Optimize Systems Management to Improve IT Resilience and Proactivity
Streamline processes, use tools with purpose, and continually look for opportunities to improve.
As an infrastructure / systems manager, you are facing the following challenges:
- Spending all this time and money implementing systems management, but not seeing any results.
- Monitoring systems, but suffering from too-much-information syndrome.
- Not knowing how to act on the data you have, nor how to transform it into a usable diagnosis.
- Wanting to take advantage of new technologies like SaaS and the cloud, but not knowing how to incorporate them into your systems management practice.
- Not knowing how to handle change management with your current systems management protocol.
- A growing organization with free/cheap/open source tools that can’t handle the increased size and heterogeneity of the environment.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Optimized systems management is complex and involves multiple different disciplines. It is critical to understand how various processes and tools interact with one another.
- Focus on people and processes before technology to optimize your systems management initiative.
- Focus on vulnerable or critical systems before expanding the initiative.
Impact and Result
- Reduce the number of budget-busting, unplanned, or emergency changes to your infrastructure.
- Ensure highly resilient IT systems by steeling your systems against disruptive change.
- Recover person hours lost to firefighting mode and all-hands-on-deck situations.
Member Testimonials
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield
Guided Implementation
9/10
$61,999
10
The Info-Tech team is really customer focused and very helpful. My experience could only be improved by me having more time to dedicate to the reco... Read More
Workshop: Optimize Systems Management to Improve IT Resilience and Proactivity
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Make the Case for Optimizing Systems Management
The Purpose
- Define systems management.
- Scope your management project.
- Determine the value of systems management.
- Avoid common pitfalls.
- Build the business case for optimizing systems management.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Hard dollar value estimate for the systems management initiative.
- Identification of common problems to be avoided.
- Advice on aligning the case with business priorities.
- Quantified criticality of services and systems.
Activities
Outputs
Assess the criticality of IT services
- Criticality assessment
Evaluate the management value threshold
- Cost/benefit analysis
Summarize the business case for optimization
- Business case summary
Module 2: Align Systems Management with Organizational Priorities
The Purpose
- Align priorities with actual organizational need.
- Identify specific trouble spots.
- Create specific project goals.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Identify user-perceived service deficiencies.
- Measure the value and criticality of core systems for prioritization purposes.
- Quickly target quick wins by taking action on underperforming systems.
- Prioritize services and systems to guide optimization efforts.
Activities
Outputs
Review service desk ticket logs and identify patterns to help prioritize based on user experience
Drill down from the service level to identify systems and components inhibiting performance
- Service level assessment
Prioritize performance gaps to maximize value of the optimization project
- Prioritized service gaps
Document identified pain points and turn problems into actions
- Pain point gap analysis
Design focused, measured goals for the optimization project
- Optimization project goals
Module 3: Refine Systems Management Processes with Optimized Visual SOPs
The Purpose
- Refine processes to ensure clear interaction across management silos.
- Transform opaque documentation into usable SOPs.
- Identify candidates for automation.
- Streamline SOPs and reduce process inefficiency.
Key Benefits Achieved
- More effectively communicate processes in a format that will be read and used rather than filed and forgotten.
- Automate repeatable processes to reduce process duration and the risk of human error.
Activities
Outputs
Collect and evaluate present SOPs to identify opportunities for improvement
Review existing SOPs with the documentation scorecard
- Documentation scorecard
Review existing processes and specify terms under which they become active
Map relationships between SOPs to ensure smooth interfaces between processes
Identify and record candidate processes for automation
- Candidate processes for automation
Document revised processes with Visual SOPs to improve readability and usability
- Documented Visual SOPs
Module 4: Refine Your Systems Management Toolkit
The Purpose
- Define systems management.
- Scope your management project.
- Determine the value of systems management.
- Avoid common pitfalls.
- Build the business case for optimizing systems management.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Identify actual requirements for systems management tools.
- Determine the value and relative grip of each tool in the environment.
- Eliminate unnecessary software licenses and reduce management headaches with a deduplicated toolkit.
Activities
Outputs
Establish a tool selection committee to develop a requirements list that meets your team’s needs
- Tool selection committee
Develop a detailed list of technology requirements to guide the selection process
Identify need-to-have and nice-to-have features to find a solution that meets your needs
- List of required features
Evaluate your toolkit to eliminate redundancies and find opportunities to streamline your software
- Management tool inventory
Perform a tool rationalization exercise to eliminate redundant capabilities
- List of redundant applications with corresponding value
- Tool rationalization matrix
Interpret the results of your tool rationalization exercise
Module 5: Build a Plan to Implement Your Optimization Initiative
The Purpose
- Develop a project team and stakeholder management strategy.
- Build a roadmap to implement the optimization project.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Identify key roles and responsibilities.
- Manage stakeholder concern and win over skeptics.
- Have a concrete schedule for implementing optimization.
Activities
Outputs
Plan to approach stakeholders strategically to win over skeptics and gain project champions
Assemble the project team and arrange participation to ensure project buy-in
- Project team
Clarify team responsibilities with a RACI chart
- RACI chart
Plan regular reviews of processes and practices to ensure continual optimization
- Review schedule
Determine milestones to evaluate project progress and success
Determine your systems management optimization roadmap structure
Start building your roadmap by identifying external factors that will affect the project
Populate the roadmap with initiatives to complete the project plan
- Project roadmap
- Project charter
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst
Get the help you need in this 1-phase advisory process. You'll receive 4 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
- Call 1: Interpret and act on capability assessment results
Assess current capabilities and identify those areas where capabilities are most limited. Discuss realistic outcomes for your optimization initiative and set meaningful, concrete goals for the project.
- Call 2: Align systems management practices with organizational goals
Our analyst will help you identify quick wins and critical areas where your project will have the most immediate impact.
- Call 3: Refine systems management SOPs
Our analyst will help you review existing management processes and identify inefficiencies as well as opportunities for automation. You will receive advice on streamlining your approach to ensure clear interaction between processes and improved service delivery.
- Call 4: Refine your systems management toolkit
Our analysts will help review your present toolkit and identify redundant capabilities, and provide advice on the best-fit technology for your systems management requirements.
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