Application Management Services (AMS) involve outsourcing the management and support of applications to third-party providers, allowing organizations to focus on their core business functions. The blog outlines AMS types, processes, advantages, and criteria for selecting an AMS provider, emphasizing cost savings, improved efficiency, and risk mitigation. It details essential management tasks including maintenance, enhancement, infrastructure management, testing, and helpdesk support, while ensuring compliance and business continuity.

1. What Is AMS? How To Choose
an AMS Provider
Application Management Services (AMS) refers to the process of outsourcing various aspects of
application management and support to a third-party service provider. This blog explains what
AMS is, the different types of AMS, the AMS process, the benefits of outsourcing application
management, and how to choose the right AMS provider.
Application Management Services (AMS) refers to the process of outsourcing various aspects of
application management and support to a third-party service provider. AMS providers take
responsibility for managing applications throughout their lifecycle from development to
maintenance and support. This allows organizations to focus on their core business while benefiting
from the expertise, scalability, and cost efficiencies of AMS providers. This blog explains what AMS is,
the different types of AMS, the AMS process, the benefits of outsourcing application management,
and how to choose the right AMS provider.

2. What is AMS?
Application Management Services (AMS) refers to managing application activities throughout the
various phases of application lifecycle management. It typically includes planning, analysis, design,
development, testing, deployment, and application maintenance. An Application Management
Services provider assumes partial or complete responsibility for the maintenance, support, and
evolution of a customer's custom or packaged applications.
The AMS provider also executes tasks like application maintenance, application enhancement,
application modification, batch cycle monitoring, application troubleshooting, and more. This also
helps the customer organization focus on its core competencies by outsourcing the management of
its non-core applications to AMS providers.
AMS providers can leverage economies of scale in tools, technologies, and manpower to optimally
manage the outsourced applications. In essence, Application Management Services involve
leveraging the expertise of specialized professionals at an external service provider during the
different stages of the application lifecycle. It also helps to optimize application performance, cost,
and efficiency.
Types of AMS:-
There are several main types of Application Management Services:

3. Application Maintenance and Support:-
Application Maintenance and Support is the most common type of Application Management
Services provided by AMS vendors. It includes activities that ensure applications run smoothly and
meet the business and user requirements over time. Application Support encompasses tasks like
fixing bugs, making minor modifications, monitoring batch jobs, troubleshooting issues, answering
user queries, and providing workarounds. The aim is to keep applications running optimally with
minimum downtime. An AMS provider takes over responsibility for performing these routine
maintenance and support tasks, allowing the in-house team to focus on strategic initiatives.
Application Enhancement:-
Application Enhancement refers to improving existing applications based on changing business
needs. An AMS provider can take on the job of enhancing applications so that the in-house IT team
can focus on other priorities. Application enhancement involves activities like modifying reports and
dashboards, adding new fields and data elements, upgrading database versions, integrating with
other systems, redesigning interfaces, and improving performance. The goal is to make applications
more efficient, user-friendly, and able to support business growth.
Application enhancement can range from minor tweaks to major overhauls and upgrades. By
outsourcing application enhancement to an AMS vendor, organizations can also access specialized
skills, leverage process frameworks, and benefit from fast turnaround times.
Application Development:-
Outsourcing the entire development of custom or packaged applications to an AMS vendor is known
as Application Development. The AMS provider takes on responsibility for designing, developing,
testing, and deploying new applications as per the client's requirements. This also allows the client's
IT team to focus on other tasks while leveraging the experience, skills, and tools of the AMS provider.
Benefits of outsourcing application development include access to a larger pool of developers, cost
savings due to economies of scale, adherence to industry best practices and process frameworks,
and faster time to market. The AMS provider follows a structured development life cycle covering

4. phases like requirement gathering, architecture design, development, testing, deployment, and
maintenance.
Infrastructure Management:-
Infrastructure Management refers to outsourcing the maintenance and management of underlying
application infrastructure to an AMS provider. This includes platforms like application servers,
databases, middleware, web servers, and other components that support applications. An AMS
vendor takes on the responsibilities of monitoring, patching, backup, performance tuning, and
security of the infrastructure.
By outsourcing infrastructure management, organizations can benefit from the expertise of
administrators specialized in specific infrastructure components. The AMS provider implements best
practices and automation to optimize infrastructure performance, availability, and cost. Outsourcing
infrastructure management also allows the in-house team to focus on higher-value activities. It is
done while ensuring applications run smoothly on a stable and secure infrastructure.
Application Testing:-
Application Testing as part of Application Management Services involves outsourcing the testing of
applications to an AMS provider. The AMS vendor deploys testers who have specialized skills and
tools to perform different types of testing like functional testing, security testing, performance
testing, regression testing, and integration testing. The tests ensure that applications work as
expected, meet business requirements, and are secure, stable, and scalable. By outsourcing
application testing, organizations can reduce the time spent on testing, gain access to advanced
testing techniques and technologies, and improve overall test coverage.
An AMS provider follows a well-defined testing methodology and maintains test plans, cases, scripts,
data, and environments. The in-house team focuses on development while the AMS vendor
manages all testing requirements to validate the quality of applications.

5. Helpdesk Support:-
Helpdesk Support is a common Application Management Service where an AMS provider takes over
the first and second-level support for end users of an organization's applications. The AMS vendor
deploys and manages a team of support agents who handle user queries, complaints, and issue
reports related to applications. Support agents investigate problems, resolve basic issues, provide
workarounds, and escalate complex issues to the client's internal team.
Organizations benefit from lower support costs due to economies of scale, round-the-clock support
coverage, and faster issue resolution. The AMS provider typically uses tools like ticketing systems,
knowledge bases, and workflow automation to improve the efficiency of application support.
Outsourcing helpdesk support allows the in-house team to focus on strategic tasks while end users
get timely resolution of issues from the AMS vendor's support team.
Deployment Management:-
Deployment Management involves outsourcing the rollout of new or updated applications to an
AMS provider. The Application Management Services vendor handles all stages of the deployment
process from planning to post-implementation support. This includes conducting impact analyses,
creating deployment blueprints, scheduling rollouts in staged environments, regression testing after
deployment, change management communication, and training end users.
With the help of outsourcing deployment management, organizations can minimize deployment
risks and downtime through the experience and expertise of the AMS provider. The AMS vendor
follows best practices and uses automation tools to streamline the deployment process. They also
maintain deployment standards and procedures. Outsourcing deployment management allows the
internal IT team to focus on development while the AMS provider ensures new applications are
deployed smoothly and with minimum disruption.
Read Also:- Importance Of Application Support and Maintenance for Your Business in 2023
AMS Process:-
The typical Application Management Services process includes the following stages:

6. ● Assessment - The AMS provider conducts an initial assessment of the client's applications,
infrastructure, and requirements. This includes understanding the application landscape,
current issues, performance metrics, support processes, etc.
● Planning - Based on the assessment, the AMS provider develops a plan detailing the
services to be provided, work breakdown structure, timelines, resources, and costs. The
plan is presented to the client for approval.
● Mobilization - Once the plan is approved, the application management services provider
assembles the required team and tools, establishes communication channels, and formally
takes over the management of the client's applications.
● Management - The AMS provider manages the applications on an ongoing basis as per the
agreed plan. This includes activities like maintenance & support, enhancements, testing,
infrastructure management, helpdesk support, etc.
● Monitoring - Key performance metrics like issue resolution time, downtime, response time,
etc. are monitored to ensure Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are met.
● Reporting - Regular reports are submitted to the client detailing work done, issues
encountered, metric performance, upcoming work, etc.
● Optimization - Based on monitoring and feedback, the AMS provider identifies
opportunities to optimize the management of applications to improve efficiency,
performance and reduce costs.
● Governance - Governance processes ensure compliance with the client's security, data
management, and operational policies.
● Review - Periodic reviews are conducted with the client to evaluate performance, verify
alignment with business priorities and identify areas for improvement.

7. Benefits of AMS:-
The main benefits of Application Management Services include:
● Cost Savings - AMS providers can manage applications more efficiently due to economies
of scale, standardization, and automation. This leads to lower overall costs.
● Access to Expertise - Organizations gain access to the expertise of professionals specialized
in managing different types of applications and technologies.
● Improved Efficiency - AMS providers follow proven methodologies and best practices to
optimize the management of applications. This improves performance and efficiency.
● Risk Mitigation - Outsourcing application management tasks reduce risks related to talent
gaps, technology changes, and compliance issues.
● Scalability - AMS providers can scale resources and infrastructure quickly to meet
fluctuations in demand. This provides more flexibility.
● Standardization - AMS providers standardize processes, tools, and documentation which
leads to more managed and repeatable application management.
● Compliance - AMS providers have robust processes and controls in place to ensure
applications are managed in a compliant manner.
● Business Continuity - AMS providers have business continuity plans and disaster recovery
arrangements in place to minimize business impact.
How To Choose an AMS Provider:-
Here are some tips on how to choose the right Application Management Services provider:

8. ● Understand Your Requirements - Make a list of the specific AMS functions you need and
the objectives you want to achieve. This will also help narrow down suitable providers.
● Gather Proposals - Get proposals from multiple potential providers detailing their services,
experience, methodologies, and costs. Compare and evaluate them.
● Check Credentials - Ensure the provider has experience in managing applications similar to
yours. Check client references and case studies.
● Assess Capabilities - Evaluate the provider's tools, technologies, processes, and expertise
to ensure they are suitable for your needs. Consider their resourcing and scalability.
● Evaluate Security and Compliance - Check if the provider has robust security controls and
processes in place to meet your compliance requirements. Ask for certifications.
● Review SLAs - Study the provider's proposed Service Level Agreements in detail to
understand obligations, penalties, and escalation mechanisms.
● Assess Transition Plan - Request the provider's plan for transitioning existing applications
to their management. Evaluate feasibility and risks involved.
● Examine Costs - Compare the all-in costs per application along with any additional costs
and hidden fees. Ask for a detailed cost breakup.
● Check Reviews - Read online reviews and check with other clients of the provider to learn
about their experience and quality of service.
● Sign a Contract - Negotiate and sign a contract that is comprehensive and protects your
interests. The contract should specify the scope of work, SLAs, and terms of termination.
Conclusion
Application Management Services provide organizations with an effective way to optimize the
management of their applications. By outsourcing to an experienced AMS provider, businesses can
reduce costs, improve efficiencies, access specialized expertise and mitigate risks related to
applications. Choosing the right provider based on your requirements is also essential to ensure your

9. objectives are met. Outsourcing application management allows businesses to shift focus to strategic
initiatives that directly impact growth while ensuring applications perform effectively through every
stage of their lifecycle.
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