#Efficiency in operation how to#
#Efficiency in operation manual#
#Efficiency in operation code#

“The mistake that many leaders make is forcing their own experience onto other team members,” Prow says.

#Efficiency in operation how to#

“Beyond scalability, automation also significantly reduces human error from the equation,” he adds.Įvery IT leader possesses specific skills on how to run a project. When IT automates processes, the department is better positioned to scale in pace with enterprise expansion, support growing infrastructure needs and even handle a larger number of IT help desk requests, explains Kevin Prow, CIO of TempWorks Software, which offers recruiting, staffing and payroll processing products. “This can do tremendous harm to their organization, especially if the business is in a growth mode with an expectation to scale IT operations.”

#Efficiency in operation manual#

“IT leaders often fall into the trap of thinking they can’t invest in automation, mostly due to a lack of understanding the cost tradeoff between automating IT processes and continuing with their manual approach,” he explains.

#Efficiency in operation code#

IT leaders should consider automating recurring IT processes, such as code deployments, configuration management and quality testing, recommends Brandon Evans, CTO at Yapta, a Seattle-based company that tracks airfare and hotel prices for corporate customers. He believes that such services make IT organizations more agile while allowing teams to take advantage of best-of-breed solutions to satisfy ever-changing business requirements. Just about any IT organization can become more efficient by taking advantage of the cloud/SaaS offerings, states Bob Worrall, Juniper Networks’ CIO. “Too many IT departments are perceived by the business as just cost centers and business inhibitors rather than a true partner that will help creatively think of ways that things could be done differently.” 4. There’s an underlying assumption that business and IT leaders have collaborated on and projected the IT needs for the upcoming year, rather than just replicating last year’s IT plan or developing an IT plan in a vacuum without the business side’s input, says Matt Mead, CTO of digital design agency SPR. “This is accomplished through relationship building, stakeholder management, communications strategies, program management, metrics, skill capabilities, cultural alignment to goals, and organizational changes.” “If a technology leader can state clearly how their technology choices have impacted ROI, business leaders will listen and see the line that is drawn from cost to benefit,” she explains. “This kind of approach often leads to tools and services that are not adapted to their users’ needs and misses out on IT’s new mission: enabling the business and uncovering new streams of revenue.”Įssential for achieving maximum efficiency is connecting with business stakeholders, helping them to understand and support enterprise goals, says Colleen Campbell, a director in the operations excellence practice at West Monroe Partners, a business and technology consulting firm. “There are so many new capabilities hitting the market, and this can cause IT organizations to become gridlocked in decision making,” observes Merim Becirovic, IT managing director at business and technology consulting firm Accenture. Many IT leaders have fallen into a habit of focusing on technologies rather than on the customers they serve. “Moreover, complete visibility enables IT operations to drive successful digital transformations, such as cloud migration, data center consolidation or a critical application rollout.” 2.

“Visibility improves collaboration between development and operations teams by helping developers better understand how their code is working in production, as opposed to their test environment,” Matthews notes. Data analysis can also be used to pinpoint lurking problems before they become apparent. To bring the right focus on effectiveness and experience, Krishnamurthy recommends understanding and managing cost to serve across three core categories: optimizing to reduce cost to serve the business, re-engineering to drive effectiveness, and pushing to improve experiencesĮquipping teams with relevant, actionable data will allow them to rapidly identify and resolve issues that threaten availability and performance. “To be more efficient, focus efforts on improving effectiveness and experience,” advises Kumar Krishnamurthy, a principal with PricewaterhouseCooper’s strategy consulting group. Restoring traction to stalled efficiency initiatives requires commitment and vision. Often, despite careful planning, efforts at building efficiency fail to meet anticipated goals and key operations remain mired in mediocrity with wheels spinning in the mud.

Yet seeking efficiency and actually achieving it to any meaningful degree are two very different things.

Every IT leader strives for efficiency - making the best possible use of available resources.