Quostar Blog

Well, we are all in 2011 now and I think it should be an interesting year for business in general, particularly where IT is concerned. I believe that this will be the year that IT really shines again, especially the Small and Mid-Market operations. It’s going to be the businesses that embrace IT and invest it who are going to be in the strongest competitive position in the coming years. The world is rapidly changing and it’s IT that will deliver the edge.

Below I’ve just put a few high-level points that should be considered as an absolute minimum this coming year -

Look to the cloud

We are certainly going to see an uptick in cloud services in 2011. A significant percentage of this will come from the SME market, as ‘the cloud’ will typically deliver enterprise-class systems and services without the upfront capital costs, or the ongoing maintenance costs and complexities. IT is now the life blood of every business and the uptime and availability requirements once reserved for the global giants are within the reach of the SME. You should typically be looking into the cloud to deliver benefits, such as:-

• Access to top-tier infrastructure without the associated costs.
• Improved Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity.
• Increased flexibility to ramp operations up and down.
• Operate on a global stage at reduced cost and complexity.
• Access infrastructure and systems on a fee per unit or per user basis.
• Perform trials without investing in hardware and software.
• Enhancement and development of remote working and collaboration.

The word ‘cloud’ does appear to be all encompassing but the benefits that SME can draw from it are exciting. Many organisation have resisted as they are concerned about losing control – don’t be.You can always try, and you can always failback (you should have planned to) if things aren’t right.

Focus on security

Generally over the last few years the security landscape has been relatively quiet. This has made many businesses a little complacent. We are certainly seeing the risks rise but its not reflected in awareness or spend. It seems that most SMEs work on a purely reactive way to security and this is not wise. I’d say that one of the largest threats comes from the rapid expansion for the mobile device market, in terms of smart phones, Ipads and the like. I don’t have figures to hand but I’d be willing to bet that at least 50% of SMEs have no security protection on these devices, even on a basic level, such as encryption and antivirus.

Of course there is also the growing threat of cyber-terrorism. We are waiting for the big one here so it’s a another good reason to get DR and BC plans up to date and tested. If you even have one?

When was the last time you do a full risk assessment against your business assets?

IT is not just an ‘added cost’

The majority of business gains to be made in 2011 and beyond are going to come from the intelligent use of technologies and systems. Those organisations who have remained stronger in the downturn are those who have invested in technology just before or during the last couple of years. If you see IT as simply a cost to your business then chances are you have more important issues to deal with.

I’d also advise looking out there to see which systems and services can really provide a measurable return for the money. It all depends on your market but great gains can be made in looking into the areas that may be weren’t at the time or hurt you in the past, i.e. CRM, ERP, BI, etc. A few years is a long time in IT and rapid globalisation has opened up competition, bringing real improvements and typically a reduction in costs.

Don’t sweat your IT assets

In particular you shouldn’t be sweating your assets in terms of hardware. I’ve seen numerous companies attempt this and regret the decision. Often IT departments are getting the blame even though the risks were stated to the business. I’d certainly recommend that IT draws up a risk register and asks management to sign off the risks as acceptable – particularly in relation to servers, storage and security.

You’ll also often find that productivity is affected, especially when PCs lives are being drawn out. If you are losing 10 minutes of productivity per day, per PC over 100 PCs then you could easily be losing a couple of  man days of productivity per day. On the other side its also likely that you’ll be incurring some staff morale issues.

It’s understandable that many businesses do not have a lot of spare cash at the moment and a change in hardware may bring other associated costs, such as software. Perhaps look at financing the project, looking at thin-client solutions and of course the cloud to deliver the required business result.

Resist the temptation of new gadgets

Some of the latest breakthroughs in technology may be perfect for home use, but the popularisation of technology can be risky for SMEs and is often unsuitable for a working environment. SMEs should generally stick to tried and tested technology that has been designed for the business market, and is not just seen as the latest cool gadget to show off in the office. However if you absolutely cannot resist the push for the latest must-have gadget, then ensure you control what the devices can do on the network. It’s also imperative to understand what you will do if a device is lost, i.e. can it be remote-wiped? Is it encrypted?

You do of course need to look at the true flexibility of the devices, will they support you longer-term? As an example I haven’t seen many real business applications for the Ipad. If you have to have a laptop as well as the Ipad then the validity of the investment is suspect. I know that people will come back with exceptions but generally the Ipad is not a business tool.

I wish you every success in 2011.

Robert Rutherford