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Overcoming the Tension Between Data Centers FMs and IT
OTHER PARTS OF THIS ARTICLEPt. 1: Steady, Confident Leadership Leads to Data Center Success Pt. 2: Success in a Male-Dominated Data Center Industry Pt. 3: Bringing More Women Into the Data Center FM FieldPt. 4: This Page
Cindy Joos, vice president for global shared services, Cyxtera TechnologiesPicture PeopleCindy Joos acknowledges the historic tension between IT and facility management. She notes that previously, the person running IT was also running the data center. Now the roles are separated. However, some IT managers still want to get into the data center, so they can see and touch the servers and other equipment, she says. “Meanwhile, the data center manager wants to make sure that individual has the right security and is supposed to be there.”
Now, both sides are more willing to acknowledge the need for the other. The transition “took a while,” Joos says. ‘It’s a mind shift, and I think that the IT folks are getting there.”
Organizations can strengthen these relationships, by establishing clear sets of roles and responsibilities, Joos says. After all, “there’s plenty of work to go around.”
Steady, Confident Leadership Leads to Data Center Success
Success in a Male-Dominated Data Center Industry
Bringing More Women Into the Data Center FM Field
Overcoming the Tension Between Data Centers FMs and IT