Data centers are an increasingly critical component of today’s connected world. Any delays, downtime, or latency with equipment can have devastating real-world impacts–both to your organization’s bottom line as well as on its brand and reputation. In fact, Uptime Institute’s 2021 Global Data Center survey noted that over 60% of their respondents said that data center downtime had cost them more than $100,000—and 15% of those respondents had lost over $1 million. One Vertiv report outlined that, on average, each minute of unplanned downtime costs nearly $9,000. Plus, if servers go down, customers can’t do business or complete transactions, tarnishing the brand and forcing users to turn to another service. (Take, for instance, when Facebook was unavailable due to a data center issue and its users turned to Twitter.) It is clear: data center infrastructure failure is not an option. However, minimizing downtime is a complex process, requiring careful coordination between the operations, data center, and facilities management teams. Increasingly, organizations are turning to integrated workplace management systems (IWMS) and computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) software to help maintain and track it all. Nuvolo Connected Workplace is the only IWMS and CMMS built on ServiceNow™, and it provides one platform to manage IT and facilities requests, vendors, assets, space planning needs, projects, energy tracking requirements, and more. “Since the tool is customizable, it is scalable and gives us the advantage to have control over the process,” said Frode Elden Kay, Service Manager, STACK EMEA – Nordics. “I can take a step back and I don’t have to focus on the small details. I can look at the bigger picture and adjust things going forward, as well.” One Platform for IT and Facilities Connected Workplace is built on ServiceNOW, meaning facilities teams can coordinate directly with IT for any repairs and maintenance on equipment. All departments can see service history, notes, and work orders, making collaboration much easier. Plus, IT doesn’t have to onboard a new software platform, which reduces technical debt and makes implementation much faster. Optimizing Vendor and Contractor Management The Connected Workplace Maintenance solution provides one platform that all internal and external technicians can use. Your vendors access the Nuvolo self-service portal to complete their work orders, meaning all asset data is updated and managed in real time. Vendors complete the assigned work, submit invoices, and track their performance directly from the mobile app. Because of this, they have instant access to asset history, service manuals, knowledge bases, spare parts inventory, and training videos—meaning they have the tools they need in order to complete work quickly and accurately. Plus, having this data in one place means that it is easier to identify whether any contractors are breaching SLAs and assets aren’t functioning, so you can find and address issues more quickly. Consistent Tracking and Maintenance of Facility Assets The Nuvolo Maintenance solution streamlines the process of managing thousands of work orders across all your critical assets. Instead of tracking all equipment (like servers, cabling, or HVAC systems) in separately maintained spreadsheets or applications, Nuvolo provides a single system of record that enables you to have a comprehensive view into the status of everything. You can automate workflows and enable digital checklists for inspections and facilities assessments—all with online and offline mobile capabilities. Plus, you can track all maintenance agreements, so you can see which equipment is still under warranty. When assets, vendors, and work data are captured on one platform, you can design better preventive and corrective workflows. For example, when unmanned data center alarms are triggered, smart dispatching automatically assigns the work to the nearest technician with the right certifications. Preventive work orders can be auto-routed based on date, location, vendor requirements, historical performance, and more. You can easily visualize asset performance to better understand equipment maintenance and create more efficient workflows. Plus, having one system of record makes it much easier to meet any necessary compliance requirements. One client saved over 50 hours per month investigating device performance for compliance auditing, because they were able to automate their reporting and workflows. Streamlined Space Management and Planning You can manage spaces for both your corporate offices and your data center locations using the Nuvolo Space solution. Easily turn static floor plans into interactive virtual guides. Layer in wayfinding, room reservations, and stack planning for a comprehensive space management platform where you can plan department moves and office layout changes, while also mapping out how you lay out your data center. One client, a high-tech government agency, imported floor maps of their data centers with asset locations, allowing technicians to pull up virtual maps so they could navigate to the right equipment. Plan and Coordinate Renovation and Construction Projects The Projects solution helps you maintain a consistent experience across your locations by helping you plan and coordinate renovations. Nuvolo enables you to streamline the handoff between construction and facilities, so you can better plan for when equipment needs to be offline, ensuring fewer interruptions to service. Connect finance, vendor management, HR, and others with shared data. Bring in Gantt charts, punch lists, meeting minutes, and more, so you can run projects across your business while managing your budget and schedule—all from one platform. Meet Sustainability Goals and Track Energy Usage Work towards your green initiatives in one connected platform. By integrating Nuvolo with an electricity monitoring tool, you can automate your response to spikes in heat, energy usage, and more. You can track consumption across your utility portfolio and generate live reports across all your facilities to get a real-time picture of how you’re performing against your goals. Protect Your Mission-Critical Operational Technology Hackers have increasingly been able to access network-connected operational technology (OT) devices, such as HVAC systems, cameras, sensors, and more. This can cause serious issues and lead to equipment downtime and even facility shutdowns. The Nuvolo OT Security solution helps you prevent these types of attacks. Nuvolo integrates with existing security monitoring tools to orchestrate remediation of OT security events. Rules-based workflows are used to identify and correlate all affected devices with vulnerabilities or security events, and then you can automatically dispatch technicians to correct an affected device. Ready to Connect Your Data Center? Nuvolo is the only complete CMMS and IWMS solution built on ServiceNow—connecting facilities, IT, and third-party contractors in one platform. When all assets, vendors, work orders, projects, and other critical data reside in the same database, you have unprecedented business intelligence. You can drill down into the details and be confident in your ability to answer tough questions. Nuvolo helps you simplify the complex, critical task of keeping your data center running and operational. Explore Nuvolo Connected Workplace, or contact us for a demo. Learn More See how STACK EMEA – Nordics brought its data center maintenance processes onto one platform. Plus, explore how one government agency modernized its data center management, and learn how a leading provider of data center solutions implemented a Connected Workplace model. Sources “The growing value of a CMMS”, David Berger, P. Eng., Western Management Consultants Gartner, “Bolster Your Return on Investment with Integrated Workplace Management Systems” Encompass, Inc., “Guide to Understanding ROI Calculations for Field Service Management Software” Share
