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The 4 Pillars of Systems
Management
A briefing on implementing a
strategic systems management vision
Under pressure to control device
and application costs, systems management is a critical
component for IT executives to create streamlined
environments. However, with managing such a great variance
of device platforms, software and patch requirements, and
corporate policies, comes an even greater level of
complexity; one that few organizations have yet to
effectively address.
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"A joint research project from Microsoft and Gartner
estimates that IT organizations spend 60 - 150 hours
annually or $2,300 per user in downtime and restoration
activities."
Source: Microsoft and Gartner |
"Customers that commit a minimum of 3% of their annual
operating budgets to IT Asset Management programs and tools
can expect a 25% reduction in their total cost of ownership."
Source: Gartner |
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A successful systems management strategy will address, at
minimum, 4 primary areas of the device lifecycle. The
strategy should center on providing the organization with
the tools that allow IT executives to:
- Monitor device and software inventories from acquisition
to retirement
- Manage device and application configuration and
deployment
- Support active devices and applications
- Retire devices and applications no longer required by the
business
By implementing a strategy that addresses all 4 of these
areas, you can expect to create a more easily managed
infrastructure while obtaining actionable reporting metrics
that allow you to make critical decisions.
SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT’S CORE VALUE PROPOSITIONS
Systems management has many value propositions and business
drivers. Some of the most popular include:
1. Reduced Device Support
& Maintenance Burden Through
Automation
The support of enterprise desktop and
server environments inherently includes a high number of
routine maintenance tasks. For example:
- Patches need to be regularly screened, tested, and
deployed
- New devices and applications entering the environment
often need to be configured according to corporate standards
- Existing devices need to be continually monitored and
secured due to configuration changes and external threats
By automating routine support and maintenance tasks, IT
executives can free up resources to focus on more proactive
initiatives.
2. Less User Downtime
This is
a simple value proposition. When a device goes down or an
application stops working, affected users are at a
stand-still. It then becomes the job of IT to bring that
user (or those users) back to life. The faster this revival
can happen, the faster the organization can get back on
track.
The hard costs of user downtime can be staggering. For
example, if the average user is down for 2 hours per month
and it takes 4 hours of IT support to resolve the issue(s)
and get back to full functionality, then using a labor rate
of $30 per hour the total cost for that user being down
would equate to $2,160 per year. If we use a community of
1,000 users and 60% of those user's experience this level of
downtime, we'd come up just shy of $1.3 million in annual
hard costs. If you do the math for your own environment
using your own numbers, this value proposition alone can
explain why systems management is such a critical component
to increasing user productivity while lowering the costs of
productivity degradation.
3. Monitoring Compliance
With Corporate Policies and External Regulations
Audits are expensive so the faster IT can prove compliance
with software license agreements and usage, the better.
Maintaining compliance with corporate standardization
policies and external regulations is a key element in
minimizing the costs associated with an audit. However,
organizations often have difficulty enforcing corporate
standards that enable them to easily prove compliance. This
area represents a potential long-term gain in terms of ROI
and should be an integral piece of any effective systems
management strategy.
4. Eliminating Costs From
Un-utilized Applications
Many organizations find it
excruciatingly difficult to pinpoint how many applications
exist in their environment, let alone how many of those
applications are actually being used. Often times, upon
running through an initial inventory, it's discovered that
(a) multiple versions of the same applications are in use or
that (b) user's who had previously requested a specific
application no longer use that application at all. If
un-utilized software licenses can be re-distributed or
discontinued, the business can benefit from an immediate
cost savings. In addition, by consolidating the number of
actively supported applications in the environment, IT
executives can dramatically simplify the maintenance of the
remaining applications.
Taking the aforementioned value propositions into
consideration, we want to answer the question, "What
components of a systems management strategy does an IT
executive need in order to take advantage of these
benefits?"
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// TALK WITH US |
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// AUTHOR |
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Shawn Torkelson, Synapse SE
Managing Director |
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