The best of both worlds

If fully embracing the Cloud is a step too far for your Service Management operation, perhaps a hybrid approach is what’s required. VitAL speaks to the vice president and general manager of FrontRange’s Cloud Business Unit, Kevin Smith about why, for many, a hybrid approach is preferable.

For many Service Management organisations the idea of placing its software and data entirely in the Cloud is a step too far as of 2013, and yet they may wish to exploit some of the many benefits of a cloud-based operation. FrontRange believes it holds the answer in its HEAT hybrid ITSM solution.

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Ensuring infrastructure resilience in an online world

Server outages at global ISPs may be an extreme case, but they illustrate the challenge faced by businesses that are shifting a growing proportion of their information and transaction infrastructure online – often to cloud based computing. The growth in cloud computing is one example of the trend towards ever greater reliance on the Internet. Moving to the cloud and making use of virtualised servers makes sense financially, but organisations need to be aware of the inherent risks, and ensure they are prepared for infrastructure failure when it comes.

ISF’s Threat Horizon 2012 report highlighted infrastructure failure as one of its top 10 threat scenarios. The report highlights how companies have come to rely on Internet only sales channels and mechanisms, to the extent that most people only have one way to perform their day-to-day transactions. Poor Internet resilience, especially at pinch points in the network, results in frequent and sustained regional Internet outages and prolonged loss of service. The threats to business come from loss or damage to communications links or services – often as a result of under-investment in infrastructure – and from malfunctioning equipment, associated with a lack of resilience.

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The year Enterprise Mobility takes off

Regardless of industry or size, mobilising the enterprise is imperative for businesses and, says David McLeman, managing director at Ancoris, can transform an organisation and offer competitive business advantage

In 2011 enterprise mobility is truly taking off. Powerful smart phones are becoming the norm, while more powerful tablet PC’s such as the Apple iPad, Android-based Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Research In Motion (RIM) PlayBook are set to make major inroads into the corporate market over the next 12 months. Better, more powerful devices that allow mobility, plus increased bandwidth, have created a platform for mobile business applications.

The companies that will succeed in tomorrow’s economy will be the ones who embrace mobility. Organisational leaders will be able to provide their employees with the resources to work at any time, from any location and from any device.  Enterprise mobility gives employees flexibility, which makes for a happier, more productive staff. However, devices such as smart phones, laptop’s and tablet PC’s only allow mobility. Effectively utilising this mobile capability relies upon there being a platform that allows employees to make the most of the virtual environment.

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The 5 Golden Rules for success in Outsourcing

The outsourcing model now embraces all industries. Philip Lieberman President and CEO of Lieberman Software points out that, if you intend to join the risk-takers there are a few things you need to do to avoid disaster.

The rush to embrace the outsourcing model started in the USA with the Insurance Industry’s decision to promote commodity pricing and as everyone knows, when your core product becomes a commodity you have to slash costs. The industry then moved to reduce expenses by outsourcing their IT operations and the trickle soon became a flood that embraced all industries.

Outsourcing has worked well for some companies, but it can also lead to business damaging disasters. The problem is, if outsourcers fail, you’re left holding the baby without the resources to care for it. There is little margin for error in choosing an outsourcer as we found in a recent survey at InfoSecurity 2011. LINK. We discovered that 77% of IT professionals surveyed said that their outsourcers had made up work to earn extra money.

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Controlling the complexity

Imagine being able to control the whole IT estate – in all its every increasing complexity – using a single visual management suite. This is what ASG is offering with its Enterprise Automation Management Suite (EAMS) solution. VitAL editor Matt Bailey spoke to ASG VP marketing and communications Tony Perri about the capabilities of EAMS and a milestone metadata  management project at eBay.

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