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Technology That Fits Your Business

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Moving to a virtualized workspace is one of the most significant trends in today's business world, but companies dipping their toes in these waters need to understand in advance the types of costs that come along with IT solutions that incorporate virtualized servers.  There are three main types of costs associated with virtualization: software, hardware, and labor, which often take the form of a managed services approach to IT services.

When a business establishes a relationship with a software vendor, hopes are usually high for both parties that the relationship will work out as planned, with the business receiving a solid product and appropriate levels of support while the IT company providing the software will receive funds that will help it thrive in the future. Like in all relationships, however, the unexpected can occur and things can go awry. When it comes to software vendors, some of the possible scenarios include the launch of a new product, making the old one obsolete or even unsupported. Still more serious can be the advent of a bankruptcy for the vendor company, leaving the business using its software cut adrift.

Like any other software system, VMware does sometimes need to be patched with updates and fixes that can improve security and offer enhanced functionality.  Other patches may even remediate bugs that have been recently discovered in the newer versions of the software.  One of the best ways to ensure your system stays up to date is to use the VMware Update Manager, which provides automated functions that can streamline the process of upgrading and patching.  The Update Manager allows managed services staff to fine-tune the patching process as needed so that organizational workflow is disrupted as little as possible.

Supply chain management used to be something that small and medium-sized businesses had to manage more or less on their own.  This could be a true challenge since some businesses lack the personnel that can handle the coordination and integration of materials, finances, and information so that they form a smooth flow from suppliers to consumers, with stops at manufacturers, wholesalers, or retailers along the way.  Depending on the point in the chain where a particular business fell, SCM could be quite a daunting task.  The result was often that very small businesses felt they lacked resources to fully tackle the problem, leading to a system in which managers might always be “putting out fires.”

An Excel spreadsheet can produce detailed charts, graphs, and pivot tables.  While these ways of displaying data are powerful in its own way, they are actually simplistic compared to the advanced business data modeling techniques that now exist.  Data modeling in its advanced form has now become a key business tool that helps to identify trends from data that may seem disparate when displayed only in the relatively primitive charts and graphs available through spreadsheet programs.

There is a multiplicity of security software on the market today.  Rather than choosing from vendor descriptions of such products, small and medium-sized businesses are better served by working closely with an IT company that can advise them when comparing security suites.  Key considerations used when evaluating these programs often go beyond the information one can find online, requiring hands-on experience with the products.

Even with automatic updates, it can be quite complex for a business to keep all of its products completely up to date and in sync with one another.  This situation is made even more complex by the fact that in some instances, applying updates without proper care can lead to system conflicts and even crashes.  From time to time, an update released for a major software program may itself have a bug or security flaw.  These serious considerations are generally not paid attention to at all when an organization's update protocol is simply to let the computer update itself without regard to other considerations. 

"But, will it work for us?"

Disaster recovery has been an important topic for IT services staff in business enterprises for as long as firms have leveraged the power of computer technology to streamline operations and manage workflow.  As platforms evolve into more complex forms, disaster recovery strategies must also keep pace.  One of the exciting recent innovations in this field is the ‘intelligent disaster recovery’ provided by Dell in their PowerVault DL Backup to Disk Appliance platform. 

The rise of social media services has raised workers' expectations for how they should be able to collaborate with business colleagues.  More and more employees, particularly those that are under 30, are heavily accustomed to accessing data about both themselves and friends online through cloud-based services.  It only makes sense that these workers want to bring those techniques and skills into the workplace to enhance their productivity.