When it comes to today’s business challenges, ask pretty much any technology company out there and they’ll all say the same thing: how can we be better, smarter, faster?
As part of this exploration, companies are analyzing business metrics and looking at how they can be more agile, improve their internal processes and rapidly manage resources. One way to do that is to implement a self-service IT portal. Providing an Amazon-like experience, it’s easy to manage and gives the user plenty of self-sufficiency.
Challenges and Benefits
When attempting to automate the flow from various departments, it’s often the case that not everyone is speaking the same language – networking and computer teams, for example, all operate in their own world, with their own approach and products unique to their individual team’s needs.
But in the cloud-automated environment of self-service IT, deployments and changes are managed by workflow. So, for example, compared to the old way of doing things, how a new product is evaluated has been transformed; the emphasis is now on the integration capabilities with the cloud management platform, APIs available for extensibility, and the time-to-value associated with integrating into your private cloud. Traditional criteria such as UI usability, single-pane management, and integrations that work well with other cloud stacks not utilized in your environment should fall low in priority or be removed from evaluation criteria.
In addition, converging IT organizations and organizing them around services instead of technology stacks also enables employees to better understand how other departments work and develop different sets of skills, making them more valuable – and marketable – members of the organization. Plus, with everything being moved to the cloud, if you don’t get on board, you’re going get left behind.
Making the Transition
A smooth transition to a self-service IT portal first requires determining which operating system best supports your needs. VMware offers an array of support for a successful self-service IT portal experience.
Next, companies need a plan for how they’re going to build, execute and manage it. Some companies understand the cloud, big data, and the big picture of implementing a self-service IT portal as an organizational strategy. And yet others don’t know where to start. That’s why it’s best to call in a consultant with self-service IT experience that can help determine what is needed both short-term and long-term.
How We Can Help
At Rolta AdvizeX, we pay attention to topics that keep coming up from our customers, what they’re buying, and what they’re looking to do with their technology solutions. This means we’re always at the forefront of new trends and approaches, and self-service IT portals are no different. As part of our self-service IT support, we offer deep technical expertise and a bigger tool belt customers can choose from – strategic consulting, roadmap building, technical planning, implementation, and management. We take them all the way through the process from start to finish and then we stick around to make sure things continue to run smoothly through Managed Services.
With proper planning and a keen understanding of how the various moving parts work, getting a self-service IT portal up and running can be done easily and efficiently – benefitting many departments company-wide. ▪