Category: Technology

Today, more than ever before, technologies drive business and transform the way companies operate. The expanding IT environment helps in running a business, but it also requires special care and attention. The management of this environment is one of the top priorities and, when done properly, it ensures business efficiency and success. How to do it effectively? Meet the BMC Helix!

The IT infrastructure keeps growing and it constitutes the foundation for business processes and operations, which is the reason why service desks face new requirements and new challenges. The scope of duties gets broader and there are more and more users of IT services. IT departments remain under constant time pressure. ITSM solutions are there to help them out. 

ITSM tools allow organisation to manage the use of IT services along with the infrastructure that supports these services. Such tools are most frequently used in processes consisting in the management of incidents, requests, problems, changes, knowledge and configurations. 

However, ITSM solutions also evolve with time. Those which set a standard several years ago and allowed service desks to perform daily tasks effectively can no longer catch up with the needs of increasingly digitalized organisation. 

Enterprises must reassess their existing solutions to see if they are sufficient to manage the expanding IT infrastructure and services quickly, smoothly and efficiently. It is an important moment for companies which use systems that will no longer be updated by their manufacturers, so they cannot be adjusted to the growing need of IT departments. That is the case with HP OpenView Service Desk. Organisations whose service desks use such systems should take a look around the ITSM market and choose solutions which they will be able to use and extend in the future. 
The market of ITSM solutions 
The market of ITSM solutions is developing rapidly. According to Market Research Future, the ITSM market will grow at a rapid pace, averaging 23.1% annually from 2022 to 2030.The offer includes more than 400 different products with varied functions and levels of advancement and automation. 

Basic

Key ITSM functions such as the management of incidents, requests and changes; limited integration options with ITOM (IT Operations Management) solutions. 

Intermediate

Wide ITSM capabilities such as the management of configurations, problems and service levels. Basic ITOM functions or integration options with third-party ITOM solutions.  

Advanced

A full scope of ITSM capabilities, advanced work flow processing – AITSM (i.e. the optimisation of ITSM practices with the use of artificial intelligence [AI], automations and analytics). Integrated and advanced ITOM functionalities or integration options with third-party ITOM solutions. 

Companies looking for a new solution have to consider their current needs, plans for their future development and capabilities of the systems. Today, when one can have a really hard time finding experienced IT staff, it is a good idea to choose solutions which automate processes in IT departments and help teams do their job efficiently and quickly. Such solutions make use of artificial intelligence or machine learning. That is why we recommend the BMC Helix platform to our customers. 
BMC Helix. A leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant 
BMC offers four products that support service desks: BMC Helix ITSM, BMC Helix Remedyforce, FootPrints and TrackIt!. BMC Helix ITSM, the manufacturer’s flagship solution, offers basic ITSM functions and options of integration with BMC ITOM and AITSM. It supports the management of services and operations, and the system is driven by artificial intelligence. 

It is no coincidence that for many years BMC Helix has been listed by Gartner as one of the leaders in the ITSM market. The solution is versatile, easy to implement and available both in the cloud and on premises. It considerably enhances the way IT departments operate owing to the extended analytical and predictive functions. 
The advantages of the BMC Helix appreciated by Gartner’s experts: 

Advanced ITSM functions: BMC Helix ITSM supports the needs of highly mature I&O organisations in the scope of ITSM processes. It provides a solid CMDB (Configuration Management Database).
Flexible implementation: BMC is one of very few providers of ITSM tools that deliver container-based infrastructure, enabling various options of implementation, including on premises and in the cloud.
Long-term development plans: BMC has well-defined and long-term plans for developing the product, e.g. by extending the AI functions, improving the integration of solutions, and adding new options of digital working environments and collaboration.

How can IT departments and service desks benefit from the implementation of BMC Helix ITSM? 
Better work efficiency: 
BMC Helix enables automatic grouping of related incidents, which helps service engineers identify requests and assign priorities. The cognitive engine used in the solution suggests the possible causes of detected problems and recommends troubleshooting options based on historical data. 
Resource management: 
BMC Helix also provides extensive capabilities in terms of Service and Asset Configuration Management (SACM), including the automatic monitoring of service performance (e.g. delays and throughput). Importantly, IT teams get one console to see all service management processes within all applications. The system makes it possible:

to receive information about incidents,
to manage changes in IT services,
to build a knowledge base,
to monitor IT services and
to manage the base configuration. 

Visibility of IT resources and relations: 
BMC Helix Discovery enables automatic gathering of information about the resources that the company holds in its data centre and in the clouds from various providers. It provides full visibility as regards software versions, storage, network devices and relations between them. 

Today, effective ITSM solutions are indispensable for successful management of IT infrastructure and service in a business environment. State-of-the-art tools, using artificial intelligence and machine learning, can support IT departments by automating workloads and providing managers with full visibility of what is going on within the company’s IT ecosystem. And that is the basis for efficient operation of increasingly digitalised enterprises. 
Interested in a solution presentation? Fill out the form, and we’ll get in touch with you!
 

Contact us: marketing@integritypartners.pl

The DevOps methodology has been gaining more and more followers, both among big corporations and small IT businesses. By combining strict collaboration of developers and administrators as well as through a wide use of work automation tools, it makes IT teams faster and more effective. However, it has its weak points which affect the security of the whole environment. CyberArk Conjur is a solution which can help. How does it work? Let us explain! 

The foundations of DevOps are communication, collaboration and integrations between developers and specialists in the operation of IT systems. This particular methodology accelerates the development of software, products and services. For such efficient collaboration to be possible, it is necessary to automate the IT environment as well as to use multiple tools and cloud-based resources. 
The DevOps methodology
Physical users and various kinds of tools are part of the process of creating software by following the DevOps methodology. Each day, IT environments use new microservices which communicate with one another as well as with users and administrators by means of special credentials called secrets. The entire authentication process in DevOps takes place automatically and remains outside the control of the security department. This means that unauthorised persons can sneak inside programming tools or hijack the administrator’s account and then infect the code, thereby infecting the entire IT system. 

In other words, though the DevOps methodology enables the implementation of multiple tools that optimise development, testing and deployment of new software, it fails to ensure adequate security of the whole IT environment. It results from, among other reasons, the lack of one location for managing credentials and privileged accounts as well as the inability to use rotation of passwords, keys and tokens, since multiple tools share the same data. 
CyberArk Conjur 
CyberArk Conjur is a solution to this problem. It was designed for managing security, credentials and access in DevOps environments. The tool supports the administration of secrets used by applications, microservices, Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD), APIs etc. It is an additional module – an extension of the standard Core Privileged Access Security module. 
CyberArk Conjur supports: 
– managing data secrets such as tokens, SSH keys, API keys, certificates
– the use of RBAC (role-based access control) mechanisms
– secure storage and management of secrets combined with the mechanism of automatic rotations based on configurable policies
– centralised audit for all events and operations, including report generation
– full integration with DevOps tools such as Ansible, Chef, Jenkins, and Puppet as well as containerization tools, e.g. Docker, OpenShift etc. 

How does CyberArk Conjur work? It dynamically collects credentials from a secure location (Vault) only when the given tool, application or system actually needs them. 

CyberArk’s solution can be easily integrated with the most common DevOps tools and platforms as well as with any systems used by enterprises. Thanks to this approach, organisations can implement and enforce predefined security models and practices. As a result, it enhances security without slowing down developers in their work. 

 
Interested in a solution presentation? Fill out the form, and we’ll get in touch with you!
 

According to the IDC report (“Worldwide Global DataSphere Forecast”), the global amount of data will reach 180 zettabytes in 2025. This is mainly due to companies which generate new data faster than consumers do. Each year, information stored in the cloud increases by 36%. How to manage, secure, interpret and use dispersed company data for business operations? Various IT solutions can prove helpful. One of them is Imperva SONAR. 

A growing number of data results in new challenges for companies. They need to understand what happens to these resources, where they are stored, who has access to them and how they are used. 

The pandemic quickened the digital transformation by at least several years. Companies are now more willing to use the cloud and the mass storage on a much wider scale. Today data are practically everywhere: on company servers, in cloud-based services and in the hands of external companies. They can have different formats: they are structured, partly structured or raw. In many cases these are sensitive data which require special protection. 

The trick is to manage the data, but also to gain insights, draw conclusions and use the possibilities hidden in the data. Technologies can help. 
Understanding data 
The Database Activity Monitoring (DAM) systems have been on the market for years. They serve to monitor and analyse the activity in databases. 

The Imperva DAM solution which is included in our offer enables detection of locations in the company IT environment where confidential data are stored and determination of databases with gaps in safeguards. It assists in managing access and policies, it shows who has access to what data and informs about unusual user behaviours, alerting the administrator in case of any anomalies. 

But this is still not enough to protect data and use their potential. In the face of constantly expanding company infrastructure, it is important to know where the data are stored, it is important to monitor and alert, but what also matters is quick response and extensive automation. 

In order to address the current needs of many companies, Imperva launched the SONAR platform which provides a new set of features meeting the requirements with respect to protected databases, data collection, reporting, management and automation. Imperva SONAR can be seamlessly integrated with the existing Imperva DAM environment, reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) and considerably increasing the capabilities of the environment. 
Imperva SONAR – full control from one location 
The new platform from Imperva is a solution designed for security departments, monitoring teams and SOC (Security Operations Centres). SONAR aggregates and segregates data from multiple sources in real time. They can be local sources, cloud-based sources, the existing Imperva Gateway devices, and third-party products (including competitors’ products). The platform provides one shared environment regardless of where the company are actually stored. SONAR works with more than 65 database types, including all top cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Snowflake and MongoDB Atlas. 

Data coming from these sources are displayed on one console with a clear layout. Thus SONAR allows to create a convenient command centre where all information is present on an ongoing basis. 

This really makes life easier for administrators. In the standard Imperva DAM solution, reports on database activity are generated at a specific time. They include only the information coming from the Imperva tools. Meanwhile, SONAR monitors and analyses all databases and the reports are generated in real time, so teams can work faster and respond to any anomalies immediately. 
Business benefits of Imperva SONAR 
The features of the SONAR platform improve the team’s performance and efficiency, which results in easily noticeable business benefits. 
Cost reduction 
Since SONAR combines the cloud and the on-premise environment, the company does not have to pay for two separate licences. As a result, the total cost of ownership (TCO) is reduced. 
More effective teams with Imperva SONAR
Imperva SONAR saves time, that is for sure. Since administrators have all data in one location, they do not have to spend their precious time switching between different source and comparing information. 
Work automation 
SONAR enables the automation of manual processes such as reporting deviations, reviewing privileges and reconciling change requests. Built-in work-flow mechanisms and contextual enrichment automatically organise multi-stage operations and direct actions, so all requests are handled without the administrator’s participation. This reduces the consumption of time and resources. 
Access to audit data in real time 
SONAR provides access to historical data in real time. Therefore, there is no need for separate archiving or audit data retrieving. The costs and the time of audits are consequently reduced. 
Enhanced security 
The improved control over data enables immediate detection of errors and threats as well as the implementation of remedial mechanisms. As a result, the security of the company and its key information resources is enhanced. 

The SONAR platform provides extended visibility of what happens to the company data as well as improved access to information, analyses and reports, all in real time and in one location. The work automation results in better team performance and it also saves both time and money. 
Interested in a solution presentation? Fill out the form, and we’ll get in touch with you!