DCIM has been misguidedly used as a catch-all term since Gartner coined it over a decade ago. As the phrase grew in popularity, many vendors jumped on the bandwagon, using the DCIM banner to market lesser-grade tools like BMS systems or simple asset management solutions.

As a result, many organizations have bought into poor enactments of DCIM, and the solution has earned an unfairly poor reputation.

It’s time to separate the hype from reality and provide a helpful working definition of what DCIM really is and, importantly, the features and services it should deliver. 

True DCIM plays a powerful role in managing data centre operations, bringing granular visibility into IT and facilities components across the data centre estate. 

Harnessing the power of analytics and machine learning, DCIM brings together previously siloed data points into one intuitive, centralized portal. 

For operators, the result is a simplified management process for even the most complex, distributed and hybrid architectures. With DCIM in place, they can effortlessly manage resource efficiency, optimize costs and improve availability. 

FAQ

What are the benefits of DCIM?

Data centre environments are growing in complexity by the day. With proliferating volumes of data from multiple sources, it is increasingly difficult for operators to be confident in the accuracy and reliability of stored information. 

At the same time, operators are under more pressure than ever to carefully balance capacity constraints with growth requirements. Many providers feel stuck between a rock and a hard place: attempting to maximize efficiency, boost availability and optimize costs all at once. 

Of course, attempting to achieve this without specialist tools and reliable data is cumbersome and risk-laden. Problems such as resource wastage, stranded capacity, ineffective cap-ex deployments, customer dissatisfaction and, worst of all, service outages all plague the modern data centre. 

Thankfully, DCIM makes it possible to overcome these challenges. Through big data analytics and machine learning, DCIM aggregates real-time data from live systems across the data centre ecosystem, enabling operators to make reliable, data-driven decisions and control the data centre environment from a single interface. 

The result, at its simplest, is an overarching competitive advantage, enabling operators to seamlessly manage distributed and hybrid architectures while improving cost efficiency.