* The Stovepiped IT organization
In recent newsletters (see the links below) we discussed some of the organizational issues that limit the success of the overall IT function and place a lot of stress on the network organization. In particular, we discussed how many IT organizations still continue to approach troubleshooting from a defensive perspective. A prime example is that in many IT organizations when an application is degrading it is still common to assume that the network is at fault. As such, valuable time is lost as the network group strives to prove that the cause of the degradation is not the network.
We are concerned that the ongoing stratification of the IT function will continue to make effective IT operations more difficult. Our concern stems in part from the fact that a lot of enhanced capabilities have been added to the IT function in general, and to the network in particular over the last few years. Within the network this includes security functionality such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, intrusion prevention systems, identity management and network access control. It also includes quality of service, storage-area networks, virtualization as well as optimization techniques such as compression, caching, differencing and protocol acceleration. Each new component of functionality brings along a set of unique technologies and processes. As a result, the IT organization is becoming increasingly comprised of silos. By the term silos, we mean groups of people who do not share tools, processes and goals. In many cases, there is also no common language across the silos. For example, inside the typical IT organization the term service is used in myriad ways.
In previous newsletters we stated out belief that senior IT management needs to implement the kind of organization and process changes that will minimize the impact of silos. However, to date we have not seen that happening. For example, in a recent survey we asked 253 IT professionals if their company had done a good job of aligning its IT infrastructure organization (networks, servers, security) with the application development organization. Only 14% said yes. We also asked if their company planned and funded IT initiatives holistically across all of IT. Only 8% said yes to that question.
In the next newsletter we will look at the specific topic of combining security and network operations. In the mean time, we would appreciate your input. Has your organization made any attempt to combine network and security operations into one group? If so, has it been successful? If you have not combined these functions, why not?
Further reading: When apps are slow, net managers are wrong until proven right; How to fix application performance issues: Organize an IT pow-wow
