Test environments are an essential part of any IT environment, providing a secure space where companies can test new software before releasing it to the public. With careful planning and consideration, you can ensure that your IT environment has all the tools and resources, including the correct test data, needed to run successful tests and ensure the quality of your solutions as they progress through the release cycle.

1. What Are IT Environments,and
Which Ones Do You Need?
As businesses become more distributed, cloud-driven, and agile, it becomes increasingly
important to maintain control over all of your IT environments. These IT environments play
an essential role in ensuring operational efficiency, but managing them can be a complex task
that requires careful planning.
At its core, an IT environment is simply a collection of IT assets that are grouped together for
a specific purpose. This can include IT systems, software tools, networks, and other IT
resources. Each IT environment typically has its own set of roles and responsibilities, with
some designed to support development work and others focused on production or operations.
If you're looking to select the IT environments that are right for your business, there are a few
key considerations to keep in mind. These include the IT tasks you need to complete, your
business goals and objectives, the resources available to you, and any compliance or security
requirements that may apply.
After reading this post, you will understand what IT environments are and why they matter
for businesses. In addition, we'll provide some tips on how to select which IT environment is
best suited for your business objectives.
What Is an IT Environment?
An IT environment is a term used to describe the various digital and physical computing
technologies that are used within an organization. Within this IT environment, you may find a

2. mix of different processes, systems, components, interfaces, operating system, and testing
labs, among other things.
In today's business landscape, most companies have multiple IT environments that can be
based on-premises or in the cloud. Some organizations also use hybrid IT environments that
leverage both on-premises and cloud infrastructure. This can include using resources from
more than one cloud provider such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
Given the complexity of IT environments today, it is important for businesses to carefully
evaluate their needs and match them with the right type of IT environment in order to
maximize their IT resources and achieve their business goals.
Types of IT Environments to Know About
The four most common IT environments that companies use today are as follows:
1. Operational environment
An IT operational environment, refers to the physical and virtual infrastructure that
companies use to support their IT systems. This includes hardware, software, processes,
practices, and services that all work together to power reliable applications at scale. IT
operations (ITOps) is responsible for maintaining this environment, ensuring its stability and
efficiency while minimizing operating costs. Without a robust IT environment in place, it can
be challenging to run reliable applications across an organization. Additionally, securing
networks can also be difficult without the right IT infrastructure in place.
Why use an operational environment?
Establishing a secure, dependable, and affordable network to back your business'
requirements is crucial if you utilize software and applications to run internal or external
processes. Therefore, an operational environment is necessary for any organization that falls
into this category.
2. Development environment
Development environments allow developers to safely create and iterate software without the
risk of harming users. Most development environments are run on local servers or machines.
Why use a development environment?
Development environments are useful when a team is actively working to improve software
or applications - this way, changes can be made without affecting the user's experience.
Most experienced developers today won't consider working for a company that doesn't
provide them with robust development environments and tools. So, if you want to attract the
best talent, make sure your company is able to support their needs.
3. Test environments

3. Test environments are essential for ensuring that software performs as expected before it is
released to real-world users. These testing environments allow software testing teams to
detect flaws and vulnerabilities in the software, as well as confirm that it meets all required
standards.
There are several different types of test environments, each suited to different stages of the
software development lifecycle and the type of software being tested. For example: Staging
Environment, Performance Testing Environment, Security Testing Environment, UAT
Environment, Integration Testing Environment & System Test Environment.
A test environment, or Test Bed, is a virtual space where you can check how well your
system performs under various conditions. The four main types of tests are performance,
chaos, system integration, and unit tests.
Although test environments don't need to be an exact copy of a production environment, it is
beneficial to make them similar. By doing so, you can have a clear understanding of how the
software will work after you introduce it to your users.
Why use a test environment?
Test environments are an essential part of any IT environment, providing a secure space
where companies can test new software before releasing it to the public. By slowing down the
pace of production in order to perform rigorous testing, and effectively run through your test
cases, companies can reduce rework and user complaints after a software release.
To determine whether a dedicated test environment is necessary, or what types of test
environment are necessary, it is crucial to have an open discussion with your DevOps or
product team about your testing strategy.
With careful planning and consideration, you can ensure that your IT environment has all the
tools and resources, including the correct test data, needed to run successful tests and ensure
quality of your solutions as they progress through the release cycle.
4. Production environments
A production environment is where software is released to users or customers. A production
environment is the last step in software development, but even after the release it still needs a
lot of ongoing monitoring, testing, and refining. DevOps teams use production feedback to
make sure the 'live' software works well and meets users' needs.
Why use a production environment?
Ultimately the production environment is necessary to ensure all yours customers, internal or
external, can access, or benefit form, the solution either directly or indirectly. And off course
the Production Environment holds the production data.
Challenges That Can Derail Your IT Environments

4. IT & Test environments are a vital part of any company, and it’s crucial to ensure that they
operate smoothly. Here are some of the top challenges that businesses run into today when
managing IT environments.
System outages
IT systems are often very complex, making them vulnerable to outages. Unfortunately,
system outages can be extremely costly and adversely impact the user experience. In
production this can have a negative effect on your brand and reputation. In a Test Bed it can
result in delivery delays. To avoid outages, it’s important to focus on building a resilient
environment with full disaster recovery and seamless failover capabilities.
Slow and inefficient systems
If IT & Test environments lack resources then they can easily become overwhelmed,
especially if your team is running multiple workloads and tests simultaneously (as often
found if doing performance tests). In order to prevent conflict, you should have real-time
monitoring and alerts along with strong communication methods in place. You may also want
to circumvent contention proactively with Test Environment Booking protocols.
Weak Security
Having a large IT landscape comes with the drawback of having to keep track of more
identities, both human and nonhuman. If you're not careful, these requesting parties can gain
access to too many sensitive areas they shouldn't have permissions for. From there, it's only a
short jump to exploit your resources for privacy or security breaches.
To avoid this, you should protect your IT & Test environments with a strong identity access
management (IAM) policies and ensure you understand the risks so you don’t lose track of
who has access to your sensitive data and environments.
*Be careful its not uncommon for sensitive data, production data, to be found inside Test
Data. Make sure you employ solid Test Data Management techniques like Data Masking to
avoid the opportunity for data loss or theft.
Lack of Automation
Automation is an essential component for managing IT & Test environments effectively.
Without automation, your IT team must do everything manually, which can be
time-consuming and prone to error. This can lead to issues such as IT outages, disruptions in
service, or even data breaches.
Additionally, without automation, your IT environment may not be able to keep up with the
delivery demands of your business. As your organization grows and evolves, so must your IT
environment.
Over-proliferation
Without careful management, IT resources can quickly become out of control and lead to
increased operational costs.

5. The only way to prevent excessive growth is to manage all your IT resources from one
primary place. This gives you a better understanding of what your workers are using, what
there not using and how much environment operations costs.
Resolving IT Environment Challenges
If you’re looking to overcome these challenges and create an efficient IT & testing
environment that supports your business needs, consider working with a trusted IT partner
that is experienced in management of production environments and managing test
environments.
Partners that can help you implement the necessary IT & Test Environment Management
Tools and processes to achieve your goals.
With the right IT solutions in place, you can ensure that your IT environment & Testing
Environment is scalable, fully-visible, and highly automated, so that you can stay competitive
in today’s fast-paced business climate.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, a resilient IT and Test Environment is crucial to supporting your
business needs. To achieve this, it is important to focus on building a robust environment that
includes full disaster recovery capabilities, as well as real-time monitoring and alerts for any
potential issues. Additionally, it is critical to have strong security policies in place and to
make use of tools and processes for effective IT & Test Environment management. With the
right approach, you can ensure that your IT environment is optimized, efficient, and able to
keep up with the changing demands of your business.
Enov8: A One-Stop Shop for IT and Test Environment
Management
Looking for a solution that will help you manage your IT Environments across the
delivery life cycle? Why not have a look at Enov8 Environment Manager, an IT & Test
Environment Management platform that helps organizations uplift productivity, across
production, test & development, through better observation of your systems, centralized
planning and coordination, operational standardization, and orchestration.
To see how Enov8 can revolutionize the way you manage your environments, take the
platform for a test drive today, download our free 3 months “Kick Start Edition.

6. Contact Us
Company Name: Enov8
Address: Level 2, 447 Broadway New York, NY 10013 USA
Email id: enquiries@enov8.com
Website: https://www.enov8.com/