Understanding the Core of IT Managed Services in Australia

The Bank for International Settlements definition of a payment system states; A payment system consists of a set of instruments, banking procedures and, typically, interbank funds transfer systems that ensure the circulation of money (From A glossary of terms used in payments and settlement systems, Committee on Payment & Settlement Systems. BIS, Basel. March 2003).

Despite this we often associate the word system with only the technology; the bits and bites, the hardware and the software. We tend to forget that there is a lot more that goes into making up a payment system.

A further problem is the users perspective, and in the case of a bank this is often from that banks own point of view a view that only concerns the bank itself. The outside world is seen as exogenous to the banks system. This is often the view taken when considering such critical issues as disaster recovery and business continuity planning. What is often overlooked is the big picture the users, the clearing system and the settlement agent.

This total picture is something that was very clearly illustrated in the effect that the events of 9/11 had on the payments system in the United States generally, but more specifically in lower Manhattan. The aftermath of the 9/11 events clearly illustrated this – that disaster recovery and business continuity planning had been too focused on single localized events and assumed that all the other system components would remain intact.

The major lessons learned were;

• Business continuity planning failed to take into account the possibility of wide-area disasters and for the major loss of or inaccessibility of critical staff
• At many organizations contingency planning had generally concentrated on problems with a single building or system.
• Some firms maintained their backup facilities in nearby buildings, assuming that an event might debilitate or destroy a single facility.
• Very few firms planned for an emergency that would disrupt whole business district or city. This led certain firms to loose access to both their main and backup facilities following 9/11 attacks.
• Generally firms had also not considered the possibility that transportation of staff could be significantly disrupted and that their ability to move personnel to an alternative location would become extremely difficult or impossible.
• The market and geographical focus intensified the effect of operational disruptions
• Those financial institutions that were significantly concentrated within the geographic area in New York City were most affected by the devastation at the World Trade Center. This was made worse by the fact that some had consolidated their staff in one or two locations for efficiency purposes.
• Certain critical market functions, especially in the clearing and settlement of funds, securities, and financial contracts, depend on a small number of specialist organizations each with their own operations in a concentrated area.
• There were major weaknesses in telecommunications capabilities because of these concentrations. Many firms believed they had full redundancy in their communications systems because they had arrangements with multiple telecommunications providers or because they had contracted for diverse routing, only to discover that all of the communication lines traveled through any of several single points of failure.
• There was a strong interdependence among financial system participants irrespective of where they were located
• While financial institutions situated outside the New York City area were affected to a much lesser degree than were those inside it, many felt the effects of the disaster.
• Most financial factors lost the ability to connect to banks, brokers and other organizations in lower Manhattan. This blocked their ability to conduct business and establish whether transactions had been completed as anticipated.
• Some customers were affected by actions of institutions with which they did not even do business, when funds or securities could not be delivered due to operational problems at other institutions.
• The suspension of all commercial flights had serious implications for the clearing of cheques.
• In the post-9/11 world there is a clear understanding that the financial system has many components, and they all have to work. It is the big picture, not the narrow own view that has to be planned for.

Business continuity planning needs to be made far more robust. Revised plans should include the ability for a rapid resumption of critical operations following the loss or inaccessibility of staff in at least one major operating site; or following a wide-scale, regional disruption. It is vital that all critical internal and external continuity arrangements are effective and compatible.

How to find outstanding IT services for a business

by

Adamjazz martin

Well, what do people really mean when they talk about it services? It is basically a field for managing information technology systems which is done according to the client’s need. It services are generally considered for the back-end or back office solutions which is mainly related to the operational part related to the information technology systems. It is not really like technology development. Technology development is the field where you develop new software\’s and applications using various programming languages. Information technology services are where you help maintaining the web development part by handling back-end work like servers, site hosting etc.

There are four major core areas in which these services are offered. First of them is business process automation. Then comes the part of providing information. Next comes the part where you connect with the customers and last but not the least is the productivity tools. All these core it services help execute the business efficiently. There are hundreds of other odd jobs, which all are encompassed in these four main sectors. The many work which it professionals do also includes tasks like installation of required applications to designing networks which are complex in nature, managing data to administration of entire systems. These services also include tasks like consulting with the client and then automating and re-engineering the business processes to make them more productive and efficient. It professionals also develop and maintain the application which are for internal applications for businesses. They also develop end to end solutions which are service oriented. These professionals manage information technology infrastructure for their clients. The companies which make application based software\’s and apps also need various services like a team which regularly tests and maintains their software. From time to time, they also need to develop new features in the existing software\’s in order to stay ahead in the market. The need and demand of information technology is increasing at a high pace. Now information technology is no longer limited to the world of pc and laptops. It has spread its wings and entered related domains and fields like mobiles, tablets, high end televisions, high end automobiles etc. Technology is expanding at an exponential speed which has increased the jobs in this sector. It services is the area where the task is to manage technology. Now technology is a big term which has a very wide scope. Technology includes and covers areas like computer software, computer hardware, information systems and programming languages. But it does not end here. To be precise, information technology services include providing data or information requested to clients using multimedia distribution mechanism.

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