Sustaining and maintaining a business in today’s volatile IT environment is quite challenging. Understanding the problem means discovering its origin, its cause, and how it can be mitigated, or eliminated altogether. Organizations are always on the lookout for resolving any un-toward situations that arise.

In terms of a business that is under-performing in a certain area, it is important to identify why it occurs, and how it can be resolved. Just presenting a solution for the current situation that arises is not sufficient. It is also important to understand the underlying cause of that problem. To analyze and resolve a problem, organizations need to perform a root cause analysis, and find out exactly what the cause is, and how to mitigate it.

What is Root Cause Analysis (RCA)?

Root cause analysis or RCA is the process of discovering the underlying causes of problems, in order to identify appropriate and permanent solutions. RCA assumes that it is much more effective to systematically investigate and address the underlying issues, rather than just treating ad hoc symptoms, and “putting out fires”.

Root cause analysis can be performed with a collection of principles, techniques, and methodologies that can all be leveraged to identify the cause of an event, or repetitive pattern. Looking beyond superficial causes of problems, RCA can show where the processes or systems failed, and why.

The Importance of RCA in IT Operations

The main benefit of RCA is that it finds the fundamental errors in the development process, enabling teams to take concrete measures to fix the problems, and stop them from recurring. IT processes and operations require focus and constant monitoring of mission critical workloads.

With RCA, challenges can be minimized and prevented from recurring. Every industry can use RCA, but it’s particularly helpful in IT. RCA provides a systematic analysis process to identify problems within complex, modern infrastructures, both accurately and quickly.

The Profound Impact of RCA on Business Management

Investing in technology is the core component of most organizations. Technology has become instrumental in making or breaking a brand’s image in the market. Ensuring a robust digital employee experience (DEX) and IT infrastructure is essential for the survival of any business today. Despite all the homework, disruptive situations can still arise. This is where RCA can come to the rescue of an enterprise.

The 5-Step Process for Conducting Root Cause Analysis

In order to go through the RCA process, an organization needs to be familiar with the following five steps:-

Step 1: Define the Problem:-

Analyze what you see happening, and identify the precise symptoms, so you can formulate a problem statement.

Step 2: Gather Data:-

Before you can move on to identify the underlying cause(s), you must collect maximum data, and evaluate all aspects of the situation. Performing a case study, incident investigation, or accident analysis are a few common ways to accomplish this step.

Step 3: Identify Causation Factors:-

With preliminary data in your hand, it’s time to look for as many causes or factors as possible, that could have led to the problem.

Step 4: Determine the Root-Cause:-

Use well-recognized root cause analysis tools to discover the root causes or factors that could most likely be behind the problem.

Step 5: Recommend and Implement Solutions:-

Once you know the route cause, you can recommend preventive measures to ensure the problem never happens again. The next step is to develop a plan, with proper timelines, and implement the solution.

The Benefits of RCA Systems

Organizations can use RCA to modify core processes and systematic issues, but in a way that prevents their recurrence in the future. Instead of superficially treating few symptoms of the problem, root cause analysis might suggest treating the situation with exactly what it requires.

The Significance of Automation in RCA

Automated RCA uses machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to automate incident investigation. This approach relies heavily on smart sensors, for quick incident management. The use of artificial intelligence and automation in RCA enables IT teams to discover, troubleshoot, and remediate problems much faster.

Another advantage is that automated root cause analysis solutions do not rely on the user’s or technician’s assumptions. It instead uses a data-driven approach to derive a more efficient process and accurate results.

Reasons to Implement Automated RCA

There are many reasons to automate RCA processes across all domains of an organization. The major components that highlight the purpose of RCA automation are listed below.

Better Team Alignment:

This helps break down operational silos between application, infrastructure, and network teams, by showing what exactly is causing the issue, and informing who needs to get involved.

Lowers Costs and Saves Time:

By locating the exact line of code responsible for a performance issue, an organization can significantly reduce the troubleshooting time.

Provides Context:

Modern AI tools put application issues into business context, to help organizations prioritize and remediate actions, based on what most impacts the business.

Long-lasting Solutions:

When organizations follow RCA all the way through to its conclusion, a focus is developed toward long-term prevention. This approach fosters a proactive and productive culture in the workplace.

Business Growth:

Effective RCA keeps the customers happy, prevents loss of revenue, and enables continuous development.

Integrating Solutions to Improve RCA

As a leading provider of Managed IT Services and Intelligent Technology solutions, ATSG offers state of the art capabilities that help with Root Cause Analysis (RCA). Our solutions cater to identifying problems, and delivering effective solutions.

ATSG’s analytics and insights solutions help maintain optimal performance, and create a collaborative environment. This can help with informed capacity planning, location-based dashboard reporting, unified communication, and contact center support. Any form of issues with call managers or gateways etc. can be highlighted and solved with analytics and insights, paired with RCA.

ATSG’s advisory and assessment services provide certified experts that can manage an organization’s infrastructure, from part-time analysts to full-time problem remediators. With this solution and RCA combined, potential risks can be assessed and addressed in a timely manner.

Lastly, ATSG’s design and implementation services enable the organization to plan anything strategically, support the evolving needs of end users, and keep up the functionality of IT operations. With the solution and RCA combined, the current environment can be assessed, helping the organization make better decisions.

Contact ATSG for industry leading Managed IT Services and Intelligent Technology solutions for your enterprise.