IT infrastructure management. . .

We have often asked questions on this blog about the sequence in which the components of IT infrastructure management get assembled. For example, whether the IT asset database comes first, whether license or change management is the next essential item. These questions reflect what we find in our customer base, where organizations have differing priorities depending on the vision of the IT leadership and the commercial and legislative pressures each organization is under.

. . . needs workflow foundations. . .

What becomes clear is that there is a consistent requirement to introduce new structure and workflow, to manage new processes efficiently, remove bottlenecks or provide alerts should any arise, ensure decisions are taken correctly with involvement of all stakeholders.

. . . to enable functions to be tied together. . .

This in itself often has a startling effect, in that other needs come tumbling out of the woodwork. Concerns over the way in which security events are handled, ensuring access privileges and credentials are rescinded promptly in the even of an employment or contract termination, are just two recent examples. As soon as responsible executives can see that there is a new framework that will enable them to deliver on their responsibilities more efficiently and reliably, they will want access.

So, this begins to point to a need to ensure that whatever sequence an organization adopts for the expansion and evolution of its IT infrastructure management, there needs to be one underlying workflow management capability. License Management, Change Management, Employee IT Provisioning, etc all involve data and processes. Connecting point solutions for these activities might be achievable given enough hooks, and that may be necessary if a heavyweight commitment has already been made in one function or another.

. . . as the infrastructure management evolves.

Far better though to start off with a generalized ability to track and process issues, manage workflows, organize collective decisions, ensure timelines are met and stakeholders informed and involved, and then build functionality onto that. In Vector’s case, the functionality is delivered by layering application Templates onto our core Issue Tracker platform. Data of all sorts - hardware and software assets, licenses, people, incidents and problems - is immediately sharable across multiple areas of activity.

Wherever you are going to next invest in infrastructure management, try to ensure you are incorporating new shareable foundations that can support further functionality as the infrastructure management evolves.

About the Author

Colin Bartram's background in IT Asset and Service Management runs uninterrupted from the 1980s, and includes specifying, writing, selling and supporting software solutions. Today he contributes to product strategy and marketing for the Vector Networks group of companies. His spare time is focussed on his horse and the related demands of maintaining 5 acres of ancient pasture in Derbyshire in the UK.