Modern business IT and Operations teams are tasked with a complex range of responsibilities that touch on multiple departments, stakeholders and business needs. Their responsibilities usually include most or all of the following:

System Administration

Overall, IT and operations teams are charged with ensuring the reliability and smooth operation of an organization’s IT infrastructure. They monitor the complete integrated system and troubleshoot issues that arise in hardware, software, and network connections to minimize downtime and disruptions

Application Change Management

They also are responsible for overseeing and controlling changes to software applications and platforms, managing change requests, planning and approvals to ensure users are getting the functionality they need, even as business requirements evolve. Starting with user or leadership requests, they help clarify requirements, then design, develop, test and deploy changed or new workflows for production use cases.

Application Release Management

In addition, IT and operations teams are responsible for managing and maintaining the components of their software environment, a much more frequent task with cloud-based SaaS platforms. The must monitor upcoming releases to stay abreast of new patches, updates, and features, and be able to assess the potential business and technical impacts of each, including compatibility and possible risks. Finally, they must plan, schedule, communicate and coordinate the timing of releases to minimize business and user workflow disruptions.

Did You Say Digital?

For IT system owners, maintaining system stability is already a full-time job—monitoring infrastructure, troubleshooting disruptions, managing change requests and coordinating application releases. But when a global digital transformation is added to the mix, the pressure multiplies. Balancing day-to-day operations with the complexities of new platforms, evolving business needs and looming system decommissioning can stretch even the most experienced teams.

Common Challenges for IT and Operations Support Teams

Even the above subset of high-level responsibilities consolidated into four short paragraphs presents several complex challenges for any operations team:

Inconsistent Flow of Support and Admin Requests

User issues and requests rarely happen in an easy to manage, consistent flow. Sometimes there is a flood of requests and issues, other times only a few. One day a failed internal switch takes priority, while another can focus on clearing out the backlog of support tickets. It’s difficult to plan, budget and train a team with the depth of knowledge required to triage, prioritize and address issues efficiently during the erratic ebb and flow of requests and unavoidable emergencies.

Maintaining Internal Knowledge and Expertise

Modern systems are complex with a multitude of connections, integrations, data inputs and analysis exports. Specialized reporting platforms, evolving submission requirements and changing workflows all require detailed experience in multiple technology platforms to support. It is a common struggle to keep a team up-to-date on the intricacies of active and legacy solutions so that they can address both daily support requests and larger business initiatives. In recent years, the increasingly competitive market for skilled developers has caused many teams to suddenly lose their ‘resident experts’ on specific platforms. It takes a diverse team to support a modern IT environment.

Time and Schedule Constraints

Another common challenge is when a planned platform release is suddenly usurped by an internal priority issue, like as described above, a global digital transformation. Suddenly daily work has come to a halt and must be addressed taking the time that was reserved for reviewing and assessing a time-dependent platform update. These situations can cause severe complications and substantial risks to business goals if not managed effectively, a difficult challenge for a streamlined IT team that is structured to handle normal workloads. Budgets that reserve extra money for ‘just in case’ situations are usually trimmed back in short order.

How fme’s TechOps Support Can Help

In most companies, IT staff and budgeting plans are built on a specific range of expected necessity. Some months will be higher, some months will be lower, but the available team and skill base is calculated on a predicted need throughout the year. fme understands this challenge, and the possible impact when reality doesn’t follow the predicted model. This is why we created our flexible TechOps Support Services.

TechOps Support Services is specifically designed to maintain business continuity, enhance team productivity, and ensure compliance with industry regulations. You get the expertise and resources needed to manage complex IT environments, mitigate risks, and enable your organization to focus on core business activities without the distractions of technical issues and system maintenance.

fme TechOps Support Services gives you:

• Administrative Support – Our TechOps Support Services alleviate the business-as usual administrative burden with skilled experts with decades of experience supporting both legacy solutions and modern digital platforms. Why does this matter? Our experts understand when a request may be viable in a SaaS solution, but not in an aging on-premise system.
• Business Application Management – We can also help plan, develop and implement changes to your software applications, ensuring smooth execution without disrupting business operations.
• Experienced Release Management – Our team of certified experts across platforms like Veeva Vault, Generis CARA and OpenText Documentum stay current with the latest features and capabilities, applying them to address your business challenges and achieve your goals. We provide proactive, experienced attention to vendor releases to mitigate update risks, along with thorough impact analysis and concise assessment of business and technical implications.

By addressing these issues, fme’s TechOps Support Services team ensures predictable IT support costs through a customizable service model, proactive release and roadmap planning, and alignment of day-to-day activities with business requirements and vendor roadmaps. This comprehensive approach results in a satisfied user base with consistent support and application management – whether you are established on a system for many years to come or beginning your digital transformation to a new platform.

Learn More about fme’s TechOps Support Services

Efficient and effective IT operations are vital for any company but are notoriously difficult to accurately predict and budget for. Our TechOps Support Services provide the resources needed to augment and support the needs of complex IT environments, balancing out the ebb and flow of support tasks, and adding extra knowledge and skill for detailed application management.

For our clients undergoing digital transformation, we recognize the challenge of maintaining legacy systems. As software provider support sunsets, our clients call on us for this service to ensure these critical systems remain stable and secure, giving them the attention they need while you focus on the future.

Download our datasheet below to learn more about how fme can streamline your platform management activities, or contact us to get started today.