Johannesburg, 19 Apr 2012
For the past six years, infrastructure automation solutions provider Puleng Technologies has pioneered self-service IT for the enterprise. Today, in conjunction with distributer Comstor Connect, Puleng is Cisco's premier delivery partner for cloud automation solutions across Africa and Europe.
What is the solution, you may ask? Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud (CIAC) - an integrated self-service portal, service catalogue, service life cycle management and service orchestration platform that unifies service requests and service automation across the enterprise.
With this new solution, enterprise IT and service providers can quickly and easily provide a unified human interface or intuitive 'single pane of glass' dashboard for their users to find and request all IT and related services.
Today's enterprise IT users are savvy and demanding consumers and they expect IT to be self-service and easy-to-use, delivered on-demand within minutes, not weeks. The primary benefit of private cloud computing is speed. Implementing an IT storefront that offers standard services through a self-service interface - and automating the delivery of those offerings - can increase the speed of delivery dramatically.
For both service providers and enterprise IT departments, the user portal is an essential component for delivering private cloud computing and IT as a service. With the Cisco Cloud Portal, users have a highly configurable and compelling self-service interface - with the ability to tailor the user experience for their unique preferences as a business manager, application developer, IT architect, or other roles. Enterprises and service providers can deliver a cloud portal as simple as Amazon Web Services, but with the personalisation, flexibility, and consumer ease-of-use of iGoogle.
Delivering the Cisco Cloud Portal solution requires strong technical and integration expertise in identity and access management, billing, financial management, service desk, infrastructure provisioning as well as a host of other 'back office' IT functions and systems.
Typically, the projects are multiphase and impact the entire business, so it not only requires strong internal stewardship, but also deep domain expertise and experience across the CIAC Suite.
“Puleng's ability to consult both technically and from a business transformation perspective, combined with their relentless focus upon customer success, allows them to deliver both the technical milestones and achieve the strategic value that is so important to our customers. Whether it be end-user customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, changing the reputation of IT or guiding a customer along the journey to cloud, Puleng always delivers,” says Steve Badger, Cisco CIAC Channel Manager EMEA.
Puleng Technologies has not only built the required technical capabilities over the past six years, but also the knowledge and expertise to build the business case for cloud and self-service IT, and value-added services from Westcon Works extend its capability to service its customers.
Where do the savings come from? Why is this new way of delivering services better? How do we measure the results? In order to unlock the full potential of cloud and self-service IT, one needs to first view the IT organisation or service provider from the user's point of view. This seemingly simple shift in approach and behaviour can prove near impossible for large, mature IT environments. When the IT operation begins to focus on the service first and infrastructure and supporting technology second, then quite literally, half the battle is won. The Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud portfolio is designed for this service-centric operation.
Even beyond the guaranteed automation, consolidation and standardisation benefits, coupling a service-first approach with the advanced service automation technology from Cisco lays the foundation for real change, real efficiencies and real self-service IT.
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