The modern workplace is in a continual state of flux. Whether change comes in the form of evolving work habits, new technologies or shifting customer demands, the only certainty today is uncertainty.
To that end, IT teams face the challenge of implementing robust and resilient systems, while also operating with a level of agility that allows businesses to rapidly scale up or down – or change course altogether – as requirements change.
All this hinges on anticipating tomorrow’s needs today. So what does it take to be future-minded and plan your IT environment for the unexpected?
1. Prioritise scalability of your network
For a network to support rapid growth, it must be scalable. This means being able to expand quickly to support new users and applications, and changing workloads, without impacting service performance.
Here, utilising data can help optimise costs and enable efficient network performance scaling:
- Predict future device demands – review your historical device usage and consider how this will change over time.
- Calculate bandwidth requirements – examine how your network resources are currently being utilised, then use your projected device count to estimate how much bandwidth will be required need in the future.
- Consider a comprehensive management solution – an all-in-one network management solution makes it possible to centrally manage changing requirements and dependencies rather than relying on an disparate ecosystem of solutions.
2. Implement a recovery plan
It comes as no surprise that cyberattacks are a growing concern for organisations in every industry. It’s predicted that in 2021, there will be a ransomware attack on businesses every 11 seconds. By 2025, cybercrime is projected to inflict damages worth $10.5 billion annually – making it the third-largest ‘economy’ behind the US and China.
All this is to say that, even with a robust security posture, cyberattacks are an imminent threat. The concern is how to react to these attacks when they happen.
To mitigate the financial, operational and reputational impacts of cyber incidents, it’s critical to implement a disaster recovery and backup plan that enables rapid recover from cyber outages, ensures continuous business operations and minimises data loss.
3. Choose a flexible device mix
The next generation of employees will expect always-on connectivity from anywhere and at any time. Consequently, an organisation’s device mix will play a major role in how well employees are able to collaborate, communicate and be productive, and ultimately, the long-term success of the business.
Some of the key considerations when choosing a future-proof device mix include:
- Real-time connectivity between databases and platforms.
- Built-in cloud-based collaboration, communication, and productivity tools, or the ability to integrate with these tools.
- Robust security and data encryption capabilities.
- Scalable and secure storage combined with reliable backup and recovery solutions.
- Scalable virtual environments for keeping remote workforces connected and secure.
At Area9, our team can work with you to understand your current IT environment, and where your opportunities lie for creating a more future-proof infrastructure. We partner with a variety of market-leading vendors and can help assess your requirements to find the right devices and solutions for your organisation’s needs, now and in the future. Get in touch with us today.