銆?1CTO.com Comprehensive Report銆?/STRONG>IT technology is becoming the central nervous system of enterprises. More and more companies hope to leverage IT as a critical strategic resource to enhance their competitive advantage and achieve their strategic goals. However, as network construction and system deployment deepen, most enterprises face the challenge of ensuring system security and effectively utilizing software manageability to keep their IT operations both reliable and efficient.
IT Managers Aren鈥檛 “Worrying for Nothing”
We once surveyed some engineers about their work situations. Their companies or departments had all encountered a series of nagging problems related to IT product architecture management, and many enterprises had purchased modular network management platform products. Gradually, as we interacted more with these friends, the “honest truths” they shared reflected the many difficulties in enterprise IT management:
Impossible to Master Every Technology!
When maintaining multiple host platforms and devices on an enterprise network, we need to master the maintenance rules for all platforms, but it is impossible for us to do so. Therefore, enterprises inevitably have to invest in maintenance personnel who possess knowledge of several other technologies. Even then, we cannot simultaneously conduct unified monitoring and management of dispersed hosts and network devices.
Leading a Team of Firefighters!
I have a comprehensive set of ideas, but the management methods and tools are outdated, and many problems recur: Managers cannot predict upcoming failures, sometimes cannot detect faults promptly, and operations and maintenance personnel are busy “fighting fires” all day. After “putting out fires,” they still gain no “fire safety knowledge,” and the same faults happen repeatedly. The ever-changing nature of business structures inherently increases system complexity; you can no more control an internal software system than you can control the weather.
Worrying About Leaving the Job Soon!
Although the IT department I lead is already a very challenging one, IT will only become more complex. The IT department itself must also realize that as the company develops, especially when it becomes increasingly accustomed to IT services, customer expectations for IT services will rise higher and higher, and the services provided by the IT department must gradually improve. For some IT departments, if responses to demands are not timely, or service quality cannot improve rapidly, or costs cannot be reduced, they will become candidates for outsourcing. They worry about leaving the company soon because they cannot guarantee the quality of work meets my requirements.
Choices Are Difficult!
In the long run, as a CIO, I also face an imminent choice. Currently, while the trend toward outsourcing continues to grow, IT departments still have room to survive from two perspectives: First, there will certainly be some systems operated by the internal IT department; second, I worry that systems poorly suited for outsourcing will suffer system failures and will ultimately have to be brought back in-house for the IT department to manage.
I Always Face Dissatisfied Users!
Engineers who have used some network management software frankly pointed out the drawbacks of traditional network management software, which reflects that their network management is still weak. Network management lacks end-to-end network path analysis. When the response speed between certain hosts and network devices drops, maintenance personnel cannot quickly pinpoint the bottleneck. Of course, this is not the most critical issue. Because the adopted network management and devices cannot accumulate relevant customer information, they fail to satisfy users. Lacking proactive performance analysis, operations management staff lack comprehensive performance statistics and analysis for networks and host systems. Even if users say “it’s okay” today, we might make the same mistakes tomorrow.
Sometimes, they boast about their existing processes. Some engineers tell us their IT management software is now very successful and they are satisfied with the status quo. But seeing these “honest truths” and investigating the reasons reveals that many of their products are based on the “network device management” level. It is this assumed “success” that prevents them from making changes and further improving the company’s ability to deliver excellent services.
Why Is ITIL Implementation So Difficult?
Enterprises rely on information technology to support critical business operations. However, because today’s IT organizations face considerable problems such as growing infrastructure complexity, skill limitations, and funding shortages, achieving this is not easy.
Many senior executives in domestic enterprises are also aware of this. We should narrow the gap with competitors and seek a standardized IT service management model. They actively demand management solutions from suppliers that can “both help them cope with today’s challenges and equip them to handle future business activity demands.” At this point, ITIL, originating from UK government management, entered our field of vision.
Initially, ITIL was just an advanced concept and tool introduced to China, and its complete system and rigorous structure impressed people immensely. But as people slowly became familiar with and approached it, various shortcomings of ITIL and issues incompatible with the national context gradually came to light. ITIL has an extremely rigorous framework, fine-grained processes, and comprehensive theories and methods, seemingly approaching perfection. At first glance at ITIL, one might think it is the cure-all for problems facing IT departments, but it slowly becomes clear that implementing ITIL is by no means a simple task. Many domestic users aspire to ITIL, but few truly implement and apply it. Even among those who do, most start by picking a few simple processes from the ten core processes to try out.
The situation in companies that have implemented ITIL management is also not optimistic. Some companies conduct customized training content, but the process of promoting ITIL within the enterprise is always difficult. Operations engineers find it hard to grasp the essence of ITIL and apply it in practice. The soft landing of ITIL in enterprise IT management has encountered multiple issues such as cultural inheritance and corporate adaptability. ITIL experienced serious localization challenges. Many domestic enterprises and government departments clearly understand that ITIL can improve their current deficiencies, and many organizations have purchased some IT operations and monitoring management tools, but the returns are minimal. At this point, what people need more is a solution that combines Eastern and Western strengths, breaking the bottleneck of ITIL implementation in domestic enterprises.
The “Parachute” for ITIL Landing
The true meaning of “combining Eastern and Western strengths” is taking the essence from each. For example, defining the process for the future state provides you with an opportunity to significantly improve the company’s ability to deliver services to users. But to seize these opportunities, you must overcome several obstacles. While I do not wish to underestimate the technical obstacles you will face (you will encounter technical problems), many people we have spoken with believe the hardest to overcome are organizational obstacles. The important thing about ITIL is not the product, but a way of thinking to resolve these obstacles. This allows full consideration of ITIL framework implementation and the actual operations of users, prescribing a remedy that treats both symptoms and root causes, combining “Chinese and Western medicine.”
“Service First” Is Not Just a Slogan
Most domestic IT departments do not value service, which directly leads them to position ITIL as a technical project. IT departments positioning themselves as technical support departments is the biggest bottleneck for ITIL implementation. IT departments positioned this way lack service awareness, making it doubly difficult to successfully implement service-centric ITIL. Enhancing the service awareness of IT departments is a global phenomenon, not unique to China. Implementing ITIL represents a corporate culture shift. As senior executives, your vision should be broader; you must realize the need to provide appropriate services to customers. If the entire IT department’s culture undergoes a fundamental change, shifting from incident handling to prevention, it’s akin to transforming from firefighters into smoke detectors.
Focus on Dynamic Management Processes
Among domestic enterprises implementing ITIL, many users start by building a call center, only to find more and more problems as they go deeper. After all, ITIL is a Western import, carrying some Western shadows from concepts to theories, and there is still a certain gap between it and the specific circumstances and practical applications of Chinese users. For instance, some domestic users believe that the foreign ITIL standard focuses mainly on IT services, where the IT department is a service support department. However, when Chinese users implement ITIL, they add many functions. In other words, foreign ITIL applications emphasize project management, while domestic ones focus on functional realization, inevitably carrying a hint of seeking quick results. This mindset hinders the realization of ITIL’s essence and enterprise service objectives.
We find that IT construction in Chinese enterprises has entered a historical turning point, poised to realize two transformations: First, support for business should shift from focusing on solving problems to emphasizing overall effectiveness; second, in system construction, the focus should move from the ROI of each individual project to a benefit support platform woven around several key backbone systems. These advancements are an organic combination of correct management concepts, processes, and continuous system optimization. In this transformation process, the demand for service quality also becomes higher. In response, Broadview launched the Broadview COSS 3.0 Centralized Operation Support System. Based on the service lifecycle theory, it reassembles IT service management best practices, covering service strategy, service design, service transition, service operation, and continuous