I consult with companies from many markets that are scattered across the United States, and most of them had to pivot last year when the COVID pandemic hit. Scrambling for answers for a remote workforce, some were better prepared than others. Almost universally, they took budgets they had for things like data center and sank those funds into remote workforce initiatives. With the change in our work standards, we must define what our new “normal” is and determine what investments we should make in the core, edge, and cloud.
One thing is certain: The path most organizations were on is no longer valid and must be redefined.
As products come up on end-of-support and their regular refresh cycles, it’s important to remember this phrase: Automation and Orchestration with Correlation. The legacy ideologies of point products that operate in a bubble are just that: a legacy mindset. They will eventually result in your organization’s IT infrastructure failing you.
If there is one thing the pandemic has taught us, it’s that our IT infrastructure needs to be more agile and adaptable. How do we get there? By being able to automate and orchestrate our solutions from the core to the edge and, ultimately, to the cloud where scale is inherent. Management must span across products from various manufacturers and correlate data to get a more holistic picture of what’s going on. These platforms must include AI to parse these data points so that our IT staff is able to consume this information in a meaningful way.
Ultimately, the approach required of organizations of all shapes and sizes is to invest your IT dollars wisely. This doesn’t mean do everything on the cheap, but instead invest in tools and platforms that take you to your operating utopia. This promised land is different for every organization, and it’s important that you have a plan on what you want to be when you grow up.
The facts show that many companies have open full-time employee positions in their IT departments and many of the professionals I work with state they are overworked (and underpaid) because they are constantly being reactive and can’t complete most projects as needed. Many IT departments are managing their environments in much the same way they did a decade ago. This methodology does not scale, so give them the tools to help alleviate long troubleshooting sessions and get to a position where IT operations are more proactive. This will result in a happier staff, more productive company, and better resiliency and agility for when that next curveball is thrown your way.
Get Started with a Data Center Foundations Workshop
Our team of Data Center experts have designed this workshop to fully understand your current environment and identify potential risk factors. Register for your complimentary Data Center Foundations Workshop.
Topics: Data Center, Remote Working
