The challenge of cloud transformation: grasping the future of it

The promise of the cloud certainly offers many potential advantages. It can provide greater resource utilization efficiency, save electricity, increase real estate efficiency, and most importantly, it can save a lot of money. However, if an organization's IT infrastructure is not managed through an orderly, best service management approach, migrating to the cloud increases it overhead and can be a headache.

With at least 50 white papers, 10 ads and countless e-mails announcing migration to cloud computing every day, cloud computing will solve all your IT problems. Once everything is virtualized, you don't have to worry about physical devices, the cloud will do everything and manage yourself! Of course, that's not exactly the case. To make matters worse, your organization's bosses or IT infrastructure people will think that cloud can really do everything, and every day impatiently stomp and ask, "has it done?" The voices echoed in the hall during the day and echoed in your mind at night.

Now, what is real

Information technology is no longer a discrete device and is not limited to trained people to use it. Instead, it exists throughout the business, in the factory floor, in the vehicle, in the pocket. Technology itself was the core, but now the creation and business information management dominates. Information permeates almost every business process. Even when purchasing cleaning supplies, inventory and monitoring are done by certain databases. It has run through the entire business. Ask yourself:

1. Where do you collect data and information in your business?

2. Who is collecting data?

3. How is it used?

4. Who is managing and maintaining the equipment?

5. Is it directly responsible for all assets embedded in it technology?

6, the company other public places, such as: Office, workshop, tools, vehicles and so what is it?

Computerized business management greatly increases the complexity of IT service management requirements. While it is often a good thing to add new tools to the company's it toolbox, it also adds more complexity, which is generally not recognized. This article should give you an understanding of how to increase it as a service rather than heap the technology together to create new complexities. It is absolutely necessary to find strategic integration with other business functions.

Computing device explosion

If you can, recall that when a business first started using a computer, in those days a company might have only one computer, and only a few people really knew how to use it. In 2012, every employee in the organization had a computer. Not only do most employees have a personal desktop computer, many may also have a laptop, a smartphone and a tablet computer.

The Forrester Research company is expected to sell 241,000 Tablet PCs in the United States in 2011 in early 2011. This is more than one times the number of sales in the previous year. Forrester also expects the figure to jump to 440,000 by 2015.

The trend of American tablet computer consumption predicted by Forrester

While most tablets are for personal activity, such as surfing the web, reading books or watching videos, there is growing evidence that tablets have penetrated the business world. According to Deloitte's report, corporate purchases accounted for 25% of the tablet computer sold for 2011 years.

These figures are staggering, especially since the boom in tablets is still very new. Apple's ipad was launched two years ago.

Before the ipad it was the iphone that triggered the explosion of smartphones. A Microsoft report says 107 million of the 400 million handsets used worldwide are smartphones. This figure is still growing, especially in developed countries. The rise of smartphones and tablets also underscores another element that adds to the complexity of IT management. This element is the blurring of the dividing line between individual and professional. Many people have their own smartphones or tablets, but they certainly want to connect to the company's working network.

With the rise of knowledge work, it is increasingly rare to work in a centralized position. People from all over the world can work in many places. People can go to any Starbucks or Pitt café to work, which is a full proof. Many people at home or elsewhere put their company's laptop on the grid and log on to the corresponding network to start work.

Information technology is also more embedded in industrial equipment, office phones and more equipment. These are the assets of the company and are frequently configured, monitored, and managed throughout the lifecycle. Managing and configuring services for a range of devices is essential to support any business. The only sustainable solution is to adopt the best practices for IT service management, such as those in the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), and implement it using flexible, affordable tools based on the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

About Services

In this expanding array of technologies, it is important to note that technology is no longer the star of the show. The most important thing is the service provided through the technology application. It provides services and enables services to support the enterprise, ultimately enabling the enterprise to succeed. Enterprises must provide their employees with equipment. More importantly, they need to know that employees can communicate and compute reliably with these devices.

Technology embedded in laptops and e-mails is just a means, not an end. The technology in the notebook case is to create the file in the case of email, the most important thing is to communicate with others quickly and easily. IT departments need to understand that the ultimate goal of their resources is to integrate their work into a larger business framework. Enterprise customers are not concerned with how the services are provided, as long as results are achieved and sustainable repeatable processes are available.

There must be a record of the product process that satisfies the enterprise. For example, an employee who works from home may access a virtual machine, but he still needs a laptop or other device. These devices need to be managed and a central information base can be used to track the use of company assets. One way to track asset usage is through a configuration management database (CMDB), where it can see where business assets are being used and how they relate to each other.

This doesn't seem like a big problem, but think about all the different types of devices you can use. Hundreds of or thousands of people working in a large organization, you will see the value of having an effective tracking system for all assets and resources. Many configuration management databases (CMDB) are automated and can automatically discover other resources on it or the network and automatically add them to the asset database.

Apply it

Once you have mastered the available IT resources, organizations must know how to use them effectively. This includes documenting any problems that occur and quickly and systematically troubleshooting them. This methodical strategy, beyond any project, may suffice when the system is less complex. You can call it to fix your computer, solve an urgent problem, and allow you to return to work. However, if the problem is not documented and there may be a problem, no one knows how to solve it. This is why IT Service Management (ITSM) provides event and problem management.

"Events" are small problems that point to larger issues, such as the inability of users to log on to their e-mail accounts because the directory cannot be activated properly. Unable to log on to an email account is an event that cannot activate the directory is a problem. The first is the symptom and the second is the root of the problem. Only when the problem arises, by establishing a record of the problem system, can you use what you have learned to effectively solve the problem. Once events and problems are discovered and resolved, it can create smart articles that cover all solutions. Intelligent management needs to transform what is learned into an information body that can be used when similar problems arise in the future. It's controlled in the hands of a limited number of IT pros, putting it in the hands of ordinary employees who can read articles and solve their own problems, which is a very good thing, for several obvious reasons.

Typically, significant changes in the company's software infrastructure are necessary. Change management to ensure that the impact of these changes is minimal for end users. When you publish new things, you must also manage and record them so that you can achieve the desired results in the shortest possible time. If something goes wrong, it's easy to go back to the paperwork and see what's going on. The change and release of the management process also provides a complete and clear record of who made the changes and releases so that no duplication of effort is made to let people know who is responsible for the final revisions at each stage.

insight into the future

In addition to managing existing resources, emerging issues, and changes in requirements, IT departments must have a clear service process that meets customer requirements. These services may include requiring a laptop computer or other device. The service portfolio is a list of all the services provided by the IT department. A service portfolio, or service directory, is provided to each user. Some users will not be able to access certain levels of IT services within their company. Employees should be able to see which services they have access to.

One of the highest levels of the company is the service level agreement between the IT service provider and the customer. These agreements document the expectations for delivering IT services. Not only is it a clear expectation, it is also a way to track them and see if expectations are met. For example, one of the possible protocols, including the deadline for resolving a specific problem. The agreement will provide the time for the IT vendor to complete these tasks, and the vendor and the customer will be alerted if the required time is exceeded.

Conclusion

This is an exciting time for IT management. Never have so many amazingly cost-effective ways to provide customer service. Cloud opens up many new opportunities, but if there is no effective mechanism for management, it will eventually let everyone down. Both the Information Technology Services Management (ITSM) and the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) provide a recognized framework for it process and production oversight. While it may be easy to get into terminology, it is important to remember that the ultimate goal is to maximize productivity at the lowest cost. Investing in a complete system enables companies to achieve economic benefits because they truly understand it investments and how they are managed. Knowledge is always the key to making better decisions and using financial resources wisely.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)