1. Looking at the challenges that face a large heterogeneous IT infrastructure, in terms of security, scale, communication, IT literacy / competence, autonomy v standards, total cost of ownership, etc. This will be a mainly interactive / discussion based session giving the students the opportunity to reflect on the IT challenges within their own organisation. Alistair Sandford

2. UFEEP4-15-M – Week 5  Theory  Look at a range of infrastructure challenges  Practical  Evaluate which infrastructure challenges affect your organisation and the resulting impact

3. UFEEP4-15-M – Week 5  Alignment to the needs of the business  Flexible  Allow the business to effectively respond to change  Responsive to the needs of the business and deliver change in a timely manner  Cost effective  Help overcome the disconnect between the business and IT The organisational change/IT infrastructure disconnect: an opportunity for corporate performance gain The Bathwick Group, 27 th March 2006

4. UFEEP4-15-M – Week 5  Technology Sprawl  Number of Computers: desktops, laptops  Applications: number of apps, platform requirements  Data centres: servers, storage, power, cooling  Network: miles of cabling, multiple switches, routers  Geographical: sites(inc SOHO), time zones, languages  Number of users (employees & customers)  Administration, support, identity management, permissions

5. UFEEP4-15-M – Week 5  Caused by evolution of infrastructure  Piecemeal expansion, plugging gaps, papering over the cracks, tactical development rather than strategic  No individual person (or team) understands every area  Integration at all levels is often ‘flaky’  Multiple systems perform similar functions

6. UFEEP4-15-M – Week 5  Large attack surface  ‘Trust’ is more difficult to achieve  Increased risk of accidental error  More administrators - “too many cooks spoil the broth”  Harder to achieve appropriate levels of security (functionality v lockdown)  Security policies become overly complex, which then becomes restrictive

7. UFEEP4-15-M – Week 5  There is often little recognition of the value of the IT infrastructure? (until it breaks!)  There is routinely a disconnect between the business and IT  There are many drivers / stakeholders  users (employees and customers), business and IT strategy, competition, IT industry, managers...)  Very rare that everyone agrees (politics)

8. UFEEP4-15-M – Week 5  Diverse range of IT skills  Continually changing skills profile  IT does not allow users to stand still  Differing opinions of skills level

9. UFEEP4-15-M – Week 5  Many factors affect TCO  Support, Capital (hardware, software, services), Recurring costs (maintenance), Downtime, Environmental, Training  Some factors are hidden / difficult to calculate  No individual stakeholder owns all of the affected budgets and relevant SLA’s

10. UFEEP4-15-M – Week 5  People generally resist change  Majority prefer to avoid it  Some proactive try to block it  Infrastructure changes often provide no obvious benefit, just new ways of doing the same thing.  Different parts of the business may respond differently to each change dependant on needs and benefits  Managing change is key to IT success

11. UFEEP4-15-M – Week 5  Difficult to identify and achieve the balance  Correctly applied standards  Ease support burden, increase user confidence, reduce TCO, improve service levels  Overly strict standards  Restrict usability, inhibit business agility, increases TCO  Full autonomy  Offers unlimited usability, gives individual satisfaction, leads to chaos, causes confusion, inhibits business agility, increases TCO  Getting the balance right is an enabler - getting it wrong can be a business disabler

12. UFEEP4-15-M – Week 5  Knowing who to communicate with  Identifying which communication tools to use  Finding the best time to communicate  Avoiding communication overload  Getting your message heard above the noise  Most people are not interested in IT

13. UFEEP4-15-M – Week 5 ? alistair.sandford@uwe.ac.uk