The rapidly changing needs of customers, the demand for quality and data security have presented a number of challenges to companies and organizations in recent years. In addition, when the pandemic curtailed some activities, they had to start or accelerate the digitalization of services and processes. The relocation of activities to the digital space has become not only a way of growth, but also one of the most important conditions for business continuity.
In the context of ever-increasing needs, experts advise IT managers to keep in mind the critical IT infrastructure or IT foundation that would prevent an organization from performing key digital functions and incurring losses if it would malfunction. The main task of the IT foundation is to make the technological part work flawlessly, to avoid “fires” and to ensure rapid growth, even with the rapid expansion of activities.
“We are going through a digital transformation, when things are changing faster than we are used to. This transformation means that without taking the necessary measures, the IT infrastructure risks failing to meet the needs of growing number of customers or the organization itself, which can lead to losses due to non-performing the essential functions”, – says Gytis Umantas, CEO of Novian Technologies, a provider of critical IT infrastructure services.
The organization’s IT systems need to change along with the activities
Robertas Vilkaitis, General Director of DPD Lietuva, a company engaged in the transportation of parcels, emphasizes that IT systems must keep pace with the pace of the organization itself.
“In recent years, our company has significantly increased not only the flow of parcels, but also the amount of information processed, and the demand of customers for quality has also increased. To retain customers in these difficult times, we must pay even more attention to our IT and security systems”, – said R. Vilkaitis.
According to him, in order to adapt to the rapidly changing market situation in the face of a pandemic, the company had to rapidly change its internal processes, most of which are directly dependent on IT, so naturally the requirements for technological flexibility and reliability have only increased.
“When a company is operating at its maximum pace, tolerance for IT disruptions becomes minimal. In addition, the need for both us and our partners to receive not only high-quality or stable services, but also to find proactive solutions that will help manage future growth, has increased greatly”, – said R. Vilkaitis.
Critical IT infrastructure is related to core business processes
According to the head of DPD Lietuva, in the context of changes, both the critical IT infrastructure and its maintenance services are vital, as they are related to key business processes.
“Stable operation of the IT infrastructure helps to achieve the company’s strategic goals, allows employees to perform their direct work without hindrance, even remotely, and allows our customers to receive the highest quality services possible”, – said the head of the enterprise.
With the expansion of the company’s activities in recent years, information technologies are being developed in parallel. “We are constantly implementing innovative solutions and, based on the latest trends, developing a carefully thought-out IT strategy” – said the head of the company.
“Proactivity, competence, reliability and the ability to offer solutions that ensure the most stable operation of IT systems. These are our main expectations from an IT partner”, – said Robertas Vilkaitis, Head of DPD Lietuva, whose company has been cooperating with Novian Technologies in the field of IT for almost ten years.
Novian Technologies provides DPD Lietuva with critical IT infrastructure maintenance services company from the end of 2011. And starting 2015, the company successfully moved the DPD data center and business management applications from Latvia and Estonia to Lithuania. For this purpose, a centralized data center solution with a backup data center was proposed, ensuring high data availability in the event of an unexpected failure.
Technological development: expands hybrid IT infrastructure solutions
According to G. Umantas, critical IT infrastructure maintenance services are especially relevant for large organizations, the information processes of which play a very important role in their activities processes: banks, insurance, energy, logistics companies, retail chains, manufacturing and services, public sector companies.
“It is important for such organizations that their IT infrastructure is stable, meaning that it is constantly monitored, supervised and proactively managed, and in terms of services, not only have the response time is defined, but also have the recovery times for each incident or disruption”, – says G. Umantas.
According to him, it is no less important for such organizations that the IT infrastructure is developed taking into account their changing needs and development. “Often organizations still use traditional – monolithic IT infrastructures, so it is important to know how it can be developed according to the latest trends”, – he emphasized.
According to G. Umantas, the use of the so-called DevOps (development and IT operations) method is applied used more and more rapidly with the recent accelerating digitalization. Novian offers to rely on micro-service, container or hybrid cloud solutions that enable innovation in small increments.
“In this area, the Novian Group has a unique advantage: we know both classic and new technologies, so we can ensure their compatibility, and we also have the group’s competencies – the opportunity to work in an integrated way with application implementation and development partners Novian Systems. In this way, we ensure not only the security of the solution, but also the comprehensive process management and flexibility”, -said the head of Novian Technologies.
According to him, it is also important to emphasize that cyber security is also very important for Novian, both in extremely complex projects and in the day-to-day provision of critical IT infrastructure services by companies.
The uniqueness – Novian Technologies work with database maintenance
The manager also emphasized another of Novian Technologies special features making them stand apart from others – working with databases.
“We provide unique database maintenance – traditionally, after the implementation of the solution, they are maintained by developers, without emphasizing the response and troubleshooting time, and we focus on fast, proactive maintenance of databases and their efficient operation. Therefore, we look at the database as an element of the IT infrastructure”, – said G. Umantas.
The company’s specialists maintain not only the databases, but also their “connection” – the so-called “middleware” – the technological part between the IT infrastructure and applications.
According to him, it is very important to be proactive when working in the field of critical IT infrastructure, which is why Novian Technologies always uses a reliable monitoring system to help prevent so-called IT “fires” (incidents).
In addition, for several years now, the company has been working according to a unique, self-developed IT methodology applied for working with clients. One part of it is clear regulation of who does what and when. At the same time, it distinguishes between service levels, how services are provided, and necessarily includes third-party and exchange management.
This methodology, according to G. Umantas, helps to work successfully even with extremely complex solutions and to supervise them not only in Lithuania, but also in the farthest corners of the world.
“Examples of such work with clients include the maintenance of the IT infrastructure of the central banks of Burundi and Rwanda, tax administrations of these countries, maintenance of the supercomputer in Burkina Faso, maintenance of the critical IT infrastructure of the Mauritius Registry Center, work with various Lithuanian and foreign finance, manufacturing, transport, retail companies and organizations in trade, services and other sectors”, – said G. Umantas.
According to him, the company’s experience shows that it is important for customers not only to have an IT partner who is able to maintain a critical IT infrastructure to operate stably, but also to be able to quickly and efficiently transform the IT infrastructure to meet changing customer needs, which would allow and assist the client’s business to grow without restriction.
Source: project in vz.lt.
