Changing Needs of IT Service Management

Changes in the IT Infrastructure landscape have led to massive changes in the needs of the IT Service Management scene. A formal help desk, for example, came only in the late 80s and early 90s. Client server computing brought a huge surge in application portfolios. Therefore practically anything and everything could be computerized. This further meant that the number of vendors also grew rapidly and a variety of services started getting outsourced. And the business of IT infrastructure outsourcing soared. With the growth IT service portfolios, there was an unprecedented increase in users as well as service providers. This ensured that complexities of IT services grew. One element in the service landscape could unknowingly impact the service from another element. Thus as the complexity of IT service management equations grew, the need to manage those equations for the purpose of managing the services became even more urgent and imperative. For example a growing number of products and services created a strong need for managing the compatibility matrix among those components.  

While the product compatibility matrix was very well understood and analyzed, the service compatibility matrix, in its real meaning, was not appropriately analyzed. Today the basic flaw in the IT Service Management world is that the technology management is seen as service management and therefore the deployment of tools to manage the technology is often relegated to simple process implementation. This flaw is even more expanded with clouds as more and more tools are coming in to manage clouds.  

Technology management, which is seen as a part of service management because it is the core part of producing the service, is not however seen as separate service management. With advances in virtualization and distributed computing, there are corporate network and datacenter administrators that have turned into service providers that try to meet the needs of their “customers” within the corporation.  

Now there are internal or private clouds that can emulate cloud computing on private networks. The private cloud (also called internal cloud or corporate cloud) is basically a marketing term employed for a proprietary computing architecture that provides hosted services to a limited number of people behind a firewall. But even with the private cloud there is little change in the service management equation in this environment over the legacy service management schemes. This essentially means that the support mechanism remains unchanged and the internal IT service desk will remain the same. Therefore rather than abandon the existing data centers and use the public cloud exclusively, or, conversely, rely on private cloud only and ignore the public cloud, enterprises should opt for a combination of private and public cloud, popularly known as the hybrid model. This allows it to keep control of its key IT services while leveraging cloud computing in places where it makes sense. For instance there are many companies which found it beneficial and economical to use Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) to store things like images, videos and documents. So even if one thinks that it makes sense to move most or all of your applications to the cloud, it might seem too risky to move everything all at once.  

When multiple enterprises are part in the service delivery chain then multiple groups in different companies will be the key actors in customer owned service delivery processes. It is therefore not unusual to notice that some of the service delivery processes are partly internal and partly external, making the process of ownership completely heterogeneous. So while it is true that multivendor ecosystems in  the traditional IT service environment have existed for a long time, our movement towards the cloud will further ensure that this ecosystem will by default exist and become even more complex because vendors could be unknown and hidden behind an opaque layer.

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Identity and access management

What Is the Need for Information Security Management?

IT has become an indispensable component of a business’ existence as the processing, storing and distribution of business data is reliant on IT functionality. This data is sensitive and confidential and requires a competent management system to keep it away from any kind of unauthorized access or misuse. With growing amounts of data, IT administrators are perpetually challenged to ensure security management solutions for protecting information from not only outside threats but also threats from within organizations, such as disgruntled employees or those with vile intentions.

Information security has become top priority in today’s highly competitive environment. To survive any misfortunes, businesses need to implement the best IT solutions that are in alignment with their business goals and requirements. With several new emerging technologies, they need reliable technology partners that can implement ideal practices that help them grow and be successful among the competition.
Factors that demand resilient information security management are:

1. The security policies, activities and objectives that denote the purpose of the business
2. A supportive strategy for information security that is in alignment with the business and has affirmative implementation, maintenance, monitoring and improvement capabilities
3. High levels of commitment and support amongst the different management units
4. Focus on highlighting awareness amongst employees and other related parties regarding information security
5. Identification of ongoing changes to initiate appropriate controls on the existing technology, processes and policies of the business

With the constant unfolding of IT and internet benefits, businesses have discovered the convenience of working while on the move without affecting the performance of the business. The freedom of remote accessibility through wireless systems has not only facilitated employees and employers but also security hackers who gain access to company systems and thereby inherit windfalls. The popularity of e-commerce, online trading, etc., has revealed the blatant exploitation of vulnerable systems and thus has created the need for high-end security measures such as cryptographic algorithms.

Businesses should be aware of the fact that their partners who provide information security services should also provide powerful identity and access management services to restrict any unauthorized or suspicious entries. The emphasis should be on a stringent identity and access mechanism to help identify fake users and snuff out their actions before they cause any damage.

There is no inclination about the kinds of risks that may threaten a business’ information security systems or from which direction they may come. It is best to be prepared for any situation at any time so that damages can be controlled and minimized, and businesses can be saved from being defunct. With effective information security management, businesses can be assured of dependable security policies that provide unfailing support to repel attacks of any intensity. 

 

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Co-Sourcing Model Benefits

As IT moves away from being a support function to a key business enabler, the loss of control and inflexibility associated with the traditional approach has made it less and less favourable. Fundamentally, it is no longer possible to plan all aspects of costs and innovation over a 5 -10 year period upfront and package them as a business case and contract.  

Co-Sourcing Model

Companies can now fulfil their global sourcing needs of its customers through the new co-sourcing model which provides a new and fundamentally disruptive sourcing proposition to companies that are primarily looking for flexibility and strategic control of their overall IT outsourcing engagements. 

• * The new co-sourcing model is based on a collaborative approach to outsourcing.
• * It can be defined as a partnership between the customer and the service provider based on fundamental tenets of flexibility and transparency.
• * In a way it helps to reduce sourcing risks and provide better control over outsourced processes.
• * Some of the services include – internal audits, risk management, process definitions and amendments, IT infrastructure management etc.
• * It may also include part-development of software or conducting software maintenance activities only.
• 
  

By using the new co-sourcing model offered by consulting firms -

• * Customers have the flexibility in choosing the right sourcing model.
• * Companies can choose alternative delivery models like cloud based services (Saas)
• * They can also set up shared and dedicated delivery centres depending on their client needs while balancing cost and economies of scale.  

On the other hand, the IT outsourcing firms offer the following benefits to clients if they choose to use the co-sourcing model.

• * They partner with other hosting partners across the world to host datacenter and field services.
• * They provide desk-side support and also e-bond with their client companies to ensure that clients receive a seamless and uniform service, irrespective of the geographical location of the functions.
• * They also deliver services by leveraging uniform and standardized tools and processes across the IT function. 
• * They offer engagement flexibility depending on customer environment- whether it is completely multi-sourced or whether the consulting firm plays part of a larger framework where the company is the primary integrator.

Some of the other services provided by IT outsourcing companies may include – information security services, managed desktop services, managed print services, managed network services, application management services, service desk services etc.

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Cloud Computing in India - The Bubble Ready to Burst

Cloud Computing technology, is all about providing IT related resources such as computing, storage, network, system security, application, platform as a service and more, where these services are charged based on the usage. Cloud computing is proving to be a major driver for small and medium businesses as they do not need to spend large amount of money on buying hardware, software and upgrading and maintaining it.

Cloud computing has been there for a long time globally and has caught up in India over the last few years, but is being used by big companies only. Smaller firms and individuals are trying to catch up to the concept, which can cut down on operation costs phenomenally and help monitor businesses on the move.

Scalability is one of the major issues for organizations as they grow. Cloud computing offers a lot of ease here since expanding on the cloud is relatively quick and cheaper. There are a number of cloud service models that can be provided to the customers, each catering to different kind of need of the organizations. You may find internet hits with dozens of offering on Cloud as a Service: Desktop, Security, Data, Software, Platform, Infrastructure, IT, Testing, Hardware, Computing, Database, Storage etc.

The most accepted types of Service Models are

• SaaS (Software as a Service)
• PaaS (Platform as a Service)
• IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)

Software as a Service - With every organization using different platforms, operating systems, and hardware, providing data access with a tool that works in every environment and training every new external user can be a challenge. That is where SaaS has an upper hand. It is the combination of a Business Model and a Software Delivery Model and is a way of providing the same software to different consumers via the Internet and not hosted on the customers' individual computers.

The question on how can SaaS providers adjust IT infrastructure hosting and management to compensate for budget pressures while maintaining comprehensive SLAs? This can be done by shifting the management of day-to-day IT operations of its SaaS infrastructure to a cloud hosting provider or a managed service provider. SaaS providers can focus on developing new and innovative services and efficiently scale their SaaS business and drive revenue growth.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) – is the delivery of a computing platform and solution stack as a service. It helps with deployment of applications without the added cost and complication of buying and managing the hardware and software and provisioning hosting capabilities. 

PaaS provides complete facility required to support the life cycle for application design, application development, testing, deployment and hosting as well as application services such as team collaboration, web service integration and marshalling, database integration, security, scalability, storage, persistence, etc.  PaaS aids in faster application delivery, pay-as-you-go model and provides opportunities to solve new problems.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Infrastructure as a Service is described as a model, where in devices required to assist in IT operations, such as networking, storage, servers and other hardware components are outsourced. The service provider is in charge of the equipment and is accountable for operating, maintaining and housing it. The client or the end user simply compensates on a per-use basis.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) being the primary foundation of cloud computing, execution of SaaS and Paas depends on this foundation. It allows an application to be operated and monitored on a virtual computer selected by the users i.e. users can fix up a CPU configuration and the memory storage that is required for a particular application.  Entire cloud infrastructure is offered by cloud computing providers these days, that include routers, servers, hardware based load balancing, storage, firewalls, and many other network necessities that the user requires.  

Cloud hosting services in India is still at its nascent stage and is still evolving to harness Cloud Computing technologies and services to its best advantage.  The service providers are free to innovate and offer various services and there are no hard and fast rules governing these service offerings.

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Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)is described as a model wherein the delivery of computer infrastructure is typically a virtualized platform environment as a service. Rather than purchasing servers, software, data center space or network equipment, an enterprise outsources the devices required to assist operations, which comprise of various networking, storage, servers and other hardware components. The service provider is in charge of the equipment and is accountable for operating, maintaining and housing it and the service is typically billed on a utility computing basis and amount of resources consumed, the end user simply reimburses on a per-use mode.

Cloud computing in India is still in its very early stages and enterprises are yet to fully comprehend the actual benefits of private clouds, public clouds or even IaaS, PaaS and SaaS. Many companies that have understood the changes that cloud computing can bring to their core businesses have already started evolving to being not just providers of software solutions but also software utility companies.

The basic features of Infrastructure as a service would include the following:-

* Desktop virtualization.

* Dynamic scaling.

* Internet connectivity.

* Services based on a policy.

* Automation of Administrative agendas and tasks.

* Billing model and utility computing service.

Rapidly changing technology, complex business scenario and mounting demand for computing resources by enterprises have all acted as channel for the growth of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). From procuring and owning infrastructure now they are moving to sourcing infrastructure as a service. The shift is a sign of cloud-based delivery in a utility computing model.

Outsourcing services provides benefits to the company as they can do away with making huge investments on buying the resources physically. IaaS enables procuring the necessary IT resources from a service provider on an on-demand, pay-as-you-use basis. Renowned

cloud computing providers offer the entire cloud infrastructure, including routers, servers, hardware based load balancing, storage, firewalls, and many other network necessities that the user requires.

Advantages of opting for IaaS

Pay as you Use - The most important reason for organizations opting for IaaS is the cost. The major benefit of IaaS being Pay as you Use model. The billing is done on a monthly or an hourly basis. Payment is only done for the resources that have been utilized by the customer. This is opposite to the traditional services, where you had to pay for the total package even if you did not consume the whole.

Auto Scaling - You can control the number of resources you use at any given point in time. With IaaS you can easily meet your computing requirements and configuration. IaaS is available on demand and is suitable for applications that undergo quite unpredictable spikes.

Load Balancing - Load balancing services ensure fast connection and fail safe 24x7 access to web sites and other critical Internet and Intranet applications that help you minimize response time while maximizing site availability. It auto-distributes an application’s incoming traffic across multiple virtual computers.

Load Balancing -

Service Level Agreement - Ensures 99.95% availability of the service with 24/7 Support. This also eliminates the possibility of an outage on the connectivity side.

The market for Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) shows huge potential but is still immature and in an evolving phase with numerous providers in this space and many more is coming up. Gartner’s Strategic Planning Hypothesis predicts that, by 2012, about 80% of Fortune 1,000 companies will use Cloud Computing Service in some fashion.

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