A Configuration Management Database (CMBD) is a purpose-built system for storing your IT infrastructure and the relationships between your IT assets – all the hardware, software, operational technology and IoT devices that comprise your IT estate. As such, your CMDB can provide the foundation for IT service management (ITSM) and be a valuable tool for assisting with operations, software asset management, cybersecurity initiatives and compliance audits – but only if it’s complete, accurate and up to date.
Your CMDB delivers numerous benefits when you can trust in the accuracy and completeness of the data it holds:
- Minimizes the impact of outages:
According to Aberdeen Group, the cost of downtime has risen 60% since 2014. Today, each hour of downtime costs organizations an average of $260,000. Often the first time that IT knows about a business service outage is when end users complain. Proactively addressing business service outages before they start is not only essential for making services, but for helping to prevent devastating financial losses, as well. An accurate CMDB helps you identify, diagnose and fix service outages faster. - Improves Network Security:
The FBI reports that since the start of the coronavirus, cyberattacks have increased by 300%, and Accenture reports that 68% of business leaders feel that risk will continue to rise. That’s why it’s essential to identify and address any vulnerabilities that can open the door for an attack. Serving as a single source of truth for IT asset configuration data, the CMDB helps security teams quickly and easily identify and remediate vulnerabilities to reduce the risk of a security incident. - Accelerates issue resolution:
ITSM is more efficient with an accurate, up-to-date CMDB. The ability to update Configuration Items (CIs) with comprehensive data then map that to business services improves service desk readiness, enabling faster issue resolution. IT organizations can attach incident reports to CIs and track them over time to better understand the impact of planned and unplanned service outages, gaining the visibility they need to prevent issues in the first place or mitigate the impact should they occur. - Simplifies compliance:
Ensuring that your organization complies with government and industry regulations, certification programs and regulatory requirements such as SOX, HIPPA, and PCI is a critical role of IT. However, without accurate data, it’s a time-consuming, costly endeavor. An accurate CMDB makes compliance audits and reporting easier, by providing rapid access to accurate, complete IT asset and configuration data.
Unfortunately, many companies struggle with CMDB projects and fall short of realizing the potential value of a well-run CMDB. Many IT organizations still rely on manual processes such as spreadsheets to track configurations and enter the information into the CMDB. Slow, manual updates are subject to human error, resulting in incomplete and inaccurate configuration data that are obsolete almost as soon as the updates are complete. Attempting to keep the CMDB current leads to ongoing maintenance challenges and high operational overhead, taxing IT budgets and keeping IT staff from more critical work.
Without full visibility across your IT assets and configurations, unplanned outages are inevitable, impacting productivity and causing huge financial losses.
Keep Your CMDB Complete and Current with Automated IT Asset Discovery
A smart way to keep your CMDB always accurate and current is by improving IT asset discovery. Lansweeper is an IT asset discovery tool that can automatically scan your entire IT estate, creating a single source of truth for your IT data, including the devices, applications, and users within your IT infrastructure. This asset inventory can be used to auto-populate your CMDB solution through seamless integration, ensuring the data your organization leverages for ITSM, security management, compliance, and other use cases is always complete and up to date.
In this follow up interview with Cassandra Lloyd, Lansweeper’s Partner Alliance Manager, you can learn more about improving your CMDB Data Accuracy through Automation.
Learn more about Lansweeper Integrations that help you solve the challenges of maintaining your CBMD and help you maximize its value.
