Processes defined – reality ignored: Why distributed environments require smart IMAC concepts

According to the Bitkom Study 2025, 71% of the surveyed companies in Germany are using Industry 4.0 solutions. Internationally, studies by KPMG and Deloitte confirm that 70–80 percent of manufacturing companies use IT-based solutions in production. IT systems are also becoming increasingly important at the other end of the value chain: according to a study by Scale Computing, many retailers use edge servers at the point of sale to optimize the customer shopping experience and ensure direct integration with ERP systems.

Stress across distributed locations

For IT departments, this means they must manage a powerful and, above all, highly reliable IT infrastructure not only in data centers but also on the shop floor or across branch networks. Their scope is no longer limited to local IT systems in a single data center or location. This is no longer about manageable, air-conditioned server rooms, but about widely distributed racks in production halls or servers spread across retail stores.

IT managers are familiar with the associated challenges from practice: even classic IMAC processes become a massive organizational task in distributed environments. Who takes over the work orders? Should we commission a managed service provider? Does operational technology (OT) handle tasks on the shop floor? The consequence: error messages immediately drive up stress levels. Audit announcements usually lead to overtime. But how can you approach every change and every audit in distributed IT landscapes with confidence?

Where breaks in processes become expensive

The key is the documentation of all IT systems. IT managers must have reliable and accurate data available at all times on the logical infrastructure as well as the physical location of all components. Only then can changes be planned and implemented effectively. Only then can errors be quickly located and resolved. You know this, and so do we. But we also see the reality: even when IMAC processes are clearly defined, implementation is simply impractical—especially in distributed environments. The challenge for IT teams is usually to document completed changes immediately and reliably. Changes to IT systems in distributed environments are often first noted on paper or saved digitally in a notepad. Afterwards, the data is not transferred at all or only partially to the central asset management system. These breaks in the process then become a problem for the IT manager during the next audit or in the event of a failure.

Digital twin with app

With DC Vision, it’s different: the DC Vision software uses integrated AI-based image recognition along with an extensive database. The inventory of all IT systems is carried out visually and intuitively via the DC Vision app. From the visually captured data, the system creates a digital twin of the respective rack. All components of a fully equipped rack can be documented with the solution in just ten minutes. Changes are captured directly on site within the process, without any breaks.

Mapping the entire IT infrastructure in distributed environments as a digital twin simplifies collaboration with other departments, teams in stores, or external service providers. IT departments retain full visibility of the infrastructure at all times—even when they are far away. If hardware needs to be changed on site, the IT department creates a work order in IT service management. Via an API, DC Vision is connected, and the work order is displayed directly in the work order management of the DC Vision app. The responsible technical teams can see all work steps. If there are questions during execution, they can directly access the hardware documentation or ask the responsible expert for help. Even non-IT staff can reliably document all changes in a very short time using this approach.

As soon as the changes are completed, the new actual state is captured using the camera of a tablet or mobile phone. The changes are immediately integrated into the digital twin. Without breaks and without delay. You can approach every audit with confidence, and in the event of an error, your team experiences less stress.

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