Leading IT Outsourcer Quickly Streamlines a Major Bank's North American Network Using Visionael Network Resource Manager

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When this leading IT outsourcer assumed responsibility for a major US bank's North
American IT and network operations, it inherited a complex patchwork of networks and operations centers that was being managed by antiquated tools. It also promised to meet stringent service level agreements (SLAs) on an aggressive timetable. As a result, the IT outsourcer was under significant pressure to provide network services “better, faster and cheaper” than the bank could with in-house resources; it chose Visionael® Network
Resource Manager (NRM) to help achieve all these goals.

The challenge: Streamlining systemic inefficiency
When the outsourcer won a contract for outsourcing the bank’s IT organization in 2003, it assumed full responsibility for the company’s IT and networking infrastructure. The bank had grown by acquisition over many years and, although it had a culture of managing the network infrastructure and documenting change processes, the tools used to perform these tasks were either developed in-house, or were applications such as Visio and Microsoft Excel that did not have the functionality to support a large, dynamic network.

As the network infrastructure grew, both organically and by acquisition, it ballooned with excess capacity which included circuits and services from multiple major telecommunications providers and redundant data centers and equipment. In attempting to manage the growing network, the existing tools were increasingly inadequate. The internally developed tools required excessive development resources for maintenance, upgrade and enhancement, and the packaged applications could not scale to meet the needs of what had become one of the world’s largest financial institutions.

Clearly, new tools were needed. Compounding the sense of urgency was the fact that although the outsourcer had committed to quickly improving service levels, it had inherited an environment in which a multitude of divisions and regions used various tools and procedures, creating inconsistent management quality.

Visionael NRM presents a proven solution
The outsourcer recognized that it already had deep experience with a solution meeting all of its requirements to deliver improved service levels “faster, better and cheaper”: Visionael NRM, a comprehensive software solution that allowed the outsourcer to discover, design, deploy, provision, and operate critical network resources. The outsourcer had been using Visionael software for several years to manage the network of another of its largest clients, a U.S. automobile manufacturer.

Of particular value was Visionael NRM’s ability to produce an accurate, open, scalable database of network infrastructure information—the key to implementing IT management best practices. Without this information, it would be impossible to manage the bank's infrastructure effectively. With it, the outsourcer could receive significant benefits, including the abilities to:

• make better business decisions and reduce infrastructure costs
• create more efficient, accurate processes to use and access the infrastructure
• simplify network management and problem/outage resolution.

Visionael software delivers rapid results and control
The outsourcer implemented Visionael NRM in 2004, starting with the audit and discovery of the bank’s entire North American IT network, thereby creating a baseline of the current network. The outsourcer has since extended the system with project management user interfaces and associated capabilities that model and automate new standard network design and change processes. If a network change occurs, it is planned and documented in Visionael NRM. Once the change is tested and certified, NRM automatically updates the documentation and then validates the changes. Visionael software provides a single toolset and a single set of processes—it is at the heart of the bank’s IT support environment.

Visionael software is also the platform used to rationalize the network and, going forward, implement new services. The bank is now well-positioned to operate with greater agility and at lower cost based on the strength of its North American network. The outsourcer has streamlined the network itself and the processes used to manage it. Thanks to the increased efficiencies Visionael NRM helped effect, the bank has been able to reduce its number of network operations centers from five to two.

Because the outsourcer has a firm command over the network’s capabilities and growth, the bank can now explore launching major technology initiatives such as enterprise-wide voice over IP (VoIP) communications on its data network. Working closely with the IT outsourcer, the bank is in the early stages of planning this significant transition—with help from Visionael NRM.

Industry/market:
Communications Outsourcing/Financial Services

The Network Environment:
A complex patchwork of networks and operations centers that had grown organically and by acquisition for more than a decade.

The Challenge:
To meet stringent service level agreements (SLAs) on an aggressive promised timetable. The IT outsourcer was under significant pressure to provide network services “better, faster and cheaper” than the bank could with in-house resources. It had inherited an environment in which a multitude of divisions and regions used various tools and procedures, creating inconsistent management quality.

The Solution:
The outsourcer chose Visionael NRM, a comprehensive software solution that allowed the outsourcer to automate the discovery, documentation, design, deployment and provisioning of critical network resources.

The Benefits:
Visionael NRM enabled the outsourcer to produce an accurate, open, scalable database of network infrastructure information — the key to implementing IT management best practices.

Epilogue:
The outsourcer implemented Visionael NRM in 2004, starting with the audit and discovery of the bank’s entire North American IT network. It has since extended the system with project management user interfaces and associated capabilities that model and automate new standard network design and change processes. Visionael software provides a single toolset and a single set of processes, and as such is at the heart of the bank’s IT support environment.

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