Member Article

Improve Your IT Department’s Infrastructure

Enable your team and your infrastructure to work effectively now and in the future by implementing three important methodologies

Effectively future proofing your Linux system is the end result of implementing two important strategies throughout your company. These strategies both revolve around your in-house IT team and their skillset.

Modernise your IT team

Firstly, you should identify whether or not your IT department has the modern skillset needed to keep up to date with developments in Open Source, Linux and the risk of cyber threats. There are three important roles you should have within your organisation:

1. A Chief Compliance Officer who manages regulatory compliance issues and IT security.
2. IT architects who are skilled in planning, implementing and managing infrastructure
3. Business Intelligence analysts who use data to improve efficiency and profits

Extend their skillset

Having a modern IT team is no longer enough. Your team needs to keep evolving in the same way the internet, software and hardware do. This can be in both size and skill set.

You should expand your IT department beyond right-sizing. Your company needs to be adequately prepared to tackle rare events such as security issues, major infrastructure changes and software management.

Try bringing in a Managed Service Provider (MSP). They can be used to oversee a short-term project, but flexible SLA agreements are more common . An MSP can work in times of crisis without driving costs upwards and they can work in collaboration with your in-house team to widen their skills.

Once you have expanded your team’s skillset, the need for an MSP will be greatly reduced and they can be redirected to other areas of the business.

Future proof your Linux infrastructure

By now, your IT team will be modernised and you will have invested time expanding their skillset. This enables your team to play a role in future proofing your Linux infrastructure, a methodology that is strengthened through collaboration with an MSP.

By following the above two methodologies and investing in your team’s skills, you will be able to future proof without investing in the latest hardware or technology.

An MSP and your skilled team can work together to achieve certain strategies such as:

• Remaining within allocated budget while carrying out more work
• Standardising the support of different types of hardware and software
• Adding expertise to their management of best practice systems and Linux infrastructure.

Future proofing your Linux infrastructure is an important business strategy that will benefit your IT department, create cost efficiencies and bolster productivity. Future proofing your systems will be made more successful by modernising your IT team and expanding their skills. While an MSP can certainly help, your team will soon be in a place to manage the infrastructure, cyber threats and implementation by themselves.

Takeaways:

• Modernising your IT team by bringing in the right people
• Expanding their skillset with the help of an MSP
• Future-proofing your Linux infrastructure

Find out how to boost your company’s productivity and revenue. Download this guide: http://bit.ly/integratedeguide

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Mitchell .