In the modern business world, IT is the most critical business resource, particularly when the best practice is to provide a secure, high-quality experience for customers, employees, and the company. IT management represents business remote and internal communication, and connectivity and secures all created and stored data.

An exceptionally managed IT system like Allari’s IDAITM method keeps a business up and running productively and efficiently. It includes securing, managing, and monitoring all the processes, procedures, applications, and tools and enforces security and access rules. Following best practices for IT management helps a business run more productively, keeps business data secure, and better serves both employees and customers.

This guide describes the impact of IT Management on business productivity, how to identify issues, reduce costs, and improve business operations.

What impact does IT management have on a business?

IT management has always been critical to business success – its heart and soul – but with the ever-changing and innovative technological improvements today’s modern businesses face, IT is now also responsible for the business’ agility, efficiency, productivity, and security. When IT doesn’t function, employees can’t work, and customers lose access to websites, apps, portals and service. Using IT best practices enables businesses to operate securely and productively regardless of size.

Today’s successful business thinks of IT not as a cost center, but as a business partner that drives business revenue and success.

IT management includes effective and efficient management of these critical areas:

• Assets and Services
  • Implementing new applications and tools
  • Business data 
  • Users and account access
  • Maintenance and upgrades
  • Implementing new technology
• Security 
  • Access to assets
  • Users and account access
  • Data security
  • System Security
  • Keeping up to date on security patches across the business
• Customer service operations 
  • Access to customer-facing portals, websites, apps and communication channels
• Performance metrics
  • Measuring performance across the business to improve efficiency
• Ensuring standards and applicable regulatory requirements are met
  • Keeping the business, employees, and users in compliance with a wide variety of standards and required legal regulations

IT best practices include:

• Using an IT Framework or ITSM (IT Service Management) Software to create a more consistent and uniform set of IT assets and expectations
• Establishing/defining clear business goals and objectives for IT creates consistent progress
• Instituting effective measures/metrics to determine performance with metrics to track goal effectiveness
• Security is the number one priority – a must-have for business survival
• Customer service operations support: customer experience significantly impacts business success

What are options for identifying and reducing operational costs?

Performance metrics are a key part of business tracking goals and objectives. Well-managed IT service systems use them to evaluate business processes, workflows, and system impacts. A best practice is to implement consistent system monitoring and identifying areas where you can maximize your budget.

Useful metrics for monitoring performance and/or business objectives include:

• Cost
  • How much is your IT spend? Determine costs for solving IT issue tickets, new technology implementations, maintenance and customer service operation maintenance. Analyze metrics to find cost or time savings in IT services.
• Productivity 
  • Determine how IT can improve business processes through AI automation and save employees time spent on non-critical tasks while also reducing costs.
• Service Level
  • How much downtime does the organization experience per service system? Find out the percentage of time established, if IT SLAs are met and if overruns are costing the business time and/or money.

Consider implementing AI technology to track costs and productivity metrics automatically. AI can be as simple as employing GPS trackers, wearables, smartphones, or device apps that measure behaviors over time. For example, shipping businesses may use a GPS tracker to monitor delivery data. GPS can monitor truck speed, driving tendencies, and delivery speeds and times. 

With the move to more remote work, AI can assist IT professionals in tracking any downtime on systems and services automatically. Issues are tracked and fixed right away to ensure remote work productivity and cost effectiveness

If metrics indicate you’re wasting too much and not providing sufficient or effective services, consider outsourcing some or all your IT management. Outsourcing IT management includes multiple benefits such as using cost-saving technologies while improving service levels across the organization.

Benefits of outsourcing IT management

The benefits of outsourcing IT management include:

• Ability to control IT budgets by only paying for what you use and need
• Reduced labor costs for highly qualified IT professionals
• Access to trained, experienced and certified IT professionals
• Faster and more efficient implementation of new technology
• Increased ability to support legacy IT systems at a lower overall cost
• Ability to stay up to date on cybersecurity protocols, upgrades and changes on the fly
• Free up time and energy to focus on the core business versus managing/tracking IT

Most IT vendors don’t outsource because it reduces their revenue. Allari understands outsourcing IT brings task automation and enables businesses to increase their overall productivity while improving business operations, thus reducing costs. Working with a partner like Allari who understands your business eliminates the need to recruit and train new qualified IT internal or external resources and pay for unnecessary tools.

Allari provides  24/7 support from a team of IT experts each working within their specialty. Your IT infrastructure is their business and their responsibility to keep it managed, up to date, and running at a high level. With 24/7 coverage support across the business, users can receive access to the tools required consistently.

IT Management is Complex and Constantly Evolving

Business system IT management is highly complex and always changing. Keeping a keen eye on all the details requires a dedicated team of experts. When complex software systems break down, it adversely affects employee productivity and the business's bottom line.

IT outsourcing services supply qualified experts in everything – new, old and legacy – who can solve your complex IT issues and keep your business running productively.

Are you ready to adapt and thrive?

Business success depends on finding a trustworthy outsourcing IT and software development partner who can work with you side-by-side. Allari values flexibility and honest, open communication, clear contract terms and full transparency, to help increase innovation and customer experience levels and move your company ahead of the competition.

Allari can build a trusting relationship with your company and provide access to experts when you need them, to help you adapt and thrive in changing times. We’ll tweak your tech and take your company to new heights!

Our 60+ specialists are experts in J.D. Edwards and 80 other business technologies, and they know them inside and out. Our specialists’ knowledge and experience position Allari to help with your business needs from day-to-day production issues or full-scale digital transformation projects.

Get in touch! Schedule a free consultation to discuss the IT problems you need to solve or the digital projects you want to accomplish and get started.