The only way you survive is you continuously transform into something else. It’s this idea of continuous transformation that makes you an innovation company. – Ginni Rometty (Chairman, President, and CEO of IBM)
In today’s dynamic markets, businesses are in a constant state of change to meet the growing demand for innovative products and services. Business heads are increasing pressure on CIOs to deliver service-oriented IT teams which have the potential to create true business value. By contributing towards valuable and critical business projects, the IT operations center can be a business differentiator. However, the importance of the IT operations Center is often overlooked due to its perception as a problem fixer rather than a business enabler. There is no such thing as an overnight change in perception.
When the IT operations center is not aligned with business objectives, it results in a widening gap between them and the business. This gap can be sealed by taking specific strategic steps to bring the IT Operations team from the backroom to the boardroom. Businesses need to look out for the Warning Signs that led to the change in perception and understand the imminent need to transform their IT operations to stay relevant in the dynamic and competitive markets that they serve.
The four warning signs to look for in your existing IT operations
- Always in the firefighting mode: Is your IT operations center spending more time on administrative tasks that “keep the lights on”? Most of the times, service problems are first detected by users. When the IT teams are involved in a reactionary and firefighting approach to solving problems, they lose credibility. IT operations teams should be sufficiently equipped to find problems even before the users notice them and analyze the root causes to stop them from occurring in the future.
- Not a service provider: Are the different components of your IT Operations working in silos and do not contribute towards providing end-to-end IT services? Your existing systems, processes, and skills cannot keep pace with the constant demand for new services. The changing business needs require IT teams to evolve their systems, operations, and skills to support business processes using a services-oriented approach. When the IT operations center has access to a 360-degree view of all the components, it can truly become a service-oriented unit.
- Does not support technology innovations: Is your IT operations center using more resources to find and fix problems? Enterprises are continually dedicating more than 50 percent of their IT resources to troubleshooting problems. When staff from all levels (Level 1, 2 and 3) are involved in resolving issues, there will be no time left to support technology innovations. The ideal scenario is one where the Level 1 staff focuses on solving more problems themselves and diverts the Level 2 and 3 staff to contribute towards business critical projects.
- Does not have a seat at the management table: Is the IT Operations Center disconnected from conversations about the business? When the IT team functions as an isolated entity, they cannot fully integrate or align their services with the business operations. By being connected to the conversations about the business, IT teams can have a say in which investments will improve their services to the business. With a service-oriented model, IT is directly engaged in business value. They can help manage the applications, infrastructure and security while collecting and analyzing the data that facilitates ongoing transformation and growth.
Initiatives that drive this transformation
Modernize – Modernize your IT operations center to realize tangible results. To begin, define the target state for your IT architectures, decide which elements (systems, people, and processes) of the IT landscape need to change, and lastly determine the sequence and scope of change.
Automate – Automate your IT service delivery to reduce manual processes and complexity, and drastically cut costs. With a natively integrated solution, you can automate the delivery and ongoing management of infrastructure and applications.
Transform – Transform your IT operation center to optimize IT services and accelerate innovation with agility. With the right partner and approach, which combines the use of tried and tested procedures, powerful methodologies and tools, and experienced change professionals with a strategic plan, businesses can achieve a successful transformation.
What does the business stand to gain from an IT operations transformation?
The business earns an optimized IT operating model that focuses on a service-oriented approach to delivering end-to-end IT services. In doing so, the business also reaps the benefit of accelerated innovation through a combination of mature, disciplined and agile IT processes.
The IT operations center can truly become a business differentiator by offering cutting-edge services and products, and we listed a few examples below.
- Provide continuous support to the business with innovative services.
- Modernize operations to deliver services such as bring-your-own-device (BYOD).
- Ready to deploy new technologies and infrastructure (cloud platforms)
- Use new and legacy systems optimally.
Read our whitepaper to know how you can manage the chaos with an IT operations transformation using managed services.
About NetEnrich
NetEnrich’s services for IT Operations ensure that these services meet the reliability and quality demands of end-users, through 24×7 monitoring and proactive management of every component in their infrastructure. A partnership with NetEnrich helps simplify, control and optimize existing and new technological frameworks. We leverage our expertise, as well as the advanced tools and methodologies to ensure zero network outages and business continuity for partners and clients.
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