CMDB creates the vital link
More businesses are realising how a configuration management database can help them make better use of their IT, writes Alan Greenberg
Bridging the gap between IT and business is moving closer to reality for UK organisations wanting to gain a competitive edge. Recent research shows that more organisations are implementing a configuration management database (CMDB) to gain a better understanding of their own IT systems.
A CMDB contains information about the various components of an organisation’s IT system and the relationship between those elements. An effective CMDB can support key IT functions, link IT to business services and support compliance reporting. This in turn leads to a higher level of service quality and predictability. For companies driving service improvement in their organisations through the IT infrastructure library (ITIL) framework, the CMDB is a fundamental unifying component.
Support for implementing a CMDB is growing rapidly. Recent independent research, carried out by Metrica, shows that about 20 per cent of UK organisations already have a CMDB in place, and that figure is set to double within the next year, indicating a clear market opportunity.
Respondents perceived a number of benefits in implementing a CMDB framework. These include providing an overall co-ordinated picture of an organisation’s IT system (stated by 77 per cent); better management of assets (73 per cent); minimising downtime (65 per cent); reducing time wasted on changes to systems by IT staff (65 per cent); more efficient planning of work (49 per cent); and improved communication between business and IT departments (49 per cent).
There are still a number of barriers to the implementation of CMDBs and some perceptions that need to be overcome among UK organisations. The challenges include the rate at which IT infrastructure changes, the complexity of today’s IT infrastructure and the need to manually integrate data from disparate vendor tools. But, although many organisations are dragging their heels, there is a strong recognition in the marketplace of the benefits that such best practice measures can bring to business and customer service levels.
Education is key to the successful take up of CMDB. Organisations using ITIL and CMDB are already saving money and gaining a competitive advantage by having continuous systems at their disposal. The market is looking forward to an era where IT is firmly connected to the business units and companies fully realise how IT is helping to shape UK business.