Ensono has addressed the importance of identity and access management to drive growth in digital government services.
Ensono is a global managed service provider (MSP), serving clients across the private and public sector. It specialises in mainframe to cloud managed services for clients, and mainframe modernisation, with a consulting and advisory practice around hybrid cloud and the transformation of mainframe to cloud for clients. Many of those clients have complex legacy IT environments – such as government – with a mix of code, applications, tools and software.
Paola Doebel, SVP and MD of North America for Ensono spoke with Think Digital Partners last week at Dell Technology World in Las Vegas.
On the digital challenges facing the public sector, Doebel said: “They’re not there to turn a profit or produce a product; they’re there to serve citizens. That’s the primary function. You do that in a variety of ways – one is a simplification and access to services. To do that, you need access to data, you need seamless connectivity between systems applications, and then you need to be really clear who has access to that.”
Ensono also has an identity and access management practice, and Doebel noted how Gartner last month named ‘digital identity ecosystems’ as one of its top 10 government technology trends for 2023.
“If you’re going to create an environment where you have more data across more platforms, and you’re opening up legacy systems to be able to unleash that data, and then leverage those applications seamlessly across those platforms, you have to be really clear around security. That identity and access management is a priority. So we see that all of this unleashing the capability of a legacy system to connect into the system of engagement now yields a whole other set of challenges for those clients: security, compliance, governance, the right workload, right platform. But identity and access management is one of the things on that list for that reason.”
Data skills gap creating a tailwind for MSPs
Doebel also addressed the problems the public sector faces when looking to recruit and retain skilled staff in data roles, as public bodies invest in increasing their data capability.
“One of the things that’s important to us is being able to bring real expertise to our clients. The UK Government has an enormous number of legacy systems. They’ve been buying technology for as long as technology has been around. They have the same problem … how are you going to find the talent you need across just these to just keep the systems alive? And then find the talent you need to do anything transformational? And why would they go work discreetly for an agency in the UK?”
The exec said this is creating a tailwind for MSPs like Ensono that can supply talent to help its clients in the transformation efforts.
“It’s not just around the managed services. It’s around the consulting, advisory, the project – ‘I need just somebody smart in the room to help me see this’ or ‘I need somebody who’s seen this 100 times to come and tell me if what I see is real.’ I do think there’s an opportunity for managed service providers to bring expertise to the table.”
