From the IT department's point of view, supporting all the software tools used by the teams within a company is a great challenge, especially if these tools are not consolidated or don't have the possibility to extend their functionality. For this reason, here you'll find a series of tips that will make you understand how to improve the efficiency of your software tools and offer a quality support service, that way, you'll be giving each team the opportunity to work with software in optimal conditions.
Working in silos makes IT teamwork more complex, and it's further complicated to simultaneously support changes within the organization. Keep in mind that when the IT team only focuses on support, it reduces their scope of work as they can cover less; however, the story may differ.
For example, the IT team needs to keep track of user licenses, user access, and security, to check the software tool version is up to date, and, if there are multiple instances, ensure they are all running the same version... as you can imagine, it's not easy to track of all this information. However, you risk losing money for your organization if you don't.
The IT team faces this administrative problem, and other teams are also negatively impacted because the software tools throughout the organization are supported by IT. Can you see the big picture here?
Working in silos is one reason why so many software tools are supported in-house; another reason is that these software tools lack customization possibilities. When a product can work in a certain way and only meets the needs of a single business unit, and it's impossible to extend it to the entire organization, it means that the IT team must continue to support all of them to reduce any risk to your team's productivity.
The solution will never be to make the IT team stop supporting your company's tools; the key is to enable them to rely on the right ones. And by saying "right," we recommend these tools have the option to integrate with others.
These integrations can be done by employing apps and APIs. Many software tools support integrations or offer APIs. These types of integrations must be created to meet the team's needs as it grows. It's important to note that any app or API can do it.
Before getting into it, you need to consider the following to maintain efficiency throughout your organization:
One of the biggest challenges teams faces is to collaborate properly: If teams cannot work together, little can be accomplished, or at least it will take longer than necessary, leading to a lack of productivity.
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Suppose one of your goals is to create a new feature that requires multiple development teams to work together. It could be challenging if they don't have visibility of other teams' work.
In the case of Jira, extending functionality through apps helps to streamline team productivity. This way, it won't be necessary to have the IT team supporting more products, and at the same time, you'll be enhancing your organization's existing tools.
Most software tools support some integrations, but they are often not built to handle large amounts of user traffic, which is critical for companies facing growth. When the apps you've integrated allow 500 users, it's one thing. Still, it's quite another when thousands of team members in multiple locations worldwide are using the same integration every day.
Apps are as critical as software tools; that’s why the Atlassian Marketplace has more than 5,600 in total, most of which are Data Center approved, supporting teams in their growth. Each of these apps undergoes a rigorous testing process to ensure that it can withstand high levels of user traffic. They have also been tested with clustering enabled to be used with high availability.
Each organization is unique and has its own needs and requirements, and software tools must be flexible enough to fulfill needs. Some organizations have created custom apps for internal use for better extensibility instead of resorting to third parties. We know because it's one of the services we provide to Atlassian software users, usually in Jira. In fact, this is how our app Projectrak was born.
Apps can be valuable and allow teams to work together more smoothly. Still, it's important to remember that these Atlassian apps are also compatible with the most critical tools within your organization.
Creating and adding these custom apps helps drive internal collaboration and integrate the different team's workflows while reducing the asset management burden on the IT team. This happens when too many software tools are managed, and the organization's needs are not sacrificed. That's why it's essential to build them properly, considering all possible scenarios, and even request external assistance, if necessary.
As your organization grows, automating different areas of day-to-day activity will allow you to support other colleagues and teams and invest time innovating rather than executing manual tasks. E.g., using an API that triggers a build at a specific time of day. Another example could be creating projects based on other existing projects using an app. In both cases, your teams can continue to use their products to meet your organization's requirements without overburdening your IT team while adding functionality.
As a manager, helping other teams build their strategies is necessary to meet the overall business objectives of your organization. These strategies include the implementation of DevOps, ITSM, or Agile Methodologies. The main aim of each of these strategies is to deliver quickly and efficiently without affecting quality.
From an administration point of view, you're responsible for supporting products that will allow your teams to leverage different strategies. However, we understand you can get stuck when separate teams work with many tools. That's why it's essential to have software tools at your disposal with great extensible possibilities. In the case of Atlassian, the Data Center option can be flexible enough to meet the different team needs
To reduce the gap between tool features and teams' needs, it's necessary to establish a strategy for your organization tooling-wise. Integrations through APIs or apps are beneficial, as they allow you to extend tools' capabilities and add more functionality without overloading yourself with tons of work. E.g., Suppose you're a user of Jira Service Management as your primary ITSM solution. In that case, if you need to add asset management features, go to the Atlassian Marketplace or turn to an Atlassian Solution Partner; that will be enough to find the help you need.
Whatever your need is, whether you have a specific need about any of your Atlassian tools and you cannot find it anywhere, or maybe you have evaluated more than one Atlassian app, and you are not sure which one could be more profitable at a functionality/price level. This is a task our team of Atlassian specialists can help you with; contact us by clicking the button below.
If you have doubts about any Atlassian products, apps, APIs, and/or integrations, you're at the right place. Being part of the global Atlassian Ecosystem gives us the leverage you need to find the functionality that best suits you, your team, and your tools.
If you have other needs, our team of Atlassian professionals will study your case to offer a custom solution. If you need help with Atlassian, click below.
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