FACTORS INHIBITING CHANGE
Particularly within large organizations, change is difficult. To better understand the resistance to change, we asked the Survey Respondents to indicate what factors will inhibit their organizations from improving the NOC. Their responses are shown in Figure 4.
FIGURE 4: Factors Inhibiting Change in the NOC
It was not surprising that the two biggest factors inhibiting change are the lack of personnel resources and the lack of funding. It is also not surprising that internal processes are listed as a major factor inhibiting change. The siloed NOC, the interest in ITIL and the need to make significant changes to NOC processes have been constant themes throughout this article.
The Management Systems Manager stated that her organization monitors network availability but does not monitor network performance. She added that her organization would like to monitor performance but “It is a resource issue. The only way we can monitor performance is if we get more people.” On a related issue, The Management Systems Manager said that due to relatively constant turnover in personnel, “Management vision changes every couple of years. Some managers have been open to monitoring performance while others have not believed in the importance of managing network performance.”
Even if her NOC does not begin to monitor performance, The Management Systems Manager doubts that the NOC will be able to meet the growing demand for its services a year from now. She said, “Hopefully the NOC will be allowed to scale. However, typically, growth in demand happens first and the growth of the NOC happens a lot later.”
CALL TO ACTION: THE NEXT-GENERATION INTEGRATED OPERATIONS CENTER
The market research that was presented in this article demonstrates that there is considerable dissatisfaction with the role currently played by the NOC, and as a result there is also widespread interest in making significant changes to the NOC. Given the interest in making significant changes to the NOC, this section will describe the key characteristics of a truly next generation NOC – one that integrates the operations of each component of IT.
An Integrated Operations Center (IOC) would not have to be housed in a single facility, nor would it necessarily have to be provided by a single organization within the IT function. However, independent of how it is organized, the IT professionals who work in an IOC must have a common language—e.g., everyone in the IOC has the same definition for the word, “service”--and common goals. Below is a listing of the other key characteristics of an IOC as well as a summary of where the bulk of IT organizations currently stand relative to each characteristic.
Efficient Processes: There is clear recognition on the part of the survey base that the NOC needs to improve its processes. There is also clear acknowledgement that the vast majority of IT organizations will use ITIL as part of their process improvement efforts. However, The Manufacturing Analyst summarized the feeling of many IT professionals when he said, “ITIL will make a difference, but probably not that big of a difference.” Focus on Performance: Today’s NOC is almost as likely to focus on performance as it is to focus on availability. This focus on performance will likely increase in the near term in part because placing greater emphasis on ensuring acceptable application performance for key applications is the strongest factor driving change in the NOC. However, as strong as the movement is to focus on performance, it is not universal. For example, as mentioned earlier, The Management Systems Manager pointed out that due to relatively constant turnover in personnel, “Management vision changes every couple of years. Some managers have been open to monitoring performance while others have not believed in the importance of managing network performance.” Skilled Staff: In general, the skill set of NOC personnel has been increasing and the majority of NOC personnel are now performing functions that until recently were considered to be Level 2 or Level 3 functions. However, while the skill of NOC personnel has generally been increasing, there is still room for improvement. For example, both The Manufacturing Manager and The Energy Manager discussed the limited skill set of their NOC personnel as well as the attempts that their organizations are undertaking to increase these skill sets. Automation & Intelligent Tools: Many NOCs have begun the shift away from having NOC personnel sitting at screens all day waiting for green lights to turn yellow or red. For example, The Management and Security Manager stated that his organization has implemented tools to automate most Level 1 issues. In addition, over a quarter of the NOC respondents indicated that their company has “eliminated or reduced the size of our NOC because we have automated monitoring, problem detection and notification.” This trend, combined with the trend to increase the skill set of NOC personnel, indicates that more intelligence is being placed in the NOC, and that intelligence is a combination of people and tools. Integrated Set of Tools: As was pointed out by The Manufacturing Analyst, having management tools that are not well integrated “is a fact of life.” This situation, however, may be changing, as The Manufacturing Analyst also expressed a common theme of the market research when he added that tool integration is one of the biggest issues his organization hopes to address with the NOC redesign project they currently have underway. Focus on Applications: NOCs currently have a significant focus on managing application performance. There is also very strong interest in having NOCs get better at managing application performance. As a result, it is highly likely that within the next two years the vast majority of operations centers will be managing application performance. Focus on Security: NOC personnel do not currently spend a lot of their time on security. However, two thirds of the survey respondents indicated that a growing emphasis on security will impact their NOC over the next 12 months. In addition, almost half of the Survey Respondents indicated that combining network and security operations will impact their NOC over the next 12 months. Being Proactive: In spite of the widespread interest in being proactive, the majority of the NOCs currently work on a reactive basis, identifying a problem only after it impacts end users. There is some evidence that this may be changing. For example, The Manufacturing Analyst expressed the feeling of many of the interviewees when he said that his organization has a project underway and that one of the goals of the project is to create a NOC that is more proactive.
The migration away from today’s stove-piped, reactionary NOC to an effective IOC that exhibits the characteristics described above will not be easy. This migration will require the active involvement of both the senior management as well as rank and file members of the operations function. Part of senior management’s role is to articulate a clear vision of the future role of the operations center, and to be the champion of that role, both inside of the IT organization as well as more broadly within the company. In addition, senior management must ensure the creation of a roadmap that leads to an effective IOC, and must also closely manage the journey.
While it is the role of senior management to create the vision and the roadmap, a major part of the role of the rank and file members of the operations function is to ground senior management in terms of what is possible in what timeframe. The rank and file must also work with senior management to establish a program composed of formal training, on-the-job training, and job rotations that leads to increasing and broadening the skills of the operations group. In addition, the rank and file must embrace change, as their jobs five years from now will have very little in common with what their jobs were five years ago.
Jim Metzler the Vice President of Ashton, Metzler & Associates and focuses on the broad range of issues that impact an organization's ability to ensure acceptable application performance.
