For a while now, companies have been re-evaluating their commitment to onsite IT because there are other options available that can help them make their business teams more cost effective. Here are 5 ways that IT departments are helping companies improved corporate efficiency.
Moving more applications into the cloud
Although it once seemed counter-intuitive, the companies that host applications and data in their world class data centers have shown time after time that their services are more secure than most companies that have their own infrastructure. Because of this and the fact that hosting applications offsite lowers your operating costs significantly because you no longer need to support as much of an in-house network, it is one of the first areas that business managers look at when they are trying to improve corporate efficiency.
Manage your mobile users
With a majority of firms in the United States said to be allowing a Bring Your Own Device strategy, which puts users onto the corporate network with their own cell phones or tablets that they bring from home, security can get confusing because when they are on site, they can make a mistake and do something that might lessen the security of the overall network. Managing them by creating an environment that takes each application and provides a set of policies that apply to mobile users is the forte of companies like Blue Coat. According to PCWorld, Blue Coat helps lead the market in helping to manage mobile users by letting IT managers adjust the level of security granularity while they are on the corporate network. This flexibility has helped increase operating efficiency in most companies that have adopted it.
Think remote mobile IT
One of the sidelights of moving applications into the cloud is that you no longer need to have much of a physical presence onsite. Companies that have done so are therefore looking into hiring IT firms that can run more of their onsite IT functions from a centralized and hardened IT datacenter. The cost savings and efficiency savings for those that remain onsite are pretty good reasons to move in this direction from an implementation standpoint.
Listen to your business experts
A funny thing happened among users of a large ERP manufacturer’s software over time. As business people, they noticed that although most corporate functionality was built into the software, one area that they were not seeing any basic functionality for was cost accounting analysis by product or service. The net result for many clients was that they were not able to use the ERP data to analyze how they could save money for the corporation. Some clients complained, while others went ahead and customized their version. The net result was the vendor providing information on how to make the changes their clients needed. Fortunately, they listened to the business experts.
Work toward’s process certification
If you haven’t already added a level of certification that codifies your IT processes in order to ensure that you are operating efficiently within company guidelines, doing so can help your staff and their clients to bring your business processes that are run through the IT department to a level that saves you time and money internally.
Creating an efficient operating unit or division that turns out superlative work is the goal of every manager. By looking at areas where there are gaps in your coverage and moving towards infrastructure changes that bring real savings, you can ensure that you will be on the road to that type of reality.
