Uptime Institute applies principles of business process management (BPM) along with unparalleled data center knowledge and expertise to provide an independent third-party assessment for data center management and operations with the Management and Operations (M&O) Stamp of Approval. With continued demand for data across all business functions, today’s IT and data center infrastructure stakeholders are under continuous pressure to deliver value while maintaining cost and efficiency and the M&O Stamp of Approval provides the guidance and framework to drive best practices for the effective management and operations of a data center.
The Uptime Institute M&O Stamp of Approval was developed around the belief that facility management issues are fixable, frequently without a major resource commitment, providing the greatest opportunity to reduce risks to data center availability. With data center operations running 24x7, companies need to keep business running efficiently. The Uptime Institute M&O Stamp of Approval provides a means to conduct risk analysis at a portfolio level and provide senior management with the information needed to make informed decisions on whether to accept the risk identified in the report or take the corrective actions required to mitigate risks. Additionally, in today’s margin-centric world, the M&O Stamp of Approval allows companies to get the most of their facility and related assets and realize cost savings through these efforts.
“Clients who achieve the Uptime Institute M&O Stamp of Approval demonstrate an organizational commitment to operational excellence and specific aptitude for risk management. The M&O Stamp of Approval is a key underwriting consideration. Clients may realize premium savings in Property, Errors & Omissions (E&O), General Liability and Workers Compensation programs,” said Stephen Douglas, Risk Control Director for Technology, CNA. “Uptime Institute’s M&O Stamp of Approval assesses behaviors in data center operations management which additionally benefits reliability, availability and IT performance.”
The Uptime Institute M&O Stamp of Approval is designed to work across groups and departments, cultures and practices. The assessment reviews areas for improvement along with what is working well, to enable management to improve results across the data center portfolio. This serves to build highly effective teams with shared objectives.
“Our customers tell us that many operations and staff decisions were chosen on price alone,” said Julian Kudritzki, chief operating officer of Uptime Institute. “Why put important data at risk when the Uptime M&O Stamp of Approval can provide peace of mind, validating the effectiveness of risk management measures and programs?”
Benefits in achieving the Uptime Institute M&O Stamp of Approval include:
- Ensures that optimum staffing configuration is in place to support business presence objective
- Confirms that plans are in place to maintain a collaborative culture and continuous training to avoid attrition. For example, the average cost to replace a mid-level employee with an average salary of $80,000 is $120,000, or 150% of their annual salary. (SOURCE: TLNT/EREMEDIA)
- Small changes can reap big benefits, for example, operating set points are routinely checked, and temperatures that can be adjusted by 6 to 10 degrees. In a large data center, a one degree change can result in an average of $1 million in annual savings.
- Potential premium savings in your insurance program.
A recent 451 Research survey found that aligning data center processes is in the Top 3 of enterprise IT priorities. This goal can only be achieved through collaboration by the multiple groups responsible for the data center. The cohesion for process improvement and standardization across the portfolio is provided whether owned/operated or outsourced.
A recent Uptime Institute analysis of 20 years of abnormal incident data from its members showed human error to blame for more than 70% of all data center outages. Better process and collaboration builds better communication across levels and departments to instill good procedures and behaviors, improved habits and productivity.
