While this Damocles -based sword is undoubtedly a powerful motivating force, it is by no means one that encourages companies to view O as more of a nuisance or threat – a task that should do to economically and annoying for fear of large fine.
In another way: when acting based solely on obedience, OR may feel more ‘stick’ motivation than ‘carrot’.
Compare this to the project of achieving operational efficiency: a more attractive proposal that gives life to many efforts to achieve cloud and digital innovation. We regularly work with clients who spend seven and eight digit amounts to actively improve their efficiency, despite spending challengesimplementation, and management always faced with such schemes.
At a glance, stability and efficiency may seem like conflicting pillars in the search for operational improvements, as sad O regulators demand audits, inquiries, and costly remediation plans – which is quite the opposite of the sunlit highlands we often associate with good practices capable of enabling business growth. In reality, however, OR and efficiency often go hand in hand – good stability skills can improve efficiency, while movements toward better efficiency can equally contribute to the goals of OR. .
The dual benefit of an automated CMDB
The role of a stable CMDB is a prime example of how stability and reliability are two sides of the same coin. CMDBs are databases that provide visibility into different parts of your business processes; business applications and infrastructure, and the connections between them – including the different people, facilities, and technologies involved in each business process, not to mention the underlying cloud and legacy infrastructure that underpins all of this.
Clearly, these tools – especially when automated to provide accurate, timely information – can therefore play a large role in enhancing the stability of an organization: this level of visibility allows you to know how there can be disruption in one part of the organization. effect on another – enhancing your ability to avoid, adapt to, and recover from operational disruptions.
CMDBs aren’t everything and end -everything for OR, of course – like any tool, they require rigid processes and management – but it’s easy to see how well they do in the resilience landscape.
Importantly, however, CMDBs also have implications for more clearly useful projects of improved efficiency.
Having comprehensive visibility into your organization’s infrastructure not only highlights weaknesses-it’s also a useful way to make better business decisions, see opportunities for streamlining those process, and identify areas that would benefit from automation.
Consequently, while a robust CMDB can be an example of a tool acquired for potentially incredible compliance and business continuity reasons, it also serves as a powerful springboard for new levels of efficiency and (by extension) growth.
Reporting, auditing, and ticketing
The subject of automation brings us to another example of the overlaps between OR skills and excellence goals.
In the context of enterprise service management (ESM) platforms like ServiceNow, there is no need to convince that automation and artificial intelligence have great utility-either by eliminating tickets and allowing human workers to focus more important issues or by quickly deploying applications without fear of human error. Clearly, these examples indicate significant cost savings – but the same embrace of automation also has the potential to improve stability.
We have used automation in this context by, for example, using virtual agents to guide staff through potentially tricky compliance tasks, providing real-time reporting in ways that enhance management, and drive compliance audits through ServiceNow-helping organizations manage regulators ’expectations. In other words, automation can sharpen reporting and auditing to keep up to date the most important compliance standards, while simultaneously implementing multiple cost reduction measures.
The point, here, is that efficiency and stability should not be seen as ‘carrot and stick’ of operational improvement – they can be deeply coherent and mutually beneficial.
Consequently, achieving stability should not be viewed as a sacred exercise in checking the regulatory box, but as an opportunity to improve processes, systems, and technology. Movements such as automation are one example, allowing organizations to reduce costs, stimulate growth, and remain stable and compliant with a gesture.
About the author: Adrian Overall is CEO of CloudStratex.