3 IT Strategies that Boost Business Productivity
Small and midsize businesses find themselves in an interesting place. There are tools available that can put SMBs on an even footing with massive enterprises, but the proliferation of the cloud, and associated buzzwords, can present a confusing environment for businesses. How do you separate the critical infrastructure from stuff that’s just nice to have?
Here’s one way to think about it. For new applications and software products, time-to-market is crucial. Cloud strategies that can increase your investment and allows SMBs to deliver applications with the same speed and scale as larger enterprises might just be worth the investment.
- Automate your way to success: A lot of time in data centers is wasted on manually handling errors and making painstaking configuration changes. Automation can make those problems go away. Any process that involves a great many steps and systems is a candidate for automation. With these processes, even a small amount of human error can send many systems awry. It’s notable for example that a three-hour Amazon Web Services outage was caused by a single administrative mistake.
- Out with the old: Introducing new technologies, larger storage, and faster computing are all important ways for SMBs to keep up with their larger competitors. Unfortunately, most IT managers believe they don’t have the money or the time to constantly upgrade their technology: Only 13% of them think that their organizations can introduce new technologies fast enough to compete.By the same token, however, it’s the old technology that’s dragging them down. Legacy systems consume 80% of all IT budgets—so maybe it’s time to prune those down. Administrators can make a strong business case for new technology by pointing out just how much it costs to keep their old systems up and running. Technology Integrators like Comport can help you take a look at your current infrastructure and determine where new technology can provide a cost savings.
- Prepare for Hyper Converged Infrastructure: Now that you’ve adopted a philosophy of automation and gotten rid of legacy hardware, your next step is to look towards the future. When your small business scales to become an enterprise, what do you want its infrastructure to look like?Ideally, you want your infrastructure to look future-proof, and that means preparing for the era of hyper converged infrastructure. While the name is intimidating, the technology is actually ready for SMBs to consider. One salient feature is that it replicates the abilities of a SAN, but without the cost. Where a SAN may cost $300,000, a single HCI node can cost as little as $20,000—better features for less than one-tenth the price.
Increase Productivity and Decrease Time to Market with Comport
Comport realizes that your technology roadmap is important to your business. Our team can help you as your trusted partner to assist in planning, installing, and configuring this new IT architecture.
