What is common between both is that there are three specific key areas of influence in solving or overcoming these issues: Knowing, Doing, and Measuring.

Three Things Matter
Each IT department that achieves success becomes knowledgeable and skilled at managing in three different areas. That is not to say that you don’t have unique issues. Nor does it mean that as a company goes through growth stages, it won’t encounter the bumps and obstacles common to a particular growth stage. What it does mean is that no matter what your current or future challenges, you stand a higher chance of overcoming them successfully when you gain competency in these three areas:

• Business Intelligence Management: Knowing
• Process Management: Doing
• Performance Management: Measuring

It boils down to this: You need to know what to do, you need to have effective methods of doing, and you need to measure what you have done. Network Technologies' Downstream IT gives you what you need in these three key areas to be able to overcome both your management and workflow issues. Our solution was developed based on ITIL (Information Technology International Library) best practice standards precisely to help you have the information and control you need to succeed.

1. Business Intelligence Management: Knowing
The first requirement to successfully manage an IT department is being able to know. To know about what is happening right this second in each critical function in your department, and to know what has happened over time.

Each day, as your employees conduct their daily business, there is a rich amount of important data gathered in the transactions. To prevent becoming overwhelmed with data, your business automation solution should provide you reports and dashboards that present just what you need to know, and just when you need to know it. Additionally, information must be available to you from a historical perspective, so you can see trends and changes over time, again presented in a format that provides a meaningful basis for any actions you might need to take.

2. Process Management: Doing
Once you have a clear picture of the critical functions within your company, you need to be able to execute effectively and efficiently. You will need to have automated process support, be able to monitor important milestones, know when exceptions happen within processes, and know when important activities are completed. And you will need to be able to engage in a continuous improvement program so that you can continually drive down your direct and operational costs of doing business.

While all companies within a given industry have common processes they perform, the details of processes – or step-by-step procedures to do an activity – are often unique to individual companies. So any business automation solution must allow for both: first, that the critical processes are supported through automation, and second, that you have the flexibility to customize the flow to meet your unique requirements. Downstream IT offers rigorous process support specifically for IT departments, as well as workflow configuration set-up tables so you can customize our solution based on your unique needs. And, we help you get it all set up, so you can hit the ground running.

3. Performance Management: Measuring
The final requirement for successful management of your IT department is that you measure performance. You need to know what is working well and what is not working well, all the way from the high-level company view down to the individual employee view. In addition to knowing the effects of any programs you put into place, this information is critical for other reasons: You need to be able to replicate instances of high performance across your company and be able to see the appropriate information to be able to take immediate corrective action on poor performance.

Network Technologies' Downstream IT gives this capability to you. Because the information is gathered from workflow processes, employees do not have an increased administrative burden. Yet you have what you need to understand how your company is performing. Everything from KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for employees, groups of employees, the IT department or the whole company, to gross margin reports by function or employee. And you can have this information in any time frame you choose, even real time for to-the-minute results.

Downstream IT: Laser Focus On The Three Things That Matter
Knowing: As a single integrated system in which information flows freely between modules, Downstream IT gives you everything you need to know about your department, immediately at your fingertips. You know what is going on.

Doing: Built on a process-based view of your business, all critical workflows that lead to success are fully supported, complete with the information you need to continually optimize your department’s performance. Your processes flow efficiently.

Measuring: Objective and real-time or historical, you can pinpoint high performance or identify weaknesses for immediate action. You can drive excellence.

Together, management of these three spheres provide the basis for you to solve your greatest management and workflow issues. Learn more about how Network Technologies' Downstream IT helps you focus on solving both your global management problems and your local Workflow problems.