Virtualisation: people and processes

In the last Industry Insight, I looked at practical challenges that were primarily related to the technology of a virtualised solution.

This remains an important concern during the planning, design deployment and operational phases of the solution, whether it is straightforward virtualisation or a full cloud computing project.

Necessary as this analysis and planning is, it is not the whole story. There are still issues involving business processes, policies and people that have to be examined and allowed for if the end results are to deliver full value on the investment.

The first step is to examine the actual business processes that are involved. Customers assume they have a sufficient overview of this complex issue, but all too frequently they don't have the fine detail required to turn an adequate solution into an effective one.

Most companies have a good understanding of their essential business needs and processes. But the devil is in the detail, and the outline of processes, workflow and the software that makes it all happen sometimes lacks the fine detail needed for a virtualised solution capable of delivering real value.

While there is usually complete accounting for the major, licensed software assets that a company uses, there are many smaller applications that may be developed in-house or installed by users to get the work done. Without a comprehensive IT management solution, such items are nearly invisible to the IT admin staff. Without knowing what these applications are and what the usage needs are, the virtualised solution can become overly complex or even unstable.

The next step is a thorough risk analysis of what processes and software are really necessary, rather than just “nice to have”. This exercise allows the optimisation of the solution and, more importantly, reduces overall risk. Such risk can involve aspects as obvious as lost production time, reduced productivity and diminished service delivery. On a more insidious level, the risk might involve compromised security of confidential data and systems.

Getting user buy-in is a matter of training and education.

Andrea Lodolo is chief technical officer of CA Southern Africa.

Building on knowing what the workers really use and whatever risk is associated with that usage, a company can then build a standard, best-practice model of its processes. This leads to policies that have to be communicated to workers, monitored and enforced. Once again, without the management software to audit and report on this, any such policy runs the risk of being ineffective.

While a great deal can be achieved with technology alone, it must be emphasised that such achievements can be hampered, or negated, if workers do not have a full understanding of the situation. User buy-in is essential for an effective solution in all areas of IT. As a matter of good governance and compliance, companies must also be able to check that users are really doing things by the book and not compromising security or productivity by circumventing policies.

Getting user buy-in is a matter of training and education. This, as most of us have learnt in practice, is often more arduous than all the complex technology issues that need to be resolved.

At this point, sceptical admin staff and executives might be asking: 'Is a virtualised solution really worth the effort?' A lot of the issues around processes, planning, policies and usage are exactly the same as those that are all too familiar in the context of internal networks that don't use virtualisation.

There are, however, good reasons to go with virtualisation, outsourcing and full cloud computing solutions, which is why this has become a major trend in the industry.

In all these cases, the business can reduce costs and improve operations. The costs of hardware and licensed software assets can be reduced, along with the related costs of managing and maintaining those resources. Virtualisation can reduce the need for banks of servers and the need for many copies of licensed software running on individual machines. Cloud solutions can offer even better results in this area.

At the same time, a properly planned and managed virtualised solution can improve productivity and service delivery. This not only builds value, but also creates competitive advantage.

Finally, virtualisation offers a cost-effective but very flexible and scalable solution. This is a compelling advantage when compared with the inflexible, end-to-end network solutions that dominated the market previously.

The company that effectively deploys a virtualised solution of whatever type or complexity will achieve immediate savings and improvements, as well as establishing a platform for future growth. Then there is a range of added value possibilities that depend on the specific business needs and challenges that companies face.

This is why companies and organisations of all sizes are taking virtualisation very seriously.

It has to be remembered, nevertheless, that all the potential of virtualisation and cloud solutions depends on managing processes and the people who use them.

If there is not enough analysis, planning, management and reporting, the solution will deliver less than expected in terms of results and might even be a burden on existing IT staff resources, rather than a solution that delivers better value well into the future.