Opinion: Why Your Maximo Team Shouldn't Manage OpenShift — And What to Do Instead
Why Your Maximo Team Shouldn’t Manage OpenShift — And What to Do Instead
Opinion by Christopher Westfall, Arcondis Global Service Operations Lead, Managed Services
Expecting a Maximo team to become OpenShift experts can be a challenging approach. Specialised tools require specialised expertise and investing in a dedicated OpenShift team ensures both technologies deliver their full value without compromise. This is where a Managed Services Provider (MSP) can fill the gap.
IBM Maximo and Red Hat OpenShift are both powerful enterprise solutions, but they serve very different purposes. Maximo is a leading enterprise asset management (EAM) system, while OpenShift is a Kubernetes-based container orchestration platform. While it might seem cost-effective to train your existing Maximo team to handle OpenShift, this approach can introduce inefficiencies and risks. Instead, organisations should invest in a dedicated OpenShift team to maximise the benefits of both technologies.
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The complexity of OpenShift
OpenShift is a sophisticated, enterprise-grade container orchestration solution that requires deep expertise in Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, security, networking, and automation. Managing an OpenShift environment requires an in-depth understanding of:
- Containerised applications and how they interact within OpenShift
- Networking and security policies within a cluster
- Cluster scaling and performance tuning
- CI/CD pipelines and DevOps integration
- Monitoring and troubleshooting in a microservices environment
Expecting Maximo specialists, who are experts in asset management but not in container orchestration, to master these areas can lead to operational inefficiencies and costly mistakes.
The risk of divided focus
Maximo teams have their own set of responsibilities, including ensuring Maximo system availability and performance, managing Maximo configurations, integrations, and workflows, handling upgrades, patches, and compliance requirements, and supporting end-users and business processes. Adding OpenShift responsibilities to a Maximo team dilutes their focus and could lead to decreased performance in both areas. Instead of excelling in asset management, they may struggle with OpenShift complexities, leading to service disruptions, security vulnerabilities, and operational inefficiencies.
The benefits of a dedicated OpenShift team
A specialised OpenShift team brings multiple advantages:
1. Expertise and Efficiency
A dedicated team with OpenShift certifications and experience ensures that best practices are followed, reducing downtime and optimising performance.
2. Proactive Monitoring and Security
Containerised environments require proactive monitoring, patching, and security updates. A specialised team can focus on these tasks without distraction.
3. Improved Automation and DevOps Integration
A dedicated OpenShift team can streamline CI/CD pipelines, automate deployments, and improve collaboration with development teams.
4. Better Support for Maximo
By keeping OpenShift responsibilities separate, the Maximo team can focus on asset management and improving business processes, leading to better end-user experiences.
A Managed Services Provider can fill this gap
Instead of building an in-house OpenShift team, organisations should consider leveraging a Managed Services Provider (MSP) to handle their OpenShift infrastructure. An MSP brings a wealth of experience, best practices, and specialised expertise, ensuring that OpenShift environments are optimised, secure, and highly available.
As a Managed Service Provider, Arcondis has expertise in both OpenShift and Maximo. This approach reduces the burden of hiring, training, and retaining in-house experts, allowing organisations to focus on their core business objectives. Additionally, Arcondis provides 24/7 monitoring, proactive maintenance, scalable solutions, and automated testing, making them a cost-effective and reliable choice.
Conclusion
Investing in specialised expertise ultimately leads to better security, scalability, and operational excellence.
While cross-training your Maximo team to handle OpenShift might seem like a cost-saving measure, it introduces significant risks and inefficiencies. A dedicated OpenShift team ensures that both platforms are managed effectively, allowing your organisation to fully leverage the power of OpenShift while maintaining the reliability and performance of Maximo. Investing in specialised expertise ultimately leads to better security, scalability, and operational excellence.
Contact me if you would like to find out more about using a Managed Services Provider to maximise the benefits of OpenShift.
