In the previous post, we discussed why a network refresh, despite the potential challenges, is well worth the investment from a business perspective. A modern network will be able to deliver a high level of performance, automate routine tasks, and support high-bandwidth, low-latency business applications. The key to navigating a network refresh and taking full [...]
Imagine ordering a $100 dinner from a five-star restaurant and waiting two hours for the dish to be prepared while you’re forced to listen to the world’s worst jazz band. When the server finally brings out your dinner, it’s not what you ordered. After another hour, you receive the right dish, but it tastes awful. [...]
Offloading IT functions to a good managed services provider (MSP) creates a lot of value for organizations by allowing them to improve operations and better manage their technology expenses. An often-overlooked benefit of this arrangement is the enormous amount of information and insight that can be gleaned from regular MSP reports on the IT environment. [...]
It’s spring cleaning season when milder weather encourages us to open up, air out and clean up the house following a long winter. For businesses, it is also a good idea to declutter and freshen up your digital house with some basic IT maintenance chores. Organizations often get so caught up in day-to-day operational requirements [...]
It’s no secret that network downtime results in productivity, revenue and opportunity costs. Network outages also have negative effects on intangibles such as customer service and business reputation. It doesn’t take a full-on outage to stall the business, however. At a time when network reliability has become an operational imperative, slowdowns resulting from poorly performing [...]
The corporate network has become a crowded place as more devices and assets have been connected to the Internet. In addition to desktop computers and mobile devices, organizations are collecting data from everything from light fixtures and printers to field equipment and vehicles. As adoption of IP video surveillance continues to increase, video cameras have [...]
According to research from Techaisle, converged infrastructure adoption is on the rise in the small to midsize business (SMB) community. Ten percent of small businesses and 27 percent of midmarket businesses plan to adopt converged infrastructure. Survey respondents cited one or more of the following reasons for moving forward with converged infrastructure: integrated design and [...]
Mobile workers and telecommuters are accessing applications and data remotely. Users are relying more heavily on Internet- and cloud-based services. And many organizations — including small businesses — are adding remote offices and branch locations so they can better serve customers and expand into new markets. All of these trends have had an impact on [...]
In the typical small to midsize business (SMB), the computer network was built using consumer-grade hardware and has grown organically over time. And if the network is even a few years old it’s probably not capable of meeting today’s demands. Think about it. Just 10 years ago, most users had a single desktop or laptop [...]
Many organizations don’t realize that their processes and technology are having a negative impact on business operations until they start to grow. For example, manual data sharing practices involving email and USB sticks may have been adequate for a while, but the inefficiency and errors that often occur become magnified with growth. Operational bottlenecks caused [...]
