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IT Infrastructure Management: Best Practices and Key Challenges

By February 10, 2022No Comments12 min read
IT Infrastructure Management

IT infrastructure can be defined as a combination of network services, resources, hardware, and software. These components are required to manage and operate your IT environment. This is generally an internal part of every organization. It will help you in delivering IT solutions and services to your customers, employees, and partner. In this article, we are going to talk about IT infrastructure management in detail.

Components of IT infrastructure

The main components of any IT infrastructure are:

  • Hardware: This will contain the physical components of an IT infrastructure. Things like computers, routers, servers, switches, and data centers are known as hardware. These devices and machines will help you in operating your IT infrastructure. Facilities that you are using for housing, cooling, and powering a data center can also be considered as hardware.
  • Software: This will contain all applications that your business is using for delivering services to your customers. It will include the operating systems, web servers, CMS, productivity applications, and resource planning applications you are using. The Operating system is the most important software as it will connect the hardware with the software.
  • Network: Interconnected network components are very important for IT infrastructure. It will help you in establishing internal and external communication between elements and devices of an IT infrastructure. Your IT network will contain all hardware and software elements that are required to enable the firewall, network enablement, internet connectivity, and security. It will help you in reducing the chance of data breaches. Only authorized personnel will get access to your data. Thus, it will help you in securing your data from attackers.

Domains of an IT Infrastructure 

  1. User domain: It will contain all the end-users. This will include both your employees and your customers who have access to your business data.
  2. Workstation domain: It will contain all devices like computers and laptops that your end users are using. The workstation domain is used to show how the end-users will interact with your network.
  3. LAN domain: It will contain all the devices that are required to build the LAN. You need devices like access points, switches, Wi-Fi, hubs, and routers for enabling LAN connection.
  4. WAN domain: Wide area network will help you in connecting all the devices over long distances. WAN includes both internet and semi-private lines.
  5. LAN-to-WAN domain: This is the boundary line that is used to connect your Local area network with the WAN. You can separate both zones by using a firewall.
  6. Remote access domain: Your employees or vendors can work remotely. Thus, they will need access to your corporate LAN. This access can be provided by using VPN connections.
  7. System domain: This will contain all the technologies and applications that you need for conducting your business. It will include email, database, and other user-accessed servers.

What is IT infrastructure management?

IT infrastructure management simply refers to the management of technical and operational components of your IT infrastructure. This will include components like data, policies, facilities, processes, hardware, and software. These components are required for promoting your business effectiveness. IT infrastructure management is very complex in nature. Thus, it is categorized as a system, network, and storage management.

You should focus on aligning your business strategy with your IT infrastructure management. This will help you in using technologies in the right way. You can create real value by using the technologies. It is never a good idea to manage all your business lines separately. Try to bring the management of all IT servers, networks, security systems, applications, facilities, and storage in one place.

The main aim of IT infrastructure management is to give control to business owners. It will provide structure to the functions and processes that are used for doing various technical operations. You can reduce the duplication of effort by using IT infrastructure management. Good infrastructure management will help you in improving information flow, and cutting down your IT costs. It will also help you in ensuring compliance. You can minimize downtime and boost productivity by using IT infrastructure management.

Advantages of IT infrastructure management

  1. Enhanced performance

IT infrastructure management will help you in monitoring your network and systems. This will lead to better performance. It will also reduce the chances of outages and errors. You can quickly detect and remove system vulnerabilities. It will also help you in eliminating technology limitations. Thus, you can reduce downtime by properly managing your IT infrastructure. You can provide better IT services to your customers and employees.

  1. Boost agility

Cloud infrastructure and virtualized tools are offering various benefits to businesses. It will help you in managing your data. Thus, you can meet your client’s needs in the long run. However, they will also make your IT infrastructure more complex. This can lead to equal slowdowns. Businesses should maintain clear visibility if they want to optimize their operations. IT infrastructure management will ensure that your IT managers understand your computing equipment. This will help them in boosting your business agility.

  1. Increase productivity

You should ensure that all your IT solutions are on the same page if you want to increase your organization’s productivity. There are various solutions tailored that you can use for increasing your productivity. Unified communications technology is one of the solutions that can help you in increasing your employee productivity. UC uses multiple forms of communication like phone, email, and messaging. They will be unified into one solution. Thus, you can easily spread information in your organization.

According to a report from MarketsandMarkets, the UC market was worth around 25$ billion in 2020. It became even more important after the pandemic. There is a huge demand for these types of solutions. You should try to implement UC in your company. This will help you in ensuring that you know what is happening in your company. It will also help you in increasing the productivity of your employees. They can work from anywhere in the world if you have UC solutions. Thus, you can enable remote work by proper IT infrastructure management.

  1. Cost savings

If you are managing your IT infrastructure, then you can easily predict your budget. It will help you in avoiding disasters. This proactive approach will help you in reducing downtime. It will also help you in minimizing disasters. Thus, you can save a lot of money which is generally lost due to unexpected disasters.

  1. Improved customer and employee experience

If you are using the right IT management tools, then you can easily check the state of your IT environment. It will help you in creating a better experience for both your customers and employees. You can avoid unexpected downtime by using the right IT management tools. This will also help you in preparing your end-users for any planned downtime. Planned downtimes are required for maintenance purposes.

  1. Strengthen networks

If you are investing in a good network solution, then it will increase your computing power. It will also make your data center more functional. This is a very important step if you want to quickly complete your tasks. It will help you in balancing your workloads. Network function virtualization is helping businesses in decreasing the necessary network hardware. Thus, it will help you in decreasing your network complexity. This will help you in improving your business processes.

Challenges of IT Infrastructure management 

IT infrastructure management is important for every business. However, it comes with its own set of challenges. IT professionals need to deal with these challenges if they want to optimize their IT infrastructure. Some of the common challenges of IT infrastructure management are:

  1. Outdated technology and systems

Systems can become obsolete easily as technology is changing rapidly. It is difficult to keep your systems updated. Upgrading your software and hardware frequently will help you in boosting your productivity. It will help you in enhancing your efficiency. You will have a competitive edge if all your systems are up-to-date.

  1. Faulty networks

Poor connectivity issues and faulty networks are other major challenges that you need to deal with. It is important to monitor your network performance in the digital age. Try to focus on improving network connectivity. This will ensure that your infrastructure management is keeping up with modern technology. The clients are going to be more demanding in the future. If you want to keep up with demand, then IT infrastructure management is very important for you.

  1. Data storage and management issues

Data collection has become simple in the digital age. You can easily collect data from your users. Thus, companies are now storing a lot of data. Managing this data is becoming a big challenge for organizations. Data loss is becoming common due to insufficient storage capabilities. If you have ineffective data management, then this problem will become even more serious. This can be extremely costly for your business. You should create a strategy for your business that will help you in using this storage space. This strategy will help you in managing your data.

  1. Scalability issues

This is another major challenge for businesses. Businesses generally need more IT expansion. However, this can lead to wastage if your usage drops. You should look for scalable infrastructure monitoring solutions. This will ensure that your system is always updated. You should adapt according to your business needs.

IT Infrastructure management Best Practices

  1. Evaluate your current infrastructure

You should first gather information from different sources. This will help you in checking your processes. It can help you in learning about a lot of new things. You can use this knowledge for determining business needs.

  1. Create clear goals

You can create operational and management standards after gathering knowledge in the first step. You need to personalize and customize standards and configurations. This will help you in creating standards according to your business needs. You should ensure that you are implementing these standards also. Most companies only focus on creating standards. However, you also need to focus on the implementation part. Make sure that you have established clear goals and standards.

  1. Monitor regularly

You should regularly monitor your operational and management standards. This will ensure that these standards are actually working for your organization. It will help you in proactively reacting to network and system issues. You can quickly resolve the network and system issues that are present in your IT network.

  1. Communication and documentation

Most companies are actually overlooking the documentation of their IT infrastructure management standards and configurations. However, this is a very important step. It is one of the most important practices. You must have documentation of the IT infrastructure management standards and processes. This will ensure that new IT professionals can easily get on board. They can check this document for learning about the practices that they need to follow. You should ensure that this document is properly communicated. Everyone should have access to this guide in your IT department.

Conclusion

This guide will help you in implementing IT infrastructure management. IT infrastructure management will help you in saving a lot of money. It will also give more flexibility to your organization. Good IT infrastructure management solutions will help you in increasing the productivity of your IT network. You can provide better services to your customers and employees. There are a few challenges that you will face during implementation. Thus, you should consider working with a good MSP for solving these solutions.

Experienced MSPs like Bleuwire can help you in managing your network and IT infrastructure. They will help you in optimizing your IT infrastructure. Thus, your employees and users will get the best customer experience. You don’t need to worry about manually managing your IT infrastructure. This is the best option for SMBs as they generally don’t have access to a large IT team. Bleuwire will give you access to the best tools and talent. They will help you in creating an optimized IT infrastructure. If you need more information regarding IT services, then you can contact Bleuwire.

Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™  services and solutions in how we can help your business.