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Written by Peter McGurran Mar. 8, 2024- I was on the phone with a prospective client the other day, explaining to him about the benefits of working with 2NSystems versus the other options that are available in the market. While discussing with him the advantages of working with my staff, I started to think about all the changes that we have gone through over the years. The tremendous changes that have happened – not just in what we provide to the market – but more importantly the people that we have on staff, the structure that we have set up [...]

Written by Peter McGurran Jan. 22, 2024- I am in the midst of business planning for 2024. We are trying something different this year – working with the team at Cardone Ventures to help solidify a structure for our business that will ensure success as we work towards more and more profitable growth. I am reading books by Brandon Dawson and Grant Cardone – I have terms like “Massive Action” (Cardone) and “work on your business not in your business” (Dawson) in my head as I work on my plan. One thing I am realizing is that after 27 years in [...]

Written by Nate Josephs Sr. Systems Engineer/Data Center Manager In the previous article series, I discussed policies, processes, and procedures and how they reduce human error in data centers by setting expectations and showing how to meet those expectations.  Training is also key in minimizing risk by ensuring staff read and understand policies, know all critical steps of processes, and can perform tasks per procedures.  Training also provides supervisors a fair and objective way to assess employee performance.  Furthermore, organizations can justify disciplinary actions if an employee was trained yet willfully neglected to perform per expectations.  The following is an [...]

Supply chain shortages, product outages and long lead times continue to be a factor in most, if not all, areas of business around the world. Just when you think you have a wrinkle pressed flat, another seam begins to crease. At the same time organizations and employees still feel the pressure to meet customer requests, revenue goals and deadlines. While we can’t smooth out all the supply chain issues you are experiencing, here’s what we’ve learned works to help mitigate the delays. Start early. Begin your project as soon as you can and add time to the overall project timeframe [...]

Written by Nate Josephs Sr. Systems Engineer/Data Center Manager In the previous articles on policies, processes, and procedures, I defined policies as guidelines or rules for all work impacting the data center.  Processes are high-level steps needed to perform a desired output.  Procedures serve the distinct role of explaining in detail how to perform tasks.  Procedures minimize error by ensuring work is performed consistently, efficiently, and conforms to best practices.  Within this fourth and final article on policies, processes and procedures, I will offer the following tips for creating effective procedures. Determine the Right Amount of Detail:  As mentioned, the [...]

Written by Nate Josephs Sr. Systems Engineer/Data Center Manager Within this series of articles on policies, processes, and procedures, I’ve discussed the importance of implementing all three documents in order to minimize risk in the data center.  The first article explained the differences between each document and the second one provided details on creating effective policies.  In this third article, I will cover what processes are, how they differ from policies and procedures, and provide tips for creating effective processes. As mentioned, policies are rules that define expected outcomes for activities performed.  Both processes and procedures support policies by ensuring [...]

Written by Nate Josephs Sr. Systems Engineer/Data Center Manager In the previous article, I discussed the importance of implementing all three documents (policies, processes, and procedures) to minimize risk in the data center.  I further discussed that policies differ from processes and procedures as policies are guidelines and rules based on expected outcomes versus instructions on how to perform work.  In this article, I will explain how to create effective policies for your data center. To create useful policies for data centers, data center managers need to start by engaging leadership, internal/external customers, and all other key stakeholders to define [...]

Policy, Process, and Procedure: Why You Need All Three Written by Nate Josephs Sr. Systems Engineer/Data Center Manager You may have heard the statement “Human error is the leading cause of most data center outages.”  An effective way to minimize human error is by implementing three documents: policies, processes, and procedures.  Implementing all three documents minimizes risk by establishing what outcomes are expected, delineating the steps involved to produce the expected outcomes, and explaining in detail how to accomplish those outcomes as they relate to the data center. Most people understand policies are essentially rules.  However, the difference between processes [...]

Three Tactics to Successfully Deploy Your DCIM Software Written by Nate Josephs Sr. Systems Engineer/Data Center Manager In the previous Tips from a Data Center Manager blog, I discussed how to pick the right DCIM product and how to compare costs.  Once an organization overcomes the challenge of picking the right software, they face additional obstacles when deploying DCIM.  The following is the third and last article in the series on DCIM where I discuss common reasons why DCIM implementations “lose steam” and fail.  Also included are three tactics to make implementation successful. Focus Gets Lost – Data center teams [...]

How to Pick the Right DCIM Software and Compare Costs Written by Nate Josephs Sr. Systems Engineer/Data Center Manager In the previous Tips from a Data Center Manager blog, I discussed the benefits of DCIM by describing six valuable features it provides.  These features include: floor plans and rack views, real-time monitoring, “what-if” scenario creation, future capacity forecasting, integration with other tools, and online dashboards.  Unfortunately, organizations often become paralyzed trying to choose the right DCIM software and become confused trying to compare costs.  The following is the second in a series of three DCIM articles that identifies challenges in [...]