Introduction to NonStop Operations Management

Introduction to NonStop Operations Management–125507
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Operations Management and
Continuous Improvement
Overview
An operations environment, even one that is performing well, should never remain static.
In business, change is vital. Changes in market conditions, technology, business goals,
and competition can affect how you manage your operations environment. Successful
operations organizations continuously improve the capabilities and efficiency of their
operations management processes and tools to adapt to these changes.
This section provides guidelines for implementing an operations-management
improvement program to help you improve the capabilities and efficiency of your
operations processes. The section ends with a check list summarizing the main points of
this section.
Why Improve Your Operations Environment?
In almost every industry, businesses have to deal with change. To accommodate these
changes, you might be required to modify or improve the processes and tools in your
operations organization. The following list illustrates some common changes that might
affect your operations management processes:
•
Operations or support groups are no longer meeting their service-level agreements.
•
Competition or customer requirements change the service-level agreements. For
example, you might be required to provide continuous application availability.
•
New applications and functions result in increased processing demand.
•
Existing technology becomes obsolete and must be replaced with new technology.
•
Existing systems must be integrated with new systems, workstations, or networks.
•
Existing software or hardware must be replaced to reduce costs.
•
Product fixes or upgrades become available.
Figure 13-1 shows that over 40 percent of system outages are caused by process and
procedure problems. By improving operations processes, you can minimize system
outages caused byƒ inadequate or nonexistent operations processes and procedures.