What is IT environment standardization?
With the vast amount of operating systems and the applications, libraries, drivers and other types of accompanying software needed to provide full functionality, the complexity of the IT environment grows exponentially. Higher operating costs are at stake here and greater risk of lower service quality and IT security. The proper way of countering the above-mentioned issues is the standardization of not only the chosen configurations and versions, but the whole IT environment.
IT environment standardization consists of:
- defining the standard components, interfaces and processes, which are to be used in the whole IT infrastructure;
- standardization of terminology, procedures, and tools;
- reducing the number of utilized technologies, such as operating systems, virtualization and data storage software, administrative tools;
- verifying the standardization plans against the own developmental needs and the dominant market trends;
- improving the administration, management, and development planning;
- configuration automation.