by OpsLogix, on 25-Nov-2021 14:47:24
Microsoft's System Center Operations Manager, SCOM, is one of several monitoring platforms available on the market. It is widely adopted and has great potential to help you create a stable and robust IT environment. To succeed with that, however, is not always straightforward. To fully benefit from SCOM, the right resources need to be in place and optimized- time, competence, and money.
BUILD SCOM from scratch
Building and maintaining an IT monitoring environment is resource intense. Competence, time, and money are some of the most apparent resources required.
Attracting employees with the right experience is not easy today, as many companies struggle with the scarce SCOM expertise out there. Seniority is also often desired, making it even more complex to find enough and the right in-house staff.
Time and money, two related resources, are also more often than not limited to monitoring operations. IT professionals working within the field, specifically with SCOM, tend to find themselves in situations where time is insufficient.
The cost of bringing in extra help as consultants are high and mostly done under short-term projects. Due to data security, company standards, and policies, outsourcing activities or infrastructure is far from always an option.
Monitoring operations, therefore, often suffer as enough time and effort are not put into the critical activity. The monitoring activities and SCOM environment are built in a non-standardized way and thus become person-dependent.
Person-dependent solutions can, in turn, cause issues when new colleagues are hired or for consultants in time-limited projects. Without the right competence and enough resources, many organizations tend to have unsustainable monitoring, where parts of the environment are insufficiently looked after.
BUY a ready-to-use SCOM solution
To help organizations, no matter size, and industry, overcome the issues they might face related to the monitoring using SCOM, we have developed one solution - OpsLogix Digital Operations Framework and one service - OpsLogix Monitoring as a Service.
OpsLogix Digital Operations Framework consists of routines, processes, and technology for companies to apply. It's holistic, meaning we develop a solution for organizations where the focus is both on technological and organizational aspects of monitoring.
The Framework is bought as an implementation project where everything is set up, and after that, run internally by your organization.
OpsLogix Monitoring as a Service, MaaS, is an extension of the Digital Operations Framework. On top of the Framework, the MaaS is managed by OpsLogix, throughout its whole lifecycle.
This includes developing potential custom management packs, implementation of technology and processes, weekly support, regular follow-up meetings, new releases, and continuous improvements.
So, more precisely, how do our framework and service overcome the issues of the constraint of competence, time and money, that we know many organizations out there struggle with?
Stop re-inventing the wheel
There are several benefits to buying instead of building yourself. Re-inventing a wheel doesn't only relate to being creative on how you want to create your IT environment but all resources to execute that idea need to be in place. While it is a resource-intense job, you can instead rely on a proven, well-developed plan structure with all components already in place.
While time and effort are taken away from your infrastructure team, excess time can be used in more productive areas. Many times it's even more rewarding being proactive rather than reactive, as the number of incidents within the environment will decrease and a more robust, secure environment will be realized.
To automate and set up sustainable processes around automation in SCOM is not something that happens overnight. We have worked to optimize the SCOM platform for years and believe that this is a shortcut to monitoring success - no matter the industry you are operating in.
Benefit from aggregated competence
Our team are SCOM experts, some with a background more focused on IT consulting, some with development. We have been working with SCOM for over 15 years, within various industries and therefore are confident that we can help you set up and maintain state-of-the-art monitoring.
Through the many versatile projects we have been involved in, we gathered best practices that our Framework and Monitoring as a Service build upon that we share through these solutions. We help you become experts - this is not outsourcing, nor do we build people-dependent solutions! All ownership, processes, and infrastructure are kept in-house.
Ownership, Processes, and Infrastructure are kept in-house
A Framework or Service approach is beneficial because it:
- Improve monitoring processes
- Increase in-house monitoring skills and know-how
- Keep ownership of processes and infrastructure
Save time and resources
SCOM is time-consuming to work with. Mainly if you are not used to working with the platform. Except this, we know that the time given or allocated to monitoring practices is usually not proportional to their importance.
This tends to be the cause of two significant issues: insufficient monitoring and stress among the employees. Monitoring receives, more often than not, little or no priority. By either taking a Framework- or Service approach, you will free up time:
- Save time in daily operations
- Save time in R&D
- Spend less time working reactively - start being proactive!
Smart investment & financial transparency
To monitor the IT environment, most companies give the task to either in-house staff or external consultants - often on time-limited contracts. Internally, it's expected to require at least one full-time employee to manage the environment (for larger environments that need increase), which is rarely the case.
If instead, hiring a consultant, that cost is most likely higher than for the own staff and tends to be a temporary rather than a permanent solution. Thus, what can be expected is an expensive project resulting in a stable, robust environment - during a short time. Then what? Monitoring needs to be continuously prioritized. The Framework- or Service approach can help you by:
- Increase financial transparency
- Cost-efficient solution by economies of scale
- Fixed monthly rate
When to choose Digital Operations Framework?
The Digital Operations Framework is a pre-developed solution suitable for organizations that have a team with experience and time in place.
Though we develop potential custom management packs, and implement the framework for you, there is a need to have resources to manage it on a daily basis.
When to choose Monitoring as a Service?
If you lack competence or have other areas to prioritize, the service is a better option. Monitoring as a Service will take the burden of setting up monitoring operations, which is complex if you are new or inexperienced with SCOM. It will also decrease the day-to-day monitoring work, updating new releases, etc.
Though both solutions will free up time, Monitoring as s Service is without a doubt the way to go if time and SCOM experience are scarce resources within your infrastructure team.
Want to know more?
Are you curious to find out more about either the Digital Operations Framework or Monitoring as a Service we have some suggestions for you here!
