IT operations management (ITOM) - definition & overview

IT operations management (ITOM) refers to the administration of all technology components and application requirements within an organization. ITOM includes the provisioning of IT infrastructure, capacity management, cost-control activities, performance and security management and availability management for all IT infrastructure and assets.

For organizations that follow the ITIL® framework of best practices for IT service management (ITSM), the ITOM process is described in the IT Operations Control book of ITIL 2011. The objective of ITOM under the framework is to monitor and control IT services and infrastructure and to execute the routine tasks necessary to support the operation of applications, services and hardware components.

As an enterprise organization expands its IT infrastructure and application deployments, IT operations managers take on responsibility for a growing catalog of services. ITOps are ultimately responsible for ensuring that all services and applications are stable and available for use by the business. To achieve this, ITOM professionals perform management tasks in three key service areas.

Network infrastructure management

Networking infrastructure includes all of the equipment necessary to provide internal and external communications for the business. Setting up remote access networks, managing the internal telephone system, regulating communication with external servers via firewalls and maintaining network security are examples of tasks that fall under this category.

Computer operations and help desk

ITOps management includes the management of help desk services, such as incident response, event response and request fulfillment. ITOps managers are also responsible for scheduling and managing data back-ups, communicating information about incidents and network outages to users, controlling the creation and provision of user profiles and system access, and implementing a disaster recovery plan for the IT organization.

Server and device management

In addition to administering network infrastructure within the IT organization, ITOps teams also administer network endpoints such as servers and devices. ITOps plays a role in the day-to-day management of the servers that host key applications for the business, including maintaining, patching and upgrading servers. ITOps managers may be responsible for provisioning IT assets (desktops, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, etc.) to users and ensuring that applications have access to the storage space they need to function correctly.

ITOM and ITSM are both frequently referenced to describe management strategies for Information technology departments, but despite the areas where they overlap, the two acronyms are not quite interchangeable.

IT service management refers to all of the activities that an organization performs to manage IT services throughout their entire life cycle, which includes strategic planning, design, building, service operation and continual service improvement. The industry-leading set of ITSM best practices known as the ITIL framework describes the service life cycle model in detail, offering a structured process for effective management at each stage.

ITOps management is also covered under the ITIL framework, so in that sense, it can be said that ITOM is actually a subset of the activities of ITSM. For ITOps managers and their teams, the focus is on the execution of day-to-day tasks associated with operating the organization's existing infrastructure components and applications. These tasks are all part of the "Service Operation" stage of the IT service life cycle.

Taking a closer look at the ITIL v3 Service Operation manual, there are eight processes that must be maintained to effectively operate a service in accordance with the ITIL framework:

• Event management

• Incident management

• Request fulfillment

• Access management

• Problem management

• IT operations control

• Facilities management

• Application management

• Technical management

As businesses of all sizes continue to adopt new technologies such as cloud-based computing services, virtualization and the Internet of Things (IoT), IT organizations are challenged to adapt their operations management processes and techniques to provide services in an ever-changing environment. As organizations expand their IT infrastructure, ITOps must overcome key challenges to satisfy the performance, security and cost-control demands of the business.

Limited visibility of IT architecture

To effectively allocate resources and respond to operational and security issues, ITOps teams need a high level of visibility into the IT architecture. Organizations that use legacy software systems with traditional on-premise architectures may find that their existing system provides limited visibility for IT Ops. When information is spread across systems, software and team members, ITOps lack the proper controls and oversight to deliver on management objectives.

Increasingly disparate technology and systems

Poor visibility is ultimately caused by the independent functioning of technologies, tools and processes that comprise the IT infrastructure. An organization may have some applications deployed on-premise, some applications provided through a SaaS provider, other applications hosted by an IaaS provider, etc. When these tools or applications lack the ability to share information or communicate, they must be monitored separately and at a greater cost in terms of money, time and resources.

Difficulty scaling operations

Poor visibility and control over increasingly disparate technology often mean that ITOps teams are ill-prepared to scale their operations when a new service must be introduced and maintained. Without a system for integrating data from throughout the IT environment, the addition of new services can result in a more fractured IT infrastructure with poor oversight and increased security vulnerability.

The integration of data from throughout your hybrid cloud environment into a single platform enhances the visibility of your entire IT infrastructure and makes it easy to scale IT Ops as you grow your business.

Sumo Logic provides an industry-leading ITOM solution that addresses the biggest challenges faced by IT organizations in growing businesses. With Sumo Logic, your ITOM team can source and aggregate application data such as event and system logs into a single platform that makes it easy to monitor and troubleshoot IT issues in real-time, detect and respond to Indicators of Compromise (IoC) and leverage application data to enable better business decision-making.