Day 2 of Digitalize and Automate 2022 - IT Discovery

It’s been another information-packed day at Efecte’s virtual event ‘Digitalize and Automate’, and it’s time to highlight the second day’s sessions along with some of the key things we learned. After looking at the ‘why’ of digitalization and automation on Day 1, we have today explored the ‘how’ – with the help of some exceptional speakers.

One of the topics discussed at Digitalize and Automate 2022 was IT asset discovery. 

The power of user-centric automation via integrated and augmented reality

Jörg Hesselink, Founder, and CEO of DC Smarter, an Efecte partner in the field of IT asset discovery and lifecycle management, delivered an exciting keynote about how augmented reality can drastically improve the way you deal with your assets.

Jörg started by explaining common pitfalls in asset and configuration management “We’re in the middle of the digital age, the complexity of IT is constantly increasing, and from a heavily centralized IT environment back in the 90s, we’re now facing decentralized environments with scattered data sources”, he said.

According to Jörg, there are two common challenges that IT professionals face in that situation: documentation management, which 50% of businesses do not have, and human error which causes 79% of all outages in companies. In his opinion, the answer to these problems is automation and digitalization. Thus, the workload is optimized, and decisions are based on real-time data. “Because let’s face it,” Jörg said, “the more technical your job is, the less the interest in boring tasks and documentation you have”. But this cumbersome work of documentation and data processing needs to be done since the number of interest groups in the company that rely on that information and a correctly working CMDB has grown. “The CMDB is that skeleton that keeps it all together”.

But how to get there? Well, either you have a lot of people to process the data, or you automate. In that latter case, you absolutely need a solution that supports your hybrid infrastructure, combining on-premise and cloud. At Efecte, we work with Device42, the leading DCIM technology provider worldwide.

At the end of his presentation, Jörg presented a totally new way of saving time and optimizing productivity in the data center, the use of augmented reality. DC Smarter develops a high-fidelity integrated digital twin of your data center infrastructure which you can use for automated discovery and regular updates of all of your assets. Make sure to watch the recording of this session if you missed the live demonstration of that great tool!

Juha Hänninen and Device42 Rob Preston and Louis Harding talked about Enriching IT processes with deep visibility into all your IT assets. 

Device 42 is a company providing a full-stack IT discovery, meaning that they can help Efecte customers to find the root causes of their IT issues and keep their IT inventory up-to-date. 

As an IT service management provider, Efecte is interested in having up-to-date information integrated into the Efecte platform. Traceability to IT assets enables customers to plan efficiently their migration processes or version upgrades and reduce downtimes and improve service levels and truly utilize their IT stack as a business enabler to meet the requirements of modern business.

Device42 enables IT teams to work faster, more efficiently, and with lower operational risk. This is done by providing deep visibility to the IT infrastructure. The Device42 technology discovers everything from legacy systems, and mainframes to cloud infrastructures, containers, and dockers as well. This data is integrated into the Efecte platform, allowing for a centralized CMDB (content management database) as a single source of truth.   

With deep analysis, Device42 maps dependencies and interdependencies and integrates business applications as well. The integration into other tools is integral and can be done based on customer requirements.

Use cases range from a need for asset visibility, compliance requirements, or from audit activity, to maybe SISO work, change management, or modernization. Sometimes it also just helps for general improvements in IT service delivery.

Efecte and Device42 combined offer a powerful solution to the IT, but also to business teams. Specific business challenges that customers try to accomplish can be met.

It all centers around the common theme that knowledge is power within your hybrid IT environment, enabling the service team to work faster with lower risk. Device42 provides deep visibility and Efecte enables users to act based on that visibility. 

Watch the recording of the presentation here

During Day 2, more presentations have been delivered on the following topics:

• The human aspect of digital identity 
• Introducing a new approach to digital identities
• Viewpoint on re-defining European Cloud
• Viewpoint on security: Information security management at Efecte
• Partner Voice, Advatech from Poland: Partnering with the European alternative
• Partner Voice, Solutia from the Czech Republic: Why one of the largest Czech IT service providers choose Efecte and Solutia
• Customer Voice, Patria: How to predict customer demand and define service capacity
• New ways to work with Service Management
• Towards exceptional user experience with self-service modernization
• Defining modern service management to capitalize on the experience
• From ticketing to enterprise service management - new ways to create value