How a multi-tenant data center operator saved $500,000 and reduced downtime risk by leveraging MCIM as the source system of record for asset management.
IT vs OT
Informational Technology (IT) encompasses the tools and processes used to manage electronic data and IT systems, including software version tracking and upgrades, vulnerability tracking, cloud mapping, and more.
Operational Technology (OT) is the integration of hardware and software for monitoring and controlling physical devices and processes. OT focuses on infrastructure and environmental systems that support physical operations such as fire safety, plumbing, HVAC, and cooling systems.
Overview
A large multi-tenant data center operator initially invested in ServiceNow, aiming for a unified platform to manage its IT services and infrastructure assets. While ServiceNow excelled in handling IT service management (ITSM), challenges arose when integrating mission-critical infrastructure assets into the system.
Challenge
The organization lacked standards for digital procedure tracking and auditable maintenance. They planned to use ServiceNow to manage their infrastructure assets, but encountered significant hurdles. The unique requirements of managing these critical assets—encompassing specific workflows, approval processes, and asset management needs—were not readily accommodated by the standard ServiceNow functionalities.
ServiceNow Customization Demands
Ultimately, the organization required extensive ServiceNow customizations to change a platform that wasn’t intended to address OT requirements. This included:
Excessive Implementation Services
A team of full-time ServiceNow developers focused solely on customizing the platform and responsible for ensuring project success.
Dedicated Resources to Manage Disruptions
Dedicated QA resources required to resolve issues that customizations created within existing IT service management processes.
Increased Costs
Additional financial burden of $300,000 to $500,000 per year dedicated to customization and maintenance work.
Insight
The organization realized that ITSM tools like ServiceNow, and mission-critical infrastructure management (MCIM) tools, cater to fundamentally different user groups with distinct needs:
- ITSM: Primarily designed for IT professionals to manage information technology services
- MCIM: Tailored for operations personnel managing physical infrastructure critical to the business’s core operations
Solution
The organization has embraced MCIM as the source system of record (SSOR or SSR) for asset management, ensuring clean, accurate data. By leveraging its superior integration capabilities to retrieve and share necessary information with ServiceNow, this approach:
- Eliminates continuous customization: Using a tool specifically designed for managing mission-critical facilities removes the need for ongoing customizations in ServiceNow.
- Reduces costs: No more high costs associated with customizing and maintaining a non-specialized tool for specialized tasks.
- Mitigates operational risk: A specialized tool like MCIM reduces the risk associated with using a generalized platform for specialized tasks.
- Prevents data integrity issues: Cleaner, more reliable data handling means less “bad data” and technical debt.
Results
By adopting MCIM for managing their mission-critical infrastructure, the large multi-tenant data center operator:
- Has reduced annual operating costs by $300,000-$500,000 annually in customization and maintenance work
- Enjoys real-time insights into their entire portfolio with seamless integrations of IT/OT platforms
- Makes better management decisions thanks to minimized data errors and clean data-driven decision making
This strategic use and integration of IT and OT platforms underscores the importance of selecting the right tool for specific tasks.
Conclusion
This case study exemplifies the critical need for organizations to understand the distinct roles of ITSM and MCIM platforms. Leveraging MCIM as the system of record for operational tasks in mission-critical environments not only optimizes performance, but also significantly reduces unnecessary expenditures and enhances data integrity and security.
