Building the foundations for success
A proven formula for technology success
Neither business nor technology standstill. The wheels of evolution are always turning, and, at some points, the benefits of such constant progress may not always be entirely evident. If there has never been a stronger case for the evolution of technology within the business, then the experience of the challenges we have all faced so far within 2020 has undoubtedly provided us all with one.
Not only has the feature sets and benefits improved, but so too has the management of costs. Never has technology been more accessible via manageable month-by-month ‘OpEx’ (operational expenditure), as opposed to the outlay of large ‘CapEx’ (capital expenditure).
Operating with flexible, but cohesive technology is no longer a ‘nice to have’; it is pivotal to business survival.
The Landscape
Traditionally, IT and communications systems within businesses are disparate; existing as complex layers of hardware and software that are often poorly inter-connected, operationally restrictive and lacking in resiliency.
IT
Most businesses will be reliant on operating with one or more physical servers, which they host themselves within their own premises. Often with software now years old, limited backup and disaster recovery abilities, and restrictive (potentially insecure) remote working facilities.
Telephony
Phone systems will commonly be operating on ISDN and reside on a single piece of cumbersome hardware, which has limited paths for updates, is costly to maintain and has no backup failover in the event of an outage.
The Results
With the evolving trends in ‘modern work’ and the expectations of a younger mobile workforce, combined with changes to working practices being forced upon us; the traditional IT footprint can and has been a chokehold on the survival of businesses.
- Operational difficulties: If your team cannot use their IT and communications tools in the same way they could within the office, you’ll be haemorrhaging time and productivity
- Security vulnerabilities: With team members lacking in company-provided devices and tools, the likelihood for ‘shadow IT’ to creep into your business is very high. If staff turn to productivity and data services outside of the company control, how are you going to remain compliant and ensure your data is protected from loss, corruption, or theft?
- Reputational damage: If you are not seen to be operating ‘as normal’ in the eyes of your customers, how are you going to maintain your reputation? Operational matters such as the handling of phone calls or access to complete files and systems could be publicly damaging
A New Approach
Take advantage of the features and benefits brought by modernising your technical resources. Ensure that your business survives operational hurdles, while also becoming more productive and profitable, even in a challenging climate with pressures on resources and time.
To evaluate the right path to take, you must first fully understand and map-out your requirements; ensuring that any changes made are comprehensive, help all corners of the business and unifies otherwise disparate systems and data points as one with any potential shift in technology.
Consider your whole technology picture
Consider where and how your file data is stored, who needs to have access and to what, and who it needs to be shared with (internally or externally).
Does this currently run on a local server or is it hosted elsewhere? May this need migrating off of old hardware into the cloud for easier remote access and resiliency?
Is the ability to make and receive calls on the company number tied to the office? How many people need to make and receive calls simultaneously? Which phone numbers do you own and want to transfer?
How and where is your main line of business software applications stored? Where is the data stored for those applications? Are those applications current and supported – will they work on modern operating systems?
What grade of internet connectivity do the business and any remote workers have? Is there scope or budget to improve this?
Once you have outlined every operational ‘touchpoint’ with technology – you’ll better understand what you really need to make technology work for you.
The Formula
Kiss goodbye to, “that’s the way the system works”. The breadth and depth of options combined with the level of integration and automation in the digital age almost but eliminates the pressure for you to work around the technology.
Subject to personalisation to your processes, our proven formula for technology success comprises of:
To ensure your team can work effortlessly, whether in the office, at home or on a train; the implementation of cloud services will unify access to data, software and communication tools across any device, at any time.
The Cloud’s structure of ‘always being up to date’ and operating from enterprise-grade integrated and highly available backbone infrastructure will remove the reliance on your own physical infrastructure; in-turn alleviating risks such as single point of failure and running on outdated software.
Services including Microsoft’s Office 365, (otherwise branded as simply Microsoft 365), is the comprehensive answer to modern office productivity, collaboration and communication. A whole suite of tools to get work done, share and work with colleagues from any device, at any time.
Public and Private Cloud hosting services, such as Microsoft’s Azure platform, provide a modern answer to the need for hosting server-driven applications and services. Unlike investments in traditional server infrastructure, the benefit of the virtual environment within Azure is flexibility & scalability; being able to re-shape your cloud infrastructure requirements on the fly.
- Backup, Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity
Storing any data within the cloud is not a guarantee you’ll never need a backup. Yes; the hardware reliability and resiliency is greater, but the same standard challenges exist with user accidental deletion, file corruption or risk of theft or damage by a cyber-attack.
We recommend a structured granular file backup and recovery system to provide peace of mind; permitting not only file or folder recovery following any event, but the option to roll-back to previous file versions if ever needed.
With IT having such a critical role in modern business, the ability to maintain continuity of operations in the event of any IT disruption or outage is essential. A Business Continuity service (whether in the cloud or locally-based) offers assurance that your infrastructure, data and services remain available to your team, without delay, whatever happens.
Data is rapidly becoming one of the most valued commodities, so it should come as no surprise that cybercrime has risen in parallel. Large corporations have made considerable investments in their cyber defences, often however the same cannot be said within the small to medium enterprise community. Because of that very fact, the SME sector is now the most vulnerable and highly targeted of groups, which are falling victim to breaches from cybercriminals.
It is necessary to take steps in the protection of your livelihood by implementing cost-effective cybersecurity defences and best practices. Adopting the guidance of programmes such as the Government’s Cyber Essentials scheme will help businesses ‘level up’ in keeping valuable data secure.
- VoIP (Voice-over-IP) Telephony
Still an important part of communication within most businesses, telephony too can be digitized. There is a drive from infrastructure operators, namely BT Openreach, to deactivate the aged ISDN network by 2025; forcing businesses to adopt modern alternatives.
VoIP (or Voice-over-IP) is the umbrella term given to voice communications over the internet, as opposed to traditional forms of telephony that use their own ring-fenced copper lines. With VoIP, your voice traffic passes over the same internet connection as the rest of your data traffic such as email and websites.
Transitioning to VoIP is pain-free; your team can continue to use physical phone handsets in the same way as they always have, or they can benefit from the ability to carry the office phone with them – making and receiving calls from their computer or even a mobile device. The same applies to call transfers too – re-direct calls between team members on internal extensions, wherever you might be working, and at no cost.
We're Datek Solutions
Since 1998 we have been managing IT support, solutions and strategy for a range of clients. We have won awards for our excellent customer service and pride ourselves on being transparent. What you see, is what you get.
What makes us different? We don’t use a one-size fit all approach. We get to know your business and everyone in it, what it needs and how we can support you to give the best solutions at the best possible prices.
Above all this, we are committed to keeping it simple for you. If there’s a solution that your company needs, or you already have and it’s essential we support it, we make sure we know everything there is to know about it.
Contact us on 01753 540000 or email us at contactus@datek.co.uk.
