The document discusses how IT service management (ITSM) and integrated operations automation (IOA) can help align IT with business needs by linking people, processes, and technology. ITSM frameworks like ITIL provide models for mapping IT services and processes to prioritize resources according to business priorities. IOA aims to introduce automation to replace manual IT tasks, freeing up staff for higher-level work. By integrating operational elements across technology, processes, and organizational silos, IOA can help achieve comprehensive automation and more efficient, scalable IT service delivery aligned with business goals.

1. “Aligning IT & the Business” Through IT Service Management
Linking People, Process and Technology to drive Integrated Operations Automation
by John F. Scott, VP of Marketing & Product Development
RealOps, Inc.
The IT Operations Dilemma
Businesses today more than ever before have become critically dependent on the
infrastructure and business applications that support key operational functions across
the enterprise. It is therefore no surprise; one of the greatest mandates facing IT today is
to align itself more fully with the needs and priorities of the business. In a very real
sense, such alignment can mean the difference between success and failure for the
business. Yet, the vast number of technologies, platforms, security considerations, etc,
in addition to procedural complexities and organizational fragmentation has resulted in a
growing chasm between IT and the business. Add to this the financial realities in which
IT is being expected to ‘do more with less’, and the dynamics combine for a daunting
challenge.
These same dynamics have given rise to a number of the most contemporary paradigms
& pervasive industry buzzwords, to include the likes of Utility or Grid Computing,
Business Service Management (BSM) and ITIL (the IT Infrastructure Library). ITIL is in
fact a prescriptive guide for performing IT Service Management (ITSM), which has
become the de facto framework for describing all facets of operational process within IT.
Through ITIL and ITSM, IT can drive toward a clear vision in which it increases
operational process maturity and becomes more responsive to business. In turn,
process maturity and operational discipline set the stage for implementing data center or
‘run book’ automation, something RealOps refers to as ‘Integrated Operations
Automation’ (IOA). This article explores the questions ‘How does ITSM provide a real
world solution to the challenge of aligning IT to the business?’ and moreover, ‘How do
you deploy ITSM & IOA in practice to drive tangible value?’
A Recent History of Innovation
The subtle underpinnings of the IT Operations challenge cannot be overstated or over-
simplified, and indeed, there is growing awareness and effort in the market to deliver
next generation solutions to help combat this problem…or at least, specific parts of the
problem. One of the more prominent of such efforts over the past several years is that of
Utility or Grid Computing – alternatively known by terms such as On Demand
Computing, IT Virtualization, Adaptive Enterprise and Agile IT amongst others.
Irrespective of the title, the pervasive theme is the idea of dynamically linking
computational resources and delivering them in an automated, real-time, as needed or
‘utility-like’ fashion. And indeed, many technological innovations toward this vision have
occurred over the past several years. And yet such technologies have been slow to gain
market penetration, despite the promise of dramatic operating efficiencies. Thus, this
begs the question “why?” The answer harkens to the underlying reality that it is not
simply a function of technical feasibility or capability in question. The much more
relevant if not critical element to driving the type of automated IT environment is how do
you maintain proper procedural controls and operational integrity while implementing
large scale automation? In other words, the real question isn’t ‘can I’, but ‘should I’, and
if so, under what circumstances and how? An overly simplistic answer is to integrate
service management technology and procedural design into a delivery vehicle that
enables automation for the targeted IT infrastructure and operational functions. But this

2. implies broad sweeping implications linking process and technology, along with the
people that utilize both. And in a very real way, this much change to a mission-critical
production environment invites potential disaster.
Interestingly, this concept and vision of driving a fully automated IT infrastructure is
actually somewhat dated, despite the fact it remained largely conceptual in nature for the
past several decades. In the earlier days of Mainframe and Mid-range Computing,
similar concepts prevailed under the moniker of ‘Light’s-out Operations’ and other similar
terms. These descriptive titles accurately alluded to a state of broad sweeping
automation across mission-critical IT operations, whereupon operations staff are
outmoded in result to the automation, and the lights are ‘turned off’ throughout the data
center. Technological innovations, from the Internet and WAN’s to the advent of
Client/Server and later Web Server-based Distributed computing models, rapidly
overtook such strident efforts for rigor, stability and discipline inside the operations
environment. In many ways, the IT community regressed in process maturity, largely in
the name of innovation and responsiveness.
But over the past several years, through the experiences of such tragedies as 9/11,
hurricane Katrina, or any of the various security penetrations and largely publicized
service outages prominent brands have endured, the focus for ensuring appropriate
controls within IT has gained a renewed level of attention as a strategic objective. And
many wonderful vendor technologies have been brought to market to help company’s
better address many of these challenges. Yet, most such solutions still tend to apply
very specific focus to the solution. Some apply particular emphasis on certain layer(s) in
the technology stack (networking, security, storage, servers, databases and
applications), while others place focus on key operational disciplines such as Event,
Configuration or Change Management. While each of these approaches offers a valid
and potentially valuable solution to its area of specific focus, there remains a gap in the
larger dynamic of affecting holistic integration across all layers of technology and all
facets of operations function upon which IT Service Management and the vision of
‘Light’s out Management’ rests.
The Next Evolutionary Step
Integrated Operations Automation at its root conveys the concept of bridging the various
technological and procedural elements across the IT Service Management spectrum into
a fully orchestrated capacity, from which comprehensive automation is attainable. IOA
represents a vision that can only be realized through incremental steps over time,
progressing further and further away from manual toward automated operations.
But the question still remains how to affect broad reaching automation without
compromising the integrity, flexibility and responsiveness required by Operations. The
answer to this lies with tightly integrated operations. But to fully understand the concept
of Integrated Operations itself, it is imperative to first highlight the key precept of
automation. There are three core elements central to any IT function (or any business
function): People, Process & Technology.

3. Automation represents the concept of utilizing technology to replicate the processes or
activities that are otherwise performed manually, in order to drive speed, quality and
efficiency across operations. This is not to say that human labor is removed entirely from
the overall business function. In many cases, automation is implemented for specific
portions of routine, repeatable ‘sub-functions’. A perfect example of this exists in today’s
automotive assembly line, which leverages a high degree of machine-based automation,
while still depending on human labor to handle the more complex, unregulated functions.
In this context, IOA promotes the notion of introducing automation to replace manual
execution for the highly repetitive tasks or functions inside IT operations, freeing up
human-based labor to provide higher-level analytics and functioning, in order to ensure
continuity and holistic delivery of service. Yet, automation itself implies full and complete
awareness, structure and predictability of process, which has generally ‘created the rub’.
At its most basic level, ‘Integrated Operations’ is the concept of bringing together the
various functional, procedural, technological and labor-based elements of IT Service
Management into a finely tuned engine that operates as a single entity. But for most who
have experienced or even witnessed an Operations environment first hand, this simple
notion couldn’t be more complicated in practice. The proliferation of technology itself
across all layers, to include networking, security, servers & OS platform, storage
systems and web/middleware / messaging / business level applications adds a degree of
technical complexity today that IT has never faced before. Moreover, each of these
technical components is subject to the numerous process functions associated with IT
Service Management.
One standard that is closely aligned with IT Service Management and that has gained
worldwide prominence in outlining these disciplines is the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL),
as mentioned above. Others have also arisen in an effort to outline best-practice models
and frameworks by which to make sense of the deeply complex task of delivering IT
Services. The fundamental components of the ITIL framework are apportioned into two
areas: Service Support (Incident, Problem, Configuration, Change and Release
Management) and Service Management (Capacity, Availability, Service Level, Continuity
and Financial Management). The following graphic illustrates a simplistic, adapted model
for the cross segmentation of technology by functional discipline:

4. This framework is further complicated by the realities of role-based fragmentation inside
each company, codified through unique organizational structure. Each enterprise
environment generally includes such organizational components as the Customer
Support or Help Desk, a Network Operations Center (NOC), Advanced Operations and
varying Engineering functions with specific technical focus. It is also fairly common to
find some degree of functional focus as well (such as Security groups, Storage groups,
Application support teams, Inventory and Provisioning departments, Change
Management specialists and the like). Hence, the objective associated with achieving
comprehensive operational integration is greatly challenged by organizational
fragmentation along with procedural and technological delineations. The consequence is
enormous logistical if not outright political complexity, which creates a real impediment
for any effort to affect broad reaching integration, orchestration, and ultimately
automation. Yet this is precisely what must be done.
Summation
The catalyst of Integrated Operations Automation is the bridge that overcomes the
barriers of technology, process and organization (people) and unifies the parts into an
efficient, scalable and dependable delivery capability. Once the link is established
between technology, process and organization, it is then possible to begin viewing the
services being delivered to the business on a more holistic level. ITSM and ITIL provide
robust and normative models for mapping out these conditions. In turn, IT is empowered
to establish service level mapping in accordance with the priorities of the business and
for the first time has the capacity to prioritize resource allocations (both human and
technical) to the areas that matter most. This is generally what is meant from the term
Business Service Management (BSM) and correlated strategies and products. This,
more than anything else embodies the inherent value of the Integrated Operations
Automation framework. In practical terms, that value is streamlining IT operations
management by integrating a vast array of systems and network management tools
across operational disciplines, while automating repeatable operational process to

5. eliminate time-consuming, manual activities for Operators. Combining best-of-breed
NMS technology with best practice ITIL processes to deliver a robust integrated
operations solution sets the stage for comprehensive management across the IT service
delivery spectrum.
About the Author
John F. Scott is Vice President, Marketing and Product Development for RealOps, Inc.
In this role, his responsibilities include providing vision and direction for the company
and managing the roadmap and development of the company’s product portfolio. Mr.
Scott previously served as Vice President, Product Development with NTT/Verio where
he had overall product management and engineering responsibility for the Enterprise
Hosting product suite. Prior to this, Mr. Scott co-founded and served as Vice President,
Marketing for SevenSpace, an IT outsourcing leader. Previously, Mr. Scott served as the
Vice President, Strategy & Business Planning for Digex, overseeing finance, facilities,
legal and IT. He also served as acting CFO/CIO for the seven months prior to his
departure. Prior to joining Digex, Mr. Scott began his career as a Senior Consultant in
the Washington, DC telecom industry practice within Andersen Consulting. Mr. Scott
earned double degrees (B.S.B.A) from Georgetown University’s School of Business in
Finance and International Business.