Within the IT business, it is certain that things will continue to change. This is, in fact one of the reasons why many of us have chosen IT. It changes on a constant basis and we all thrive upon that change-which I certainly know is the case for me. I love change and what it brings, particularly within IT. With so much change afoot, it can be very difficult to gain a true picture and understanding of one's IT landscape and the processes associated with it. In short, it takes work, effort and desire to achieve what I term, IT Clarity.
The concept of IT Clarity is very simple: creating or having a clear understanding of where you stand in terms of IT. And this means your technology (the stuff), how you use that technology (procedures), and the processes in place (efficiencies) to ensure that the technology is doing what it's supposed to to bring its intended value to the organization. Tthe only way to know this for sure is to get clear about where you stand. This can be done in many ways via internal resources or by the use of outside services providers, or a combination thereof.
Much more in recent times than in the past, we see that organizations are reaching out to outside services providers for help in this regard. Organizations recognize that having clarity about their environments is not just a nice to do, but a requirement in order to be successful today to stay competitive and minimize risk to the organization. We have seen it from our own customers with increasing regularity where they are looking for help in evaluating and understanding their own IT environments.
At Vicom we work with our customers through a suite of services that include Audits, Assessments, Optimization Services and Best Practices Consulting. All of these services start by providing a very clear picture and understanding of the IT environment—and/or processes associated with that environment—and then give a very clear picture and often a road-map on what can be done to improve upon or remediate within their environment.
Many customers have varying degree of capabilities in this regards to providing these services themselves. Some are looking for that outside set of eyeballs view of their environment through assessment and audit services, and then will handle any remediation services themselves. Makes sense. Some are looking for someone to handle everything for them—assess and remediation—as they want a complete outside perspective. Some are very clear on the technology but need help in identifying or evaluating processes or vice-versa. All are good ways to get clear on what's happening within the IT environment and we applaud organizations that are taking steps to get the clarity they need.
We all know that it's difficult (some would say impossible) to propose and implement effective and efficient change unless you know precisely where you stand currently. So irrespective of if you get clarity through your own internal efforts or enlist the help of a trusted services provider, getting IT clarity is clearly the right thing to do.
Andy