As corporate networks become more complex, IT departments need to evolve from managing equipment to managing services. This requires monitoring service delivery from an end-to-end perspective and finding ways to anticipate problems before they happen.
Emerging systems tools and techniques that facilitate greater automation and rapid problem isolation are moving into the mainstream to address these requirements.
Systems to service – why now?
Systems management in its traditional guise focuses chiefly on ensuring that components of the IT infrastructure estate are functioning and available. However, Brent Flint, services executive: Dimension Data Middle East and Africa, believes that many strands of the evolution of IT are ushering organisations towards a “service” rather than a “systems” focus.
This is due to the fact that the typical IT environment is becoming increasingly complex, and therefore also complex to manage. Not only are technologies and delivery models proliferating, they’re also driving change in business and sourcing models.
Users are way beyond multi-sourcing now. The outsourcing landscape for any given organisation today could include the in-house retention of core IT services, outsourcing of non-core services to specialists in those services, and the use of cloud providers to deliver yet other services that may be standardised but difficult or unappealing for the organisation to deliver internally.
At the same time, technologies themselves are becoming increasingly integrated and interdependent. If, for instance, users are updating their telephony systems through a multi-year, phased approach, elements of the old and the new still need to co-exist and deliver a service in the interim. Users are only concerned about being able to communicate effectively, not with what is happening in the technical back-end.
Against this mounting complexity, the co-ordination and integration of the various services and their provisioning needs to be assured. So, service management becomes a crucial discipline in the outsourcing mix.
The tools are maturing
The level of complexity being introduced to the outsourcing landscape and the impact that complexity has on operations management make it essential to have tools to coherently monitor, measure, and manage the full variety of components.
Driven largely by buyer interest and demand, more sophisticated systems management automation tools are emerging that address the levels of service delivered by technology, and not just whether that technology is switched on and operative.
Today, systems management is no longer about managing a few suppliers. It’s about managing an entire operational environment and, importantly, the service levels associated with the discrete elements thereof. Vendors are honing and augmenting their tools on an on-going basis to help make this a reality and enable ever greater levels of automation.
Today’s more advanced tools are being designed with enterprise mobility top of mind. They have the flexibility and integration capabilities to ensure users have access to their applications and data, based on the way they work and the various devices they use, which today includes an array of tablet devices and smartphones.
Applications, or indeed complete desktops, need to be delivered irrespective of the type of device the end-user accesses. This calls for management technologies that support both virtual environments and physical assets.
Advancements in the systems management domain may be grouped into two key areas: operations management and configuration management of the underlying infrastructure.
From an operations management perspective, new capabilities enable systems management data to be quickly and intelligently collected and analysed. Appropriate actions may then be taken to proactively prevent or rapidly resolve incidents thereby optimising the overall accessibility of the service − and the satisfaction of end-users.
“These tools help meet performance and availability service level objectives and measure whether the agreed service level agreements are indeed being met,” says Flint.
“This also helps transcend the silos that may exist between IT functions which oftentimes impede the resolution of incidents in a timely manner, due to the cause, location and / or responsibility associated with the problem being unclear. Ultimately, they allow IT teams to look at service-level monitoring and incident management from a more holistic and proactive standpoint.”
In terms of configuration management, automation and orchestration, capabilities inherent in the latest tools are able to integrate and streamline processes, which reduce human effort and the associated potential for error.
This, in turn, leads to swift and more accurate service delivery, a reduced staff requirement and lower operating costs. As an example, new systems tools have a highly flexible delivery mechanism that allows customised desktops to be automatically provisioned efficiently, effectively and consistently, and can facilitate the on-going management of a desktop workspace, whether it is on premise or in the cloud.
This includes delivering patches and security updates, adding and removing software, and reporting on the status of the desktop in terms of what’s installed for a particular user, what isn’t and what should be.
Such tools also enable businesses to become more agile. Given the heterogeneous nature of the typical IT estate, the question of the interoperability of this new breed of systems management tools inevitably arises.
In a significant break from traditionally fierce protection of market share, many vendors are designing their products not only to operate within physical, virtual and hybrid environments, but also to interoperate with those of their competitors’ products. Citrix, for example, supports Microsoft’s application virtualisation capabilities. Microsoft will manage Android and Blackberry applications.
Entrenching standards – the final step
To complete the move from pure functionality to a more holistic management capability, the new generation of systems management tools has good practice standards, such as Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), embedded in the software.
“Mature organisations do embrace ITIL and similar frameworks, but some organisations find it a challenge to translate the theory of ITIL into practical tools and systems,” says Flint. “By contrast, if the tools and systems can implement ITIL for you, you have a far better chance of making best practice a practical reality within your operations.”
Embedded ITIL also helps ensure that service providers manage the services and outcomes they provide to their clients in an optimised way. The organisation is, therefore, no longer dependent on the individualised capability of its service providers and service managers.
It can rest assured not only that its technology, whether it be insourced or outsourced, will work to good practice frameworks, but also that the services delivered by that technology will achieve these standards.
Part of the evolution
Innovation and advancements in the systems management domain are being fuelled by, and are reflective of, the on-going evolution in the relationship between the in-house IT department, its service providers and business users, and the complexity of the technology environments in which they operate.
Ultimately, in order to provide users with the end-to-end service they expect, irrespective of whether the IT department provides it in-house and on premise or in a private cloud, outsources the function to a service provider or moves to a public cloud, those whose responsibility the delivery of the service it is are increasingly recognising the wisdom of harnessing the potential inherent next generation systems management tools.
The message is clear: simplify, automate and streamline what takes place in the back-end and, in doing so, move from piecemeal systems administration to seamless service delivery.
Systems to service – why now?
Systems management in its traditional guise focuses chiefly on ensuring that components of the IT infrastructure estate are functioning and available. However, Brent Flint, services executive: Dimension Data Middle East and Africa, believes that many strands of the evolution of IT are ushering organisations towards a “service” rather than a “systems” focus.
This is due to the fact that the typical IT environment is becoming increasingly complex, and therefore also complex to manage. Not only are technologies and delivery models proliferating, they’re also driving change in business and sourcing models.
Users are way beyond multi-sourcing now. The outsourcing landscape for any given organisation today could include the in-house retention of core IT services, outsourcing of non-core services to specialists in those services, and the use of cloud providers to deliver yet other services that may be standardised but difficult or unappealing for the organisation to deliver internally.
At the same time, technologies themselves are becoming increasingly integrated and interdependent. If, for instance, users are updating their telephony systems through a multi-year, phased approach, elements of the old and the new still need to co-exist and deliver a service in the interim. Users are only concerned about being able to communicate effectively, not with what is happening in the technical back-end.
Against this mounting complexity, the co-ordination and integration of the various services and their provisioning needs to be assured. So, service management becomes a crucial discipline in the outsourcing mix.
The tools are maturing
The level of complexity being introduced to the outsourcing landscape and the impact that complexity has on operations management make it essential to have tools to coherently monitor, measure, and manage the full variety of components.
Driven largely by buyer interest and demand, more sophisticated systems management automation tools are emerging that address the levels of service delivered by technology, and not just whether that technology is switched on and operative.
Today, systems management is no longer about managing a few suppliers. It’s about managing an entire operational environment and, importantly, the service levels associated with the discrete elements thereof. Vendors are honing and augmenting their tools on an on-going basis to help make this a reality and enable ever greater levels of automation.
Today’s more advanced tools are being designed with enterprise mobility top of mind. They have the flexibility and integration capabilities to ensure users have access to their applications and data, based on the way they work and the various devices they use, which today includes an array of tablet devices and smartphones.
Applications, or indeed complete desktops, need to be delivered irrespective of the type of device the end-user accesses. This calls for management technologies that support both virtual environments and physical assets.
Advancements in the systems management domain may be grouped into two key areas: operations management and configuration management of the underlying infrastructure.
From an operations management perspective, new capabilities enable systems management data to be quickly and intelligently collected and analysed. Appropriate actions may then be taken to proactively prevent or rapidly resolve incidents thereby optimising the overall accessibility of the service − and the satisfaction of end-users.
“These tools help meet performance and availability service level objectives and measure whether the agreed service level agreements are indeed being met,” says Flint.
“This also helps transcend the silos that may exist between IT functions which oftentimes impede the resolution of incidents in a timely manner, due to the cause, location and / or responsibility associated with the problem being unclear. Ultimately, they allow IT teams to look at service-level monitoring and incident management from a more holistic and proactive standpoint.”
In terms of configuration management, automation and orchestration, capabilities inherent in the latest tools are able to integrate and streamline processes, which reduce human effort and the associated potential for error.
This, in turn, leads to swift and more accurate service delivery, a reduced staff requirement and lower operating costs. As an example, new systems tools have a highly flexible delivery mechanism that allows customised desktops to be automatically provisioned efficiently, effectively and consistently, and can facilitate the on-going management of a desktop workspace, whether it is on premise or in the cloud.
This includes delivering patches and security updates, adding and removing software, and reporting on the status of the desktop in terms of what’s installed for a particular user, what isn’t and what should be.
Such tools also enable businesses to become more agile. Given the heterogeneous nature of the typical IT estate, the question of the interoperability of this new breed of systems management tools inevitably arises.
In a significant break from traditionally fierce protection of market share, many vendors are designing their products not only to operate within physical, virtual and hybrid environments, but also to interoperate with those of their competitors’ products. Citrix, for example, supports Microsoft’s application virtualisation capabilities. Microsoft will manage Android and Blackberry applications.
Entrenching standards – the final step
To complete the move from pure functionality to a more holistic management capability, the new generation of systems management tools has good practice standards, such as Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), embedded in the software.
“Mature organisations do embrace ITIL and similar frameworks, but some organisations find it a challenge to translate the theory of ITIL into practical tools and systems,” says Flint. “By contrast, if the tools and systems can implement ITIL for you, you have a far better chance of making best practice a practical reality within your operations.”
Embedded ITIL also helps ensure that service providers manage the services and outcomes they provide to their clients in an optimised way. The organisation is, therefore, no longer dependent on the individualised capability of its service providers and service managers.
It can rest assured not only that its technology, whether it be insourced or outsourced, will work to good practice frameworks, but also that the services delivered by that technology will achieve these standards.
Part of the evolution
Innovation and advancements in the systems management domain are being fuelled by, and are reflective of, the on-going evolution in the relationship between the in-house IT department, its service providers and business users, and the complexity of the technology environments in which they operate.
Ultimately, in order to provide users with the end-to-end service they expect, irrespective of whether the IT department provides it in-house and on premise or in a private cloud, outsources the function to a service provider or moves to a public cloud, those whose responsibility the delivery of the service it is are increasingly recognising the wisdom of harnessing the potential inherent next generation systems management tools.
The message is clear: simplify, automate and streamline what takes place in the back-end and, in doing so, move from piecemeal systems administration to seamless service delivery.