The IT Infrastructure Management All-Rounder

It is a no brainer that the scope of ITInfrastructure Management has broadened and has become multi-faceted, influencing almost every functional area within businesses. “Our mission is to be the glue in trying to simplify the complex IT environments that have been created over time and still meet the basic requirements or challenges of security, compliance, performance, reliability & uptime,” begins Jeff Spalding, CEO of Versiant. In a recent interview with CIOApplications, he shared insights about how the company helps its clients steer through the challenges that arise from ever-increasing IT complexities.

How did the story of Versiant unfold itself?

The IT department at APM Terminals was the cradle where Versiant came into existence. We came into being in the year 2008, and ever since have embarked on the journey of complete transformation from an internal IT department to an externally focused solution provider. Through this journey, we not only changed our operational forte but also diversified our client base to customers in other industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, CPG, and state and local government. As an IT department, we were already into application and infrastructure management. We are adept at managing complex operations 24x7x365 including applications, infrastructure, public and private clouds, networks and analytics while integrating these operations across different platforms seamlessly.

What are some of the trends and challenges you see in the IT landscape today? How is Versiant playing its part in mitigating those?

The ever-evolving technologies and developments in the enterprise world have made business operations even more complex to manage. More businesses are deploying best of breed SaaS applications both in the public cloud and in private clouds, while incorporating newer technologies such as IoT, AI, Analytics and Blockchain. What becomes most difficult is to ensure that the needs of compliance, security, performance, and business continuity are provided for with applications running from different locations, whether on-premise, at a colocation facility and/or in the cloud. In such a scenario, Versiant delivers a more straightforward approach to meeting the needs of its clients. Another game-changer is the people or the skillsets. In the present dynamic and robust economy, it is highly improbable for businesses to hire all the skill sets needed for successful IT management. In that context, we are one of the leading solution providers with IT as our core competency, and we can deliver the necessary infrastructure process, toolsets, skills and analytics for our clients. We also continue to improve our managed services by incorporating new technologies using DevOps principles, Lean-Agile methodologies, automation, and AI to provide better services in a cost-efficient and predictive manner.

Can you exemplify the services and support meted out by Versiant to its clients? What according to you sets Versiant apart from its key competitors?

Versiant’s services can be segregated into several categories.

One such division is professional services, which includes project management that helps our clients manage larger implementations and complex projects. We perform IT audits and assessments to ensure alignment with the business. We then design and architect IT and cloud infrastructure to meet the business needs of the organization. Our execution includes data center and cloud migrations providing a step-by-step guide.

With our managed services portfolio, we offer long-term value to our clientele. Versiant adopts a holistic approach when it comes to managing the IT infrastructure of its clients, ensuring the services are cloud-ready, future-proof, and are designed based on best-of-breed technologies. A unique offering, designed for C-level executives, is called our “CIO-as-a-Service.”This service enables IT strategies to align with business strategies formulated by the C-suite. Another offering is our Business Intelligence as a Service that enables extensive data warehousing and reporting capability to enable insights into the business. We provide our customers with services that align with their corporate objectives, performance KPIs, service level agreements, security, reliability, and resiliency.

What sets us apart from our competitors is our heritage and our in-depth industry experience. We have domain expertise in the Logistics/Supply Chain industry as well as Manufacturing, Healthcare, Financial Services, CPG and Government. We have strong software skills, including offering a software package called the Lynx Customer Service Portal (CSP) that is primarily for the maritime and logistics sphere that helps bring integration between shipping lines and terminal operators. We have a consistent 24/7 service desk to provide full-time support and are compliant to standards of SOC, PCI, HIPAA, and others.

What is Versiant’s client onboarding approach? Who are the typical partners of the company?

Versiant exemplifies its operations by providing big company services with small company speed. Our project implementation team ensures a seamless transition from contract phase to deployment and operational phase using best practices. The company, through team effort, makes sure to conduct business reviews regularly, discuss trends, and provide utmost customer satisfaction and financial performance. What makes Versiant even more capable in its client servicing is the partnerships with various industry behemoths that make the company’s offerings more innovative. We are highly collaborative with enterprises like Navis, Microsoft, CISCO, Dell EMC, VMware, Citrix, and IBM, to name a few.

Could you shed some light on a customer success story that you have had in the past?

One of the successes that have been one of the crown jewels for Versiant is with Lutheran Services of the Carolinas. It is a non-profit ministry that works with the elderly and youngsters alike. They came to us with a brimming hardship of inconsistency and lack of reliability in the IT infrastructure at their multiple locations. We architected their solutions to bring reduced risk, improve their uptime, and reliability, in a cost-effective manner. We have now been working with them for the past eight years, as an extension of their IT department, by providing 24/7 managed services around a virtual desktop, cloud, server virtualization, and network management. We also support their philanthropy causes as a partner.

What does the future hold for Versiant?

Versiant has deep roots technically and a strong reputation for delivery, which has led the company to acquire global clients. Currently, we are focused on strengthening our go-to-market strategy, improving core service offerings, and enhancing our customer experience. Our investments are not only directed towards improving our processes but also in our employees to enhance productivity and satisfaction among our team and to help provide better and more cost-efficient services to our clients. We aim at delivering powerful business outcomes to our clientele while looking at incorporating AI, analytics, and automation into our service offerings. Our vision is a world where we deliver the complexity of IT, so you don’t have to.