Availability Management: Balancing Cost Against Risk

Download the Output Report from this Forum workshop. It was attended by 15 senior IT professionals, representing a wide range of industries, including retail, financial services and local government.

Senior IT professionals met to discuss best practice in availability management. The discussion looked at how to design, set and manage Service Level Agreements within and outside the business, and how to measure availability and performance.

The group also considered the roles and responsibilities of those involved in availability.

For many organisations in 2011, availability of IT systems isn't just a bonus - it is a fundamental requirement of doing business. An IT system that is not available when needed can cause devastating harm to sales, manufacturing, operations and corporate reputation.

This means that IT executives must put in place policies to ensure high availability of IT systems that allow for maintenance and upgrades. Policies must also consider how to manage unplanned downtime, and how to handle availability of systems that may not be on-premise, or even managed by an in-house IT support team.

Senior IT professionals met to discuss best practice in availability management. The discussion looked at how to design, set and manage Service Level Agreements within and outside the business, and how to measure availability and performance.

The group also considered the roles and responsibilities of those involved in availability.