Many business functions have shifted online in recent months. Between social distancing protocols, quarantine, and protective measures, the remote workforce is stronger than ever and more dependent on connectivity and networking.
Network capacity, speed, and availability, alongside data transport, storage, and management, have become the cornerstones of the new post-COVID enterprise. Data and online capabilities are at the core of a successful pivot as well as ongoing operations, so how can IT be shifted and expanded in this new digital world to keep pace?
Here are a few tips to keep businesses running smoothly:
Audit Your Network and Understand Its Capabilities
Regardless of whether an organization already knows what its IT and network strategy needs to succeed under these evolving conditions. Network assessments are a great place to begin when auditing your existing network, as they can help teams begin to understand their goals and limitations and help inform what solutions are needed. If greater reach and capacity are required, assessing the current state of the network can help the business understand what elements can be expanded, and if security is needed to keep data safe across that expanding network footprint, this step can help highlight vulnerabilities that need patching.
Focus on Monitoring and Management
Planning and getting the infrastructure in place is only half the battle and keeping the new network up and functional is the other half. Now, a network failure or lackluster connectivity could negatively impact critical operations in a time when many are working remotely. Now that businesses are relying on IT infrastructure in a new virtual workplace, even a small challenge can lead to major inefficiencies or disruptions in the long run.
With networking being an ongoing effort, not a set-and-forget task, management means having network engineers assessing performance, identifying challenges proactively to avoid disruption and providing ongoing care and solutions.
How can teams keep up this level of monitoring and management if social distancing is necessary and on-site access to IT infrastructure may be limited? Furthermore, with greater pressure on the network to perform comes greater complexity and required resources from internal teams. The reality right now is that lots of businesses can’t afford added strain or may not be able to allocate additional time, money or personnel, no matter how important the task is. Choosing the right colocation partner can help solve issues relating to IT governance and the importance of allocating time to expand network capabilities.
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Acquire Expert, End-to-End Help, and the Right Colocation Partner
It’s true that all of the steps listed above have become more complex as network requirements expand, and these transformations must now happen on accelerated timelines. This great pivot is happening quickly, and those who fail to do it successfully risk being outpaced and left behind. So, how can speed, quality of results, agility, and consistency coexist peacefully?
This is where an expert colocation partner comes in very handy, and fortunately, there are many service options that keep businesses well-equipped to move through their transformations smoothly and come out the other side more powerful than before. Outsourcing infrastructure and management to a trusted partner helps businesses keep costs and complexity low while making their foundational capabilities stronger for the new digital workplace.
How Data Foundry Makes a Difference
Data Foundry delivers network engineers with deep expertise that assess networks, provide recommendations, manage day-to-day operations, ensure network security and conduct routine maintenance. Our network management and operations service provides businesses 24x7x365 monitoring and support, allowing them to focus on their own goals while prioritizing their team’s safety and peace of mind.
Data Foundry’s infrastructure is well-prepared for teams that have limited access. Our Houston 2 data center is a 60-MW, master-planned and state-of-the-art data center that allows for remote hands capabilities, keeping teams in touch with their equipment and data from a safe distance.
No matter the time of day or night, organizations can rest assured that a team of Data Foundry technicians and engineers can handle network maintenance and management tasks on behalf of the enterprise. Plus, this service is backed by the facility’s blended Internet service, which provides access to a minimum of four carriers at once and delivers the most efficient, reliable routing for the network connectivity at the core of today’s business. At the end of the day, while the requirements on the network are ever-expanding, finding the right data center partner and the right solutions can make all the difference.
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