Your IT infrastructure can be more than just a service - it can be a crucial strategic asset to your organization. Microsoft developed the Infrastructure Optimization Model (IOM) as a gauge for organizations and provides a logical roadmap to progress from reactive to proactive IT service management that IronTech provides to businesses all over Houston and Dallas.
What category does your IT currently fit in?
- Basic - You’re fighting fires
- Standardized- You’re gaining control
- Rationalized - You’re enabling your business
- Dynamic - Your IT infrastructure is a strategic asset
Most of our clients come to us somewhere between a Basic or Standardized infrastructure level. This is what IronTech likes to refer to as a “Reactive” state. At the Basic level, the company is either has a server (or needs one) but all PCs are still on a workgroup rather than a domain. They is no IT policy in place and each machine is managed locally by the user. There is no Active Directory (central management). At the Standardized level, the company has at least one server and all computers on the network are joined to the domain and using Exchange. Beyond that, there is not much standardization because there are no active IT policies in place to manage the environment. At some point in time, an IT guy setup the environment but since then it has never been managed or even backed up correctly. These companies have been fighting fires daily until they call us.
IronTech then takes these clients to the Rationalized level overnight. This is no exaggeration. Our certified technicians can typically resolve whatever issues or misconfigurations exist in a network within 8 hours (1 business day). Then we setup our proactive monitoring of disk space levels, event log monitors, CPU and page file monitors, daily spyware and virus scans, weekly disk defragmention, daily backup monitoring, and a number of other proactive measures on all servers, desktops, and laptops. Now the company is in a “Proactive” state because they are no longer fighting fires. Issues are no longer popping up every day that brings business to a halt. Whenever a user has an issue, an IronTech technician is just a phone call or trouble ticket away and can fix most issues that might crop up in an average of 45 minutes. This is a real figure based on our current ticket resolution rate for our clients.
Finally, our clients realize how important having a properly managed Proactive IT environment is and are elevated to the “Dynamic” level. Their company is fully aware of the strategic value their infrastructure provides in helping them run their business efficiently and staying ahead of competitors. It connects people, processes, and information in a way that drives results for the company. IronTech not only provides the support, but also the direction for the IT infrastructure of the company as it grows. This “Dynamic” level of IT is the ultimate goal for IronTech for all our clients.
There are 5 criteria that improve and evolve as a company reaches each level:
Identity & Access Management - The solutions in place that should be implemented to manage and protect identity data (synchronization, password management, and user provisioning, etc), and how to manage access to resources from corporate mobile users, customers, and partners outside of a firewall. An example IronTech always used to describe this is going from a workgroup environment to a domain environment using Active Directory technology built-in to Windows Server platforms such as Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Small Business Server, etc.
Desktop, Device, and Server Management - The solutions in place to manage desktops, mobile devices, and servers as well as how to deploy patches, operating systems, and applications across the network. This criteria also provides guidance on how you can leverage virtualization and branch office technologies to improve your IT infrastructure. IronTech’s managed services systems will provide this part of your IT infrastructure.
Security and Networking - The solutions implemented in your IT infrastructure to help guarantee that information and communication are protected from unauthorized access. These solutions have mechanisms to protect your IT infrastructure from denial attacks and viruses while preserving access to corporate resources. Believe it or not, IronTech has run across clients that were using consumer grade routers in their environment instead of business grade routers such as Cisco, Sonicwall, Checkpoint, Juniper, etc. and have helped migrate them to these business grade platforms for a robust network environment.
Data Protection and Recovery - The solutions in place to provide structured backup, storage, and restore management. As information and data stores proliferate, organizations are under increasing pressure to protect that information and provide cost-effective and time-efficient recovery when required. Clients at the Basic level sometimes do not even backup their environment. Standardized clients typically use single tape backup decvices coupled with industry proven software such as Symantec BackupExec. Clients that reach higher levels usually implement offsite tape backup rotations, image level backups, disk based backups, tape vault libraries, server or storage standby failover, or even system snapshots backed up offsite in 15 minute or greater intervals.
IT and Security Process - The processes in place to cost-effectively design, develop, operate, and support solutions while achieving high reliability, availability, and security. While rock-solid technology is necessary to meet demands for reliable, available, and highly secure IT services, technology alone is not sufficient; excellence in processes and people (skills, roles, and responsibilities) is also needed. This is an ongoing process that envelopes all other solutions above. Typically small businesses at the Basic level do not take into consideration or have the skill necessary to plan and implement these processes. When IronTech takes a client to the Rationalized level or higher, the role of creating these processes becomes a combination of IronTech and the people at the company working hand in hand to build the processes that ensure a secure, stable, and cost effective environment.
Tags: infrastructure optimization, IOM model, IT processes, IT security, reactive vs. proactive IT
