Knocking The NOC: Enter The New Operations Center

The operational hub of any well-run and complex organization is a strong operations center. In IT, this function is often fragmented into pockets that tend to be too isolated. Such isolation is a principal cause of much of the chaos that characterizes IT, therefore leading to an eventual crisis of punitive outsourcing. To address the increasingly complex needs for delivering business value, the IT organization must consolidate and streamline these functions. Combine the service center (aka, the help desk or service desk) with a command center and condense operational tool ownership within this structure. Approximately 80% of the IT budget is spent on operations, and a frightening proportion of this 80% is wasted by inefficiency. A properly unified operations center will prove to be the single most powerful weapon against operational waste in IT.