IT professionals know they have to plan today to be ready for the technological demands that will come their way tomorrow. Infrastructure changes and adaptations don’t just happen overnight. As a result, there has been significant buzz in the industry lately about what the “workplace of tomorrow” will look like from an IT perspective. According to Logicalis, an international IT solutions and managed services provider, tomorrow’s workplace will allow people to collaborate seamlessly throughout their organization, their industry and the world. The question for CIOs today is determining whether their IT infrastructure is ready to meet the challenge.
“When we talk about BYOD and borderless networks, we’re not talking about wish-list items anymore. Anytime, anywhere communication has become a technological reality, and the demand for these services from IT is growing daily,” says Mark Kelly, vice president of Communication & Collaboration Solutions, Logicalis. “CIOs have to take a hard look at the IT systems they have in place today and determine how to best build upon that infrastructure to be ready to be a part of tomorrow’s workplace.”
Some of the most important questions CIOs are asking themselves today include:
- Do we have a current and future-proof switching environment in place?
- Do we have best-practice QOS processes and procedures in place?
- Do we have robust security and security policies in place?
- How effectively do we manage our network today and will it meet our needs tomorrow?
- What applications will we need to add to our network?
- What emerging technologies and challenges do we need to plan for?
To help IT pros answer these questions and define where they are along the borderless network continuum, Logicalis has identified six of the most vital success factors when preparing today for tomorrow’s business needs.
Click through for six of the most vital success factors when preparing for tomorrow’s business needs, as identified by Logicalis.
CIOs need to ask themselves if they are ready to deliver the kind of quality of service that their users already expect. Tomorrow’s work force demands anytime, anyplace connectivity with uninterrupted access to networks, applications and data. The new standard is 100 percent reliability. IT pros who aren’t sure their infrastructure can meet that expectation are finding it’s critical to bring in partners now that can provide the necessary products, solutions and services to help them get ready.
Tomorrow’s workplace will open the gates to an array of new security challenges. Outsiders will bring wireless devices into the company’s network and inside users will take the network outside of the company’s domain. It’s important for IT pros to choose technology partners that can deliver the tools and expertise they need to secure their network equally well from the inside out and the outside in.
Business networks need to handle ever higher resolutions, volumes and user expectations – and the demand will only grow for these capabilities. Only through careful planning will IT pros be confident that their network is highly capable, reliable and faster than most.
Work is no longer a place, it’s an activity. Wherever businesspeople go, they expect their workplace to go with them. Fast, reliable wireless access isn’t a bonus, it’s a commercial necessity. And it’s becoming IT’s job to make sure the company’s businesspeople are constantly connected – with or without wires.
Tomorrow’s work force will continue to communicate and collaborate with an ever-changing array of devices. Companies can’t know every device people will choose to use in the workplace, yet the ability to allow people to “bring your own device” is a must. As a result, it is the responsibility of the IT department to ensure the infrastructure is ready to support them when, where and how they want to work.