Advances in Managed Services and IT Infrastructure
IT infrastructure and managed services have changed rapidly over the last few years. Businesses are harnessing these advances to help reduce energy consumption, increase computing power, enhance connectivity, and make improvements to the delivery of data.
Organizations have more options than ever when building a roadmap for their IT infrastructure. Cloud computing offers avenues for backup, disaster recovery, and enhanced computing that weren’t possible for most businesses just a few years ago. Hybrid cloud options grant companies the ability to use both on and off-premise computing to help promote resilience and uptime.
These companies can also look to managed IT services to help them maintain their technology needs. While technology experts look after the company IT environment, the company can focus on their business goals. Managed services helps them increase productivity of their in-house IT staff or even outsource their IT needs completely to a local company.
IT Opportunities Means New Challenges
We’re at the threshold of a new digital age that is already changing the way your business interacts with computers. In their book, The Second Machine Age, authors Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee suggest we’re entering an age where people will take advantage of developments in computer processing, AI, robotics, and network communications that will lead to the digitization of many aspects of everyday life.
The big winners of these early advances will be the businesses leaders who quickly adapt to this leap forward in technology to help power their organization. The promises of cost reductions, cost controls, scalability, and new business insights are well known.
But what are the big challenges businesses face in the realms of IT infrastructure and managed services? Let’s take a look at the big challenges that businesses will face when dealing with big computing and big data.
IT Infrastructure and Managed Services Challenges
- Security – Data residing everywhere just sounds like a recipe for disaster—especially for anyone who has ever experienced a data breach. The proliferation of data in large and small enterprises means that potential intruders and cyber-criminals have more vulnerabilities to exploit. This is why it’s critical to make technology choices with an eye on security.
- Network Capacity – When choosing options for your IT environment, you must make sure that you carefully examine your possibilities. How many offices, stores, or sites do you need to connect? Can you grow beyond the capacity of your current lines of access? How will you deal with mobile employees? What considerations need to be made for voice, video, and large file transfers? Your network and bandwidth needs should undergo a thorough assessment when building your future IT roadmap.
- Energy Costs – With big data and big computing comes big power needs. If your organization is looking to take advantage of modern data analytics, then you’ll need machines that can quickly process information. Depending on your needs, you will have many potential avenues. Companies now have the option to host this computing capacity off-site. They can reap many of the benefits of analytics without taking on the direct burden of the energy costs.
- Storage Capacity – Companies are utilizing more and more digital resources. This means you must have a place to store your critical data. As your data grows, the ability to scale becomes critical. Organizations have the option to offload this burden to third party data centers that help to store and secure their data. This not only helps with the energy costs mentioned above, but also helps companies who may not have the physical space necessary to bring on additional backup.
- Reliability/Connectivity – The more that you start to rely on your technology to conduct your business, the more reliable you’ll need that technology to be. Smart businesses know that keeping your technology running and available means replacing outdated technology and adopting backup and disaster recovery plans that help ensure always-on access. With the increase in SaaS services for critical business data, reliable network connectivity is essential.
- Human Resources/Hiring – The advent of new technologies for business means that your company will need to employ or have access to specialists with deep technology knowledge. If you have an in-house IT team, then odds are that they aren’t deeply specialized in a broad range of technologies. While they are very good at keeping your business technology running, they may not be keeping up-to-date with the latest technology breakthroughs. Businesses can face this challenge head-on by strategically partnering with outside resources to help them make plans and manage their IT environments.
Preparing Your Company for the Future of Technology
Changes in technology are always just around the corner. The companies that will thrive in this age of digital transformation will be the ones with leaders who make smart technology decisions. At CMA, we know that focusing both on your technology and your company goals can be challenging. Let’s have a conversation about how you can make technology work for your business.
Reach out to us or get your copy of our eBook, Understanding Managed IT Services, and find out how managed IT services can help your business prepare for the technologies of today and tomorrow.
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