Telstra Corporation Limited's Infrastructure Management Essay.

You are tasked to write a report on the broad topic of Managing Infrastructure. 

You may use a company you presently work for (or have previously worked for) as a case study or a well-known company such as Microsoft, Telstra, Amazon, Google, eBay or others. You may even consider a non-traditional company such as the Red Cross and explain how they manage their infrastructure in a humanitarian crisis. 

Components of Telstra's Information Technology Infrastructure

The information technology can be stated as the utilization of systems for the purpose of storing, retrieving, transmitting and even manipulating data and information (Dahlstrom, Walker and Dziuban 2013). This is the basic subset of ICT or information and communications technology. With the proper utilization of information technology, any type of operation for the information is easily possible. The process of decision making is quite easier and hence is thus easily executed by all users. There are various products and services of this information technology that are required to be managed properly by the users (Dahlstrom and Bichsel 2014). The following report outlines a brief discussion on the infrastructure management of Telstra Corporation Limited. Moreover, the entire process of managing the information technology after taking into consideration the vendor management, COBIT, scalability and many more. Finally, proper suggestions will also be provided in this report.

The information technology infrastructure of Telstra Corporation Limited is the proper amalgamation of software, hardware, human resources and networks, which eventually enable the organization in properly delivering the various services of information technology for its customers (Eason 2014). Since, Telstra Corporation Limited is a telecommunications company, it is important for them to maintain as well as manage the infrastructure easily and promptly. The most important and significant pieces or components of the information technology infrastructure of Telstra Corporation Limited are given below:

i) Hardware: The first and the foremost important and significant component of the information technology infrastructure of Telstra is the hardware. Without this hardware, it is not at all possible to have all types of information technology services (Bilbao-Osorio, Dutta and Lanvin 2013). This particular organization requires the servers, switches, computers, systems, routers and any other equipment.

ii) Software: The next important piece of infrastructure is software. The respective hardware is completely useful without the software and the software is responsible for including the productivity applications, CRM or customer relationship management services and ERP or enterprise resource planning applications (Marchewka 2014). Most of these applications is subsequently bought from the shelf and is developed by the specific department of IT on the basis of their requirements.

iii) Internet Connection: Another vital and noteworthy piece of the IT infrastructure of Telstra is the Internet connection. The modern business could be easily conducted with the help of this type of Internet connectivity. It is extremely important for the network connection as the staffs of Telstra is completely dependent on the web access, electronic mails and phone services through Voice over Internet Protocol (Holtshouse 2013). This type of Internet connectivity is extremely mandatory for Telstra and since they provide telecommunications services, it is important for them to run the wires and also to set up the networking switches, routers and hubs.

Management Theories Followed by Telstra Corporation Limited

iv) Information Technology People: The next significant and extremely vital piece of the information technology infrastructure within the organization of Telstra Corporation Limited is the people related to IT or the several experts of IT (Bloom et al., 2014). The professionals of information technology like system administrators, developers as well as network administrators subsequently check the requirements of the organization and undertake necessary decisions for their infrastructure management.

Telstra Corporation Ltd is one of the most popular and leading telecommunications organizations in the world (Lloyd 2017). The proper and the significant management of the infrastructure in this particular organization is done after following some of the most important management theories.

i) Risk Management: The first and the foremost theory that this company is following is the risk management. Being one of the most prominent organizations, they have to manage their risks properly, so that there is no issue related to them (Schwalbe 2015). It is the identification, evaluation and finally prioritization of the risks that are followed by the resource applications for subsequently minimizing, monitoring and controlling the impact of risks. With the help of this risk management theory, they are able to deal with the project failures and intentional and unintentional attacks.

ii) Infrastructure as a System: The next important theory that the organization of Telstra Corporation Ltd is using is the infrastructure as a system. Each and every organizational infrastructure comprises of the several elements. This specific context substantially refers to all those reasons and purposes, which this infrastructure is made for (Galegher, Kraut and Egido 2014). All of these purposes and reasons are on the basis of some of the policies within the company that are being developed by the authorities and the government.

iii) Cost Benefit Analysis: The third significant theory that majorly reflects the management of infrastructure in Telstra is the cost benefit analysis. It is the systematic approach that helps in calculating as well as comparing the costs and benefits of the course of actions within any specific situation. The main objective of this cost benefit analysis is the significant determination of the option that returns the optimal ration of benefits to costs and hence solves the problem about the opportunity costs (Alwahaishi and Snásel 2013). This is utilized for comparing the potential course of actions and also in the evaluation of desirability of the single project, policy and decision.

iv) Adaptive Management: This is the fourth theory that could reflect infrastructure management of Telstra. The adaptive management is the iterative, structured procedure of the robust decision making for facing uncertainties with the objective to reduce the uncertainties over time through the system monitoring (Wagner, Beimborn and Weitzel 2014). This is also known as the adaptive resource management as it helps in managing the resources properly.

COBIT

The procedure of managing the information technology within Telstra is extremely important or vital. This IT management is the disciplinary, whereby the resources of the information technology could be managed accordingly by undertaking the major priorities and requirements (Han and Mithas 2013). All of the resources also involve the tangible investments such as software, hardware, networks, data and the facilities of data centre. Moreover, the IT staffs are also hired for maintaining these investments.

COBIT or Control Objectives of Information and Related Technology is a framework that is being created by the professional association of the information technology management as well as IT governance. This COBIT in Telstra provides the set of controls on the information technology and then subsequently organizes around the logical framework of all types of IT related procedures (Brooks 2016). The expansion of the framework is done for auditing the realm in Telstra and hence management guidelines are added.

The next significant factor that is checked for the proper management of the information technology in Telstra Corporation Ltd is the scalability. This particular factor refers to the significant capability of any network, process and system for the purpose of handling the growing amount of work and also the potential for enlarging the growth within the company (Fischer et al. 2014). Scalability allows them in enabling the adaptability of the systems properly.

Telstra also implements the factor of redundancy. The assets or IT people, who are no longer required within the organization and have become completely redundant, are eventually eradicated from the organization. Moreover, the data or the information that is no longer required is also cleared from the database of the company.

The BCP or business continuity planning is the proper creation of strategies for the identification of the risks and threats that are faced by Telstra, with the core purpose of ensuring the assets as well as the personnel of this company are secured or protected and has the ability for functioning within the event of disasters (Wagner, Vollmar and Wagner 2014). This type of planning helps them in solving the various issues related to the business operations. They have become the most popular organization with the presence of business continuity planning in their business.

The vendor management is the major discipline, which allows Telstra Corporation Limited for the purpose of controlling the expenses and driving the service excellence. Moreover, the several risks related to the vendors are also mitigated for gaining the increased value from their existing vendors within the life cycle.

Scalability

The excellent information technology within this organization of Telstra Corporation Limited is another important factor for managing their infrastructure (Lloyd 2017). The development of the technology is involved and the utilization or maintenance of the computer systems, networks and software to process as well as to distribution of the data or information.

Another important and significant factor of the infrastructure management within the Telstra Corporation Limited is the disaster recovery planning. This type of plan is the structured and documented approach with significant instructions to respond for the unplanned incidents (Schwalbe 2015). The step by step plan comprises of the several precautions for the minimization of the disaster effects so that they could continue to operate or even quickly resuming the critical functionalities and operations in Telstra.

The other important issues related to compliance and political issues are also properly maintained for the management of IT infrastructure. The practices, legislations, rules as well as regulations and the specified standards are also checked for the proper execution of their infrastructure management (Marchewka 2014). These keys issues hence eventually help in the proper execution of the business operations and the management of the IT infrastructure by following legal rules.

Figure 1: Infrastructure Management Services

(Source: Holtshouse 2014)

The risks and security management can be defined as the procedure for identifying, analysis as well as acceptance or the mitigation of the uncertainties or risks within any specific organization. This type of risk and security management eventually takes place when the fund manager or the investor attempts and analyzes the quantification of the potential of losses within the company and also taking the correct actions (Bloom et al. 2014). The risks and the securities are to be managed properly and thus these risks should be mitigated perfectly. The major suggestions for the risks and security management for Telstra Corporation Limited organization are provided below:

i) The first and the foremost suggestion for this purpose is to establish a policy of risk management. This policy could measure the impact of the risks in their information technology infrastructure.

ii) The proper establishment of the risk management framework is the next important suggestion for Telstra. This would be helpful in providing an idea of the risk management for the employees.

iii) The third suggestion for Telstra is to define the role and responsibility for the risks management for each and every employee.

iv) The embedment of the systematic risk management within the business processes is the next important suggestion.

Redundancy and Disaster Recovery Planning

v) A positive risk culture should be developed properly for Telstra.

vi) The consultancy and communication about the various risks are the next suggestions for Telstra.

The few distinct suggestions for risk mitigation in Telstra are given below:

i) The root causes of the risks should be characterized for proper identification.

ii) The proper evaluation of risks is the next suggestion.

iii) The mitigation alternatives should be assessed and prioritized.

Conclusion

Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that information technology is the utilization of all storages, networking devices, computers, systems, and physical devices processes, infrastructures for creating, processing, storing, securing and finally exchanging any form of the electronic data or information. The information technology is being utilized within the significant context of the business operations. Telstra is one of the most popular and the largest telecommunications organizations in Australia. The above report has properly outlined the detailed research about the management of the infrastructure within the humanitarian crisis. This report has covered the areas regarding their management of vendors, costs, risks, benefits and outsourcing of products. Moreover, the detailed description of the reduction of infrastructure management complexity of Telstra is also given here. Relevant suggestions are also provided in this report for Telstra Corporation Ltd.

References

Alwahaishi, S. and Snásel, V., 2013. Acceptance and use of information and communications technology: a UTAUT and flow based theoretical model. Journal of technology management & innovation, 8(2), pp.61-73.

Bilbao-Osorio, B., Dutta, S. and Lanvin, B., 2013, April. The global information technology report 2013. In World Economic Forum (pp. 1-383).

Bloom, N., Garicano, L., Sadun, R. and Van Reenen, J., 2014. The distinct effects of information technology and communication technology on firm organization. Management Science, 60(12), pp.2859-2885.

Brooks, D.C., 2016. ECAR study of undergraduate students and information technology (Vol. 4, No. 3, p. 2). 2016.

Dahlstrom, E. and Bichsel, J., 2014. ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2014. Educause.

Dahlstrom, E., Walker, J.D. and Dziuban, C., 2013. ECAR study of undergraduate students and information technology(p. 2013). 2013.

Eason, K.D., 2014. Information technology and organisational change. CRC Press.

Fischer, S.H., David, D., Crotty, B.H., Dierks, M. and Safran, C., 2014. Acceptance and use of health information technology by community-dwelling elders. International journal of medical informatics, 83(9), pp.624-635.

Galegher, J., Kraut, R.E. and Egido, C. eds., 2014. Intellectual teamwork: Social and technological foundations of cooperative work. Psychology Press.

Han, K. and Mithas, S., 2013. Information technology outsourcing and non-IT operating costs: An empirical investigation. Mis Quarterly, 37(1).

Holtshouse, D.K., 2013. Information technology for knowledge management. Springer Science & Business Media.

Lloyd, I., 2017. Information technology law. Oxford University Press.

Marchewka, J.T., 2014. Information technology project management. John Wiley & Sons.

Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.

Wagner, D., Vollmar, G. and Wagner, H.T., 2014. The impact of information technology on knowledge creation: An affordance approach to social media. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 27(1), pp.31-44.

Wagner, H.T., Beimborn, D. and Weitzel, T., 2014. How social capital among information technology and business units drives operational alignment and IT business value. Journal of Management Information Systems, 31(1), pp.241-272.