Connecting the Dots: The Need for Integrated IT Infrastructure

In The Strategy-Technology Connection, Alan Kantrow highlights how technology has an essential relationship with corporate strategic thinking, as it helps companies to define the full range of their possibilities, providing at the same time several means by which those possibilities can be realized.

Companies seeking to build a robust IT infrastructure cannot relegate infrastructure strategy to an administrative task, with little communication or harmonization with their business units. 

According to a PwC study, "Fit-for-Purpose" infrastructure strategy: How companies can manage increasing IT demands, infrastructure comprises approximately half of all technology costs, so this outdated approach, which fails to align an organization’s IT infrastructure strategy with its broader strategic goals, gives rise to substantial inefficiencies and masks the true cost and service levels of company products.

Since all businesses are now digital businesses, IT infrastructure management must include: management of IT policies and processes, equipment, data, and human resources, both internal and external, such as suppliers or security organizations. There are also cloud-based infrastructure management tools, which are used to simplify management activities. 

IT infrastructure is essential to optimize business results nowadays. Cloud-based tools, big data and analytics, mobility, social media and cybersecurity are changing the world. 

Due to its ability to drive operational efficiency, innovation and competitiveness, proper infrastructure implementation ensures availability and security of information for companies, as well as data-based decision-making, thus helping them achieve their business goals.

In this scenario, new trends and technologies impose demands on IT infrastructure that force leaders to reconsider their management activities.

In a survey carried out by the IBM Institute for Business Value with 750 senior IT executives in 18 countries, they found that:

• 22% of organizations have a well-defined strategy and road map regarding their corporate IT infrastructure.

• 30% of organizations collaborate with their business area to provide IT infrastructure solutions that can support their business needs.

• 13% of IT executives say they are successful in developing and maintaining the skills and capabilities deemed necessary to meet changing needs in terms of IT infrastructure.

This survey evinces that building a successful IT infrastructure requires more than just leading technology. It requires an IT organization that is efficient in terms of service delivery, uses analytics to focus on continuous improvement, implements best practices, and fosters connections between experts across multiple domains.

Companies seeking to manage their IT infrastructure in a more effective way should ask themselves what actions they can take so that management activities are carried out by developing a more collaborative and strategic relationship with their business areas. 

According to a study conducted by the Institute for Business Value, these are some of the key questions to consider:

• Do leaders have the necessary information to make informed decisions, being fully aware of the impact their application will have on the company’s IT infrastructure?

• To what extent is data analytics used to improve the IT effectiveness of an organization?

There are several tools and software available to manage technological infrastructures in a more efficient way, such as Service Management Systems, Monitoring and Alert Tools, Automation Software, Project Management and Collaboration, Security and Compliance Software. 

Large and small companies use many software programs to manage their technological infrastructure. Software is often at the core of their business, in addition to playing an important part in making them stand out from competitors.

According to a new IDC study sponsored by Zabbix, titled “Perspectives of IT monitoring in LATAM organizations for data-driven decision-making,” – which surveyed decision-makers from over 300 companies in Latin America, approximately 54% of organizations allocate up to 15% of their revenue to information technology investments. 

This scenario indicates a significant increase in the availability of technological services and resources, driving operations within the context of digital businesses. 

However, only 41% percent of executives have implemented monitoring tools, which detect IT infrastructure threats and vulnerabilities, and those are implemented only for 16% to 50% of their applications and business processes. This can give rise to risks such as underutilization of resources, operational failures or faulty security. 

Although most companies use IT monitoring platforms integrated into their processes and systems, almost a third (27.6%) of these companies do not monitor them or do so manually (7%). 

One of the main difficulties for companies is the number and complexity of legacy applications and resources, since, according to this study, 37% of leaders say this would be their biggest challenge when it comes to implementing monitoring platforms.

Our experience at Zabbix made us realize that tools alone, without processes, do not solve problems. It is important to have and rely on monitoring platforms such as Zabbix, but it is even more important that these tools be integrated with other corporate processes.

If we look once again at the connection between strategy and technology, which Kantrow discusses in The Strategy-Technology Connection, we must conclude that the choices that companies make regarding the technology they incorporate will define the full range of their possibilities -- providing at the same time the means by which those possibilities can be realized. 

Thus, if software integration and maintenance is seen as an expensive, slow and unreasonably complex process, companies will be using tools that will not allow them to realize their possibilities. 

Digital transformation facilitates rapid growth and business development, as well as further expansion into new markets. If corporate IT infrastructure is flexible and reliable, it will allow companies to achieve their goals and give them competitive advantages. If it is not properly implemented, this results in connectivity, security or productivity issues. Today, this could be the very element that defines whether your business can be profitable or not.