It is a simple fact that organisational dependency on its infrastructure has grown to critical importance. In fact, one can say with confidence that organisations have become addicted to the infrastructure, which in turn means infrastructure management is emerging as the next big thing companies are focusing on.
One can say with confidence that organisations have become addicted to the infrastructure
Infrastructure management is the management of anything and everything the company owns, buys, leases, borrows or otherwise acquires through the item`s entire lifecycle, to the point where it is retired.
It is a problem with many critical dimensions which starts with an understanding of how the infrastructure supports the business, answering enterprise questions about assets, such as what they have, where it is, how well it is functioning and what it costs.
In most firms, this information is all over the place and the critical issue is to get a unified view of the infrastructure. This means a common database of information, integrating this to the financial systems of the organisation, presenting a common interface to the underlying knowledge base and management of the events in infrastructure management.
Distinct lifecycle
Just as we have surfaced and focused on efficiency of lifecycles, such as supply chain management and customer interaction management, there is a distinct lifecycle evident in the domain of infrastructure management. This comprises bringing the assets into the environment, making it work and keeping it working, change management, managing the total cost of ownership, service level agreements, software and licence management, and more. It is the financial and physical management of the assets of the organisation.
It is also clear that IT assets, although a very large category, are by no means the only assets of the company that require management. Anything critical to the business needs to be considered, so a manufacturing firm`s critical production assets need to be managed and a car rental firm`s critical vehicle assets must be managed.
Infrastructure management is in some ways an evolution of the internal helpdesk environment, which was aimed at reducing cost and providing support to the internal systems user.
Offensive approach
To a large extent though, the helpdesk is a defensive approach and infrastructure management is an offensive one. This is based on maximising asset utilisation and adds two new extensions to the functionality and reach within the organisation, which catapults it far beyond the helpdesk. This is financial management and functional management.
Financial management provides a central point to monitor, manage and control the financial viability of assets, including depreciation and lease variations and ownership of complete assets, managing the financial value of the assets from acquisition to disposal.
Functional management of the enterprise`s assets provides technical, functional, organisational and logistical control and assistance of all the assets, both IT and non-IT.
Some of the functions supported in the new infrastructure management environment would be:
- Problem management and problem logging for all the firm`s mission-critical assets.
- Problem resolution based on the use of knowledge management tools that extend beyond IT-related issues, and include knowledge and expertise to deal with the extended infrastructure. The only real criteria in what to include in this environment hinges on their importance to the business. So any complex, capital-intensive and mission-critical asset is a likely candidate for being managed through this environment.
- Facilities and change management beyond IT, involving telephony systems, manufacturing plant, medical-related services and in fact all mission-critical assets. Change management is a critical issue given the dynamic nature of the business environment.
- Network management integration, including the ability to identify, track and manage the technical and financial asset at desktop level and at the cable/plant, bridge, router level.
- Financial asset management, including the ability to track ownership, lease information depreciation, track software licence agreements, including enterprise-wide usage counts, as well as associating the software with the specific machines on which it runs.
- Warranty tracking to help manage repair and maintenance expenses in the organisation.
In short, managing the financial lifecycle from the point of acquisition to where it is retired from the business.
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