CIOInsider India Magazine
Navigating Tech Evolution: Strategies for Sustaining Scalability in IT Infrastructure
Tejas S Shah is an experienced Information Technology professional with over 21 years of experience. Leading the Information Technology vertical team in infrastructure, security, and application with a demonstrated history of working in the various industry domains. He is a strong information technology professional with a MBA-IT focused on Masters in Information Management from Thakur Institute of Management Studies and Research (TIMSR).
In a conversation with Keerthana H K, Correspondent, CIOInsider Magazine, Tejas Shah, Head IT-Infrastructure/Application, Prince Pipes and Fittings Ltd., shared his views on how professionals prioritize and address the scalability challenges associated with growing IT infrastructure demands. Also, what steps are taken to ensure that the IT infrastructure is user-friendly and meets the needs of various departments within the organization.
In a rapidly evolving technological landscape, how should organizations ensure their IT infrastructure remains scalable and adaptable to new technologies?
I believe that as an organization, we first need to ensure that our senior management is well aware of the latest happenings and trends in the tech world. Then, we can either take the first step approach or observe market demand and accordingly adapt to new-age technologies.
The ideal way is to incorporate frameworks and principles into your IT infrastructure strategy to build a foundation that is not only scalable but also adaptable to the rapidly evolving landscape of new technologies.
Some Steps to Define
Align IT strategies with overall business strategies to ensure that technology investments contribute to business success.
Regular Technology Assessments and Strategies: Assess the technology landscape regularly to identify emerging trends and innovations, and evaluate the relevance of new technologies to your business.
Adopt / Migrate – Cloud Computing: Consider migrating to cloud platforms for scalability, flexibility, and access to a wide range of services and scale resources based on demand requirements. Integrate security measures from the beginning of the development lifecycle and Infra.
Encourage a culture of continuous learning and skill development within your IT teams. Central Observability and Monitoring Tool: Implement robust monitoring and analytics tools to track the performance and health of your IT infrastructure. Regularly review and update the scalability roadmap to align with changing business needs and technology trends. Collaborate with technology vendors and industry partners to stay informed about upcoming technologies and potential collaborations. Regular reviews of your IT infrastructure are needed to identify areas for improvement.
These steps can help you set up a foundation for scalability and adaptability, while ensuring that your IT infrastructure can evolve alongside emerging technologies and meet the dynamic needs of your organization.
How should we ensure that the IT infrastructure aligns with the overall business objectives and goals of the organization?
In-depth understanding of the organization's overall business objectives and long-term goals. Establish a clear picture of how technology can support and contribute to these objectives. Regular Business-IT Alignment Reviews, and finally proper and strategic IT planning.
What are the steps to ensure the IT infrastructure is user-friendly and meets the needs of various departments within the organization?
The basic steps is to first have a Central Employee portal embedded with chatbots to answer all queries related to organization policies and its vision and mission, HRMS policies, and department-wise feeds to have a clear journey on the overall application currently available and its capabilities.
Department-wise feedback on the list of current gaps and challenges being faced and how to address them. SSO solutions to ensure that there are no multiple passwords to carry for different IT requirements. Central Tool to register tickets with an SLA defined for issues and problem resolution. Automation in terms of smooth process flow, like new employee onboarding or inter-departmental transfers. Awareness Session: On various Applications, Infrastructure, and Cyber Security. These are some basics to embrace and adopt.
Once we have defined the life cycle of any IT asset, it becomes easy to resolve one of the growing IT infra demands.
One of the biggest challenges for IT professionals is a tech refresh. Once we have defined the life cycle of any IT asset, it becomes easy to resolve one of the growing IT infra demands. However, apart from that, we need to define a team focused only on IT strategies, which can have one key area to resolve this. Some steps to take can include a continuous assessment of the current IT Infra state, which can include its age, expiry, EOL, etc. Capacity planning is a very critical aspect, which includes setting up clear thresholds. Cloud Services. Implementation of automation and orchestration tools like OpenAI, ML, chatbots, and RPA. Regular review with stake holders
How should business leaders balance the need for innovation with the stability and reliability requirements of a company's IT infrastructure?
To achieve the subject matter, we need to have an approach like the red team and the blue team as defined in cyber security.
In the same vein, one IT team will work on the maintenance of BAU (Business as Usual) to ensure there is no disruption in IT Infra or Apps Setup. While another focus IT team will work with relevant stakeholders and keep them updated with various new platforms and tools available as per business needs, this will enable them to pro-actively approach various new IT infra and solutions available.
