Managed IT Services Blog

Managing wireless networks effectively can be problematic for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in particular with the growing popularity of mobile devices in the workplace and the constant connection needs of Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Cloud-managed wireless isn’t new, but its rapid growth in the last year or two has been directly fueled by companies looking to upgrade their wireless networks and moving to 802.11ac. Here are just five of the many reasons your business should be using cloud-managed wireless services:

According to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), 91 percent of administrators say effective use of ed tech is critical to their mission of high student achievement. Like the business environment, the modern school environment is being driven by technology such as mobile devices in 1:1 or “bring your own device” (BYOD) programs, streaming video, student wearables, and new educational technologies such as augmented and virtual reality.

Ask any business in any industry: If your network infrastructure goes down, business comes to a halt. It is the lifeblood of all communications, data transmission, storage, and even application services that your business relies on daily. That is why Phil Murphy of Forrester Research claims that IT spends 80 percent of its budget to keep the lights on. That high cost comes from companies throwing money at the most expensive hardware, the newest box with lots of blinking lights, and a high-priced staff that needs to be specially trained in the various components that keep the network infrastructure chugging along.

 Budget constraints, disparate or aging technology, integration with legacy systems, risk mitigation, and increased productivity expectations are just some of the big issues that today’s CIOs must grapple with. Fortunately, there are a significant number of network and infrastructure solutions that can help them address a majority of these challenges and even impact all of them to a significant degree. Here are just three of them that they may be aware of, but should be viewed in a different light to enable the support they need to take action.

 Having a well thought out BCDR plan today has become an overlooked business necessity and major pain point. Knowing that your data and information is being properly backed up in the event of an accident or disaster is crucial to any IT department. What would happen to your company and your critical data in the event of a disaster such as a fire or flood? Would you lose business-critical information? These unforeseen disasters often leave companies crippled due to data loss.

How many ‘smart’ devices do you own? A Smart Phone? A Tablet? A Laptop? An e-reader? If you’re like most people, the answer is all of the above. As devices have become smaller, versatile, and more affordable it’s not all that uncommon for people that own these devices to use them both at home and in the workplace. However, this industry trend does not come without security ramifications, having more devices increases the need for the security and management.  A lost Smart Phone or tablet could put your personal and business data at risk and expose sensitive information to unauthorized individuals.

Mobile device management seems ideal for any business but necessary steps that need to be taken before implementing a MDM system. Mobile Device Management or MDM is the implemented policy allowing users to access various pieces of information from a mobile device that in most instances would normally be stored on desk top or in a remote server. This could range from that users e-mail, data sheets, or other applications that the company is using on a regular basis. Currently, the most commonly used devices that are used to access this information are tablets, laptops, smart phones, mobile printers, and mobile POS devices.

As part of Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS), they have developed UCS Blades to implement and improve overall efficiency. Many upper-level management purchase blade chassis with the realization that they will need to expand the chassis in the future, this is why the development of the Cisco UCS blades can be beneficial to any organization with this mindset. Simply put, Cisco’s UCS Blades allow you to install blades faster by allowing the blades to be installed in fewer steps than ever before.  With multiple enterprise deployments it allows customers to find the best fit for their business.

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