Service Delivery is one of two disciplines that comprise ITIL Service Management. Service Delivery defines the business of IT. The Cloud Connectiv team can help you with all your service delivery needs. Through Service Delivery processes, IT can:

• Clearly define the content of services
• Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of customers (those who pay for the services), users (those who use the services) and Service Providers
• Set expectations of service quality, availability and timeliness

Service Delivery processes assist staff in tailoring services to meet the specific business needs at a price the business can afford. Service Delivery processes help define services so that they may be provisioned with internal staff and resources or via external vendors with equal ease and results. Service Delivery processes assist in defining how to measure service results with meaningful metrics and using the metrics to drive continuous service improvement. Service Delivery fosters a corporate behavior of responsible use of IT services to maximize corporate profits. Most importantly, Service Delivery fosters true business-IT partnerships to the benefit of the company as a whole, eliminating the Us versus Them mind-set and the unproductive activities it drives.

The components of Service Delivery are:

SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT

This is arguably the most important set of processes within the ITIL framework. Service Level Management (SLM) processes provide a framework by which services are defined, levels of service required to support business processes agreed upon, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Operational Level Agreements (OLAs) developed to satisfy the agreements, and costs for the service developed. Using SLM processes, you can clearly define IT and business roles and responsibilities and establish clear goals for service delivery so success factors can be established, measured and reported. SLM ensures that the business receives appropriate levels of service at a reasonable cost that satisfies their needs.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT FOR IT SERVICES

Where Service Level Management defines and manages the services, Financial Management determines the costs of those services and provides financial accounting support to ensure expenditures fall within approved plans and that funds are well-spent. The role of Financial Management varies depending upon the view of IT within the corporation. Some companies view it as an expense center, some as a profit center and some as a cost recovery center, so different best practices are offered for each role.

CAPACITY MANAGEMENT

Capacity Management (CM) is responsible for ensuring that IT infrastructure resources are in place to satisfy planned business needs and that those infrastructure assets are effectively used. CM is responsible for building the annual infrastructure growth plan. CM gets involved very early in the application life cycle to assist in determining the implementation and ongoing support costs of new applications or releases. Activities in this service area are proactive rather than reactive, finding application and infrastructure bottlenecks at future business volumes so that corrective actions can occur before service issues are experienced by the end user.

AVAILABILITY MANAGEMENT

Availability Management is responsible for ensuring application systems are up and available for use in accordance with the conditions of the respective Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The process reviews business process availability requirements and ensures the most cost effective contingency plans are put in place and tested on a regular basis to ensure business needs are met. Availability Management also provides a lead role in Component Failure Impact Analysis and Service Outage Analysis initiatives.

IT SERVICE CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT

Also known as DCP, DRP, DCT, or just plain DR, IT Service Continuity Management (ITSCM) takes standard disaster recovery planning to the next level. ITSCM provides a framework for developing IT infrastructure recovery plans in support of Business Continuity Management plans and timeframes. ITSCM plans vary greatly by region as different areas have different risks, such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornados, and/or terrorist activities.

HOW CLOUD CONNECTIV CAN HELP

SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT

Historical performance data gathered and stored by Cloud Connectiv can assist the SLM team in determining the customary levels of service currently experienced by the business. Armed with this data, the SLM team can then work with the business to ensure services are put in place that efficiently and cost-effectively satisfy business needs. Where service gaps exist, Cloud Connectiv software can be used to determine the additional infrastructure resources required, then determine the costs associated with the improvements. In ongoing support of SLAs, Cloud Connectiv performance data and reporting tools can be used to monitor service performance and alert the team to adverse trends or problems.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT FOR IT SERVICES

Chargeback processes can be supported by easily harvesting server process data using Cloud Connectiv tools and archiving it for future use. Since the data will be in a common format across disparate platforms, it will then be an easy task to either develop a simple billing program or extract data to be imported into existing billing programs.

CAPACITY MANAGEMENT

Cloud Connectiv tools are a perfect fit for providing CM solutions. Data collectors, archive databases, reporting and simulation tools are easily installed and intuitive to use. Cloud Connectiv Model has built-in processes to assist in predictive modeling efforts, whether it is predicting future requirements, test driving new equipment or prototyping new applications. Historical data gathered by Cloud Connectiv data collectors can be used to support analyses of application performance, assisting in the identification of performance improvement opportunities. The resulting corrective work will reduce the amount of IT infrastructure resources consumed, thus extending the life of existing IT assets and delaying costly upgrades. Cloud Connectiv IT Service Analyzer provides a variety of customizable views of application performance to assist in identifying trends needed to develop more precise capacity plans, reducing risk of future application slowdowns or capacity-related failures.

AVAILABILITY MANAGEMENT

Historical performance data collected by Cloud Connectiv tools can be used to quickly analyze causes of service outages and IT infrastructure component failures. Shortening the diagnosis process reduces downtime, thus improving staff productivity and reducing the time customers are inconvenienced.

IT SERVICE CONTINUITY MANAGEMENT

Cloud Connectiv Model can be used to determine the best balance of risk versus cost in sizing disaster recovery hot sites. Model can also help the ITSCM staff in simulating IT infrastructure component failures so that more effective prevention techniques can be put in place to better protect important business records and information.

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Connected Globally, Quickly, Securely

When it comes to connectivity, colocation means a business is connected globally, quickly and securely. We find that many companies with onsite server rooms often do not have onsite access to a resilient Internet connection, nor do they have dedicated personnel monitoring traffic flow to ensure they always remain on.

Colocation enables organizations to benefit from faster networking and resilient connectivity at a fairly low price – delivering 100 mbps of bandwidth might be hard at an office location and trying to create a redundant solution is often financially unviable. Data centers are connected to multiple transit providers and also have large bandwidth pipes meaning that businesses often benefit from a better service for less cost.

Sustaining Your Infrastructure

With these considerations in mind, some organizations start to look to cloud solutions rather than colocation. However, cloud does not provide organizations with a fully auditable system and the ability to have full control over their own infrastructure. Colocation often enables businesses to avoid spending money on storage bills in the cloud as it is often cheaper to store information on their own servers.

From the periodic necessary replacement of UPS batteries, to the maintenance and testing of UPS systems, the hidden costs of sustaining your infrastructure to optimal levels can be surprising. As part of a standard colocation solution, organizations instantly benefit from high level security with ISO 27001 accredited processes, onsite security teams and infrastructure.

Additionally, data centers have the time, resources and impetus to continually invest in and research green technologies. This means that businesses can reduce their carbon footprint at their office locations and benefit from continual efficiency saving research. Companies that move their servers from in-house server rooms typically save 90 percent on their own carbon emissions.

Location, Location, Location

Choosing a colocation provider away from a city or data center hub with optimal connectivity options – both to the capital, Europe and further afield – means having the advantages of all central data centers with the added benefits of having attractive power capabilities and the security of being away from centrally targeted terrorist activity. Out-of-town colocation providers allow businesses to take full advantage of the capital’s infrastructure without the premium costs associated with it.

A colocation solution provides companies with a variety of opportunities, with exceptional SLAs and having data secured off-site, providing organizations with added levels of risk management and the chance to invest in better equipment and state-of-the-art servers. This can enable IT teams the possibility to explore options such as virtualization and condense the amount of racks and servers required.
Colocation providers are able to meet business requirements at a lower cost than if the service was kept in-house. Data centers and colocation providers have the ability to have businesses up and running within hours, as well as provide the flexibility to grow alongside your organization. Colocation space, power, bandwidth and connection speeds can all be increased where required to ensure that all sizes of colocation clients can be catered to.

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1 Scalability
Did your computing needs shoot up overnight? Or did they drop drastically during your slow season? Instead of having to hire — or fire — new staff or purchase more equipment to handle it yourself, you can just make a call to your colocation provider and scale your service up or down as needed.

2 Connectivity
Colocation providers keep your servers in climate-controlled data centers, with high bandwidth speeds, and excellent redundancy for network connections. You won’t have to pay the costs to purchase and maintain this kind of IT infrastructure in your own offices, and your internal IT staff can focus on other business operations.

3 Security
Quality colocation providers house your servers in secure data centers, with security measures that include biometric scanners, closed circuit cameras, on-site security, coded access, alarm systems, and more. And with colocation, you

don’t have to hire or purchase any of these security measures yourself — it’s all included in your service plan.

4 Stability
If you have to move offices, or are hit with a power outage, or suffer a natural disaster, you won’t have to worry about your data or services going down. A colocation provider will have multiple backup generators and contingencies in place to ensure that there is never an interruption in service, for you, or for your customers.

5 Predictability
Not only does using a colocation provider often save money, but it also turns unpredictable capital outlays into predictable monthly expenses.  You only pay for your own equipment, not a whole datacenter.  Your company will be able to budget for IT needs and allocate existing resources more efficiently.