2 Strategies to Consider Next Time You Upgrade Your Network

Technology is always shifting to meet the demands and needs of its consumers, and as such, this often leads business owners to reconsider their solutions after setting up what appears to be the perfect network infrastructure. When new technology is introduced, it can dramatically affect your current solutions, so it’s a best practice to closely analyze new trends that appear with the latest technology.

Here are two of the most important trends in today’s networking environment that will, more likely than not, lead to you making some changes to your own IT infrastructure.

BYOD and Mobility
More workers are using their personal mobile devices to enhance their productivity while out of the office, and companies are forced to adapt to this trend. In response, businesses are starting to provide their employees with company-owned mobile devices that allow them to work efficiently. Employees who take advantage of BYOD will use their own devices to access corporate data in ways which may violate the designated security protocol. In fact, in a recent IT survey by Forrester Research, “65 percent of respondents said they plan to expand their enterprise mobility services to meet their business priorities.”

Therefore, your business should also take action to ensure that your network isn’t overwhelmed by mobile devices, whether they’re secure or insecure. A primary challenge presented by BYOD is that your network must be able to accommodate the increased traffic of mobile devices. This means increasing the number of access points, as well as increasing your bandwidth if necessary. Your network should be prepared to deal with double the traffic; otherwise, you could run into some major lag or downtime, which could cost your company precious budget dollars.

Digital Communication Systems
In the good old days, meetings had to be performed either in person or over the telephone. Now, however, you might be receiving more requests for video conference calls than ever before. This is a major shift in the way that businesses handle meetings and communication in general. NetworkComputing explains:

Communications and collaboration solutions now allow businesses to assemble the best people to do a job, regardless of their location. Information sharing between companies – in organizational settings; between suppliers, vendors and clients; or for special projects – has also become the norm.

If your business doesn’t take advantage of these tools, there is a potential for lost sales and increased revenue that could have a significant effect on your bottom line. You need to equip your network with the technology required to facilitate video conferencing, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and other communication technologies, all without crippling the network from the enhanced workload.

These are only two of the IT trends that are rocking the industry, but considering how your network will respond to these trends will put you one step ahead of your competition. Contact Computerware at (703) 821-8200 for more information about how you can adapt to trends for mobile and BYOD, as well as prepare your network for video communications, mobile devices, and more.