Getting More From Your IT in 2013

There are plenty of ways to get more from your IT budget in 2013. Mobility, remote support and cloud backup are a few technologies that will make your budget go farther. Let’s explore a few ways you can leverage these emerging trends to get more from your IT infrastructure.

Mobility

Mobility is a rapidly growing trend. Most analysts agree there will be as many shipments for mobile devices (e.g. smart phones and tablets) as there are for PC desktops, laptops and servers shipped in 2013. With more emphasis on mobility, companies need to address the security issues around lost or stolen devices.

Mobile devices may have access to critical business applications or have corporate data resided on the smartphone or tablet. Companies may be subject to data leaks if these mobile assets are lost or stolen. If you have unintended disclosure of privacy information related to employees, customers or suppliers, you may be subject to fines due to breach of industry (e.g. PCI Compliance) or regulatory requirements (e.g. HIPAA). You may also lose goodwill with customers if you suffer a data loss. A data loss could also impact sales. By protecting these mobile devices with a proper mobility strategy, you can avoid the costs associated with a data leak. As they say, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

Remote Support

Many companies have turned to remote support models to monitor and manage their network environment. By remotely monitoring and managing your network and related IT assets, your IT Service Provider may be able to fix your IT costs by providing comprehensive IT support and IT services delivered remotely.

Secure remote support is an important element for delivering an IT Managed Service. In addition to remote support, many IT Service Providers offer remote network monitoring, managed backup and managed security in their IT Managed Service offerings. By adopting the Managed Service Model your IT Service Provider can proactively manage all of your IT needs.

Because services are delivered proactively, as compared to when things are broken or need to be fixed, you can move from a time-and-materials model to a fixed-cost model. This means lower downtime, higher availability and predictable IT costs for your business.

Cloud Backup

Many companies have already turned to the cloud to access enterprise class infrastructure that they may have been beyond their reach in the past. Cloud backup may provide your company with a cost effective and secure way for you to backup your critical application data and other files you need to protect in the event of a disaster recovery scenario. By leveraging secure cloud backup, your data will be available when you need it, to bring your business back online.

Some Cloud backup solutions also offer cloud sharing. This means you can have access to your cloud storage from multiple devices across the internet. By using Cloud backup technologies for cloud sharing you can access files and data from a PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet via the cloud. You can boost your employee productivity by accessing your data when you need it from where you need it.

All of these technologies have the ability to save you time and allow you to get more for your money. However, they all need proper planning to ensure your implementation of these technologies is secure and reliable. Reach out to your IT Service Provider for assistance, as appropriate ,to ensure you get the most from your IT budget in 2013.

2013 IT Trends

There are a number of driving factors that will influence 2013 IT trends. These trends include Mobility, Cloud Computing, Disaster Recovery and IT Security. These 2013 IT trends will influence IT budgets and plans, while enabling companies to take advantage of mobile computing, enterprise infrastructure, software as a service (SaaS), social networks and more. Here are some predictions for 2013.

Mobility

A top 2013 IT Trend is Mobility. Mobility and mobile device management go hand in hand. Most IT industry analysts agree market growth of smartphones and tablet computers will outpace PCs in 2013. The IT Industry research firm IDC is now projecting that 172.4 million tablets will ship in 2013. Mary Meeker, former internet analyst turned venture capitalist noted 24% of Black Friday shopping occurred on a smartphone or tablet in 2012. Microsoft also hopes to get a large share of the tablet PC market with its recent release of Microsoft Windows 8 RT Tablet. This trend in mobility will drive the greater need for Mobile Device Management and mobile security as more corporate data will reside on and be accessed by mobile devices than ever before.

Cloud Computing

Another 2013 IT Trend is Cloud Computing. In 2012 many companies turned to the cloud to access enterprise class infrastructure, remote support, online backup and software as a service (SaaS) for critical applications, such as email, sales force automation (SFA) and customer relationship management (CRM). Expect additional growth in cloud adoption from managed security solutions for anti-virus and anti-malware protection, as well as other data protection services. IT research firm Gartner predicts by 2015 ten percent of overall IT security enterprise capabilities will be delivered in the cloud.

IT Security

Companies will continue to face growing IT security threats. Risk of data leaks from malware and other cyber attacks will continue to threaten businesses of all sizes. In addition, expect cybersecurity legislation to be a priority for many governments in 2013. A 2013 IT Trend, changing IT policies will empower users to access social networks for job related activity and/or during business hours on personal or corporate owned devices. These drivers will influence spending on managed security, unified threat management and other IT security technologies and solutions.

Disaster Recovery

During 2012 we saw a growing phenomenon of companies facing business interruption from a variety of natural disasters. Hurricanes, typhoons and superstorms dominated the news. Companies will continue to implement data business continuity and disaster recovery solutions, including local data backup, remote backup and server virtualization to ensure rapid recovery in the event of a disaster.

While there are no crystal balls to predict the future, having a detailed and indepth IT plan for your company can make all the difference to protect your investment in your critical applications and data. Keep these points in mind to ensure a happy and healthy 2013.