Integrating IT Services: Cloud Computing & Compliance Concerns

To streamline IT service management and assets, the convergence of technology and processes to better meet business objectives is ideal. It also allows in-house IT teams to spend more time on other endeavors and projects for industry-specific, targeted business growth.

A recent survey conducted by IDG Research Services found that more than half of IT executives have a limited process automation, meaning they still have several manual processes when it comes to managing their IT assets.

The report also acknowledges that companies with higher levels of process automation and data/process integration are more likely to rate their processes as better when it comes to efficiency, cost-effectiveness and freeing up their IT team’s time.

The survey also reports that companies typically have three or four different installed solutions for monitoring and managing their IT assets and services, with minimal integration and some reported gaps. More than half are working with multiple IT vendors although they report they would prefer not to – it can be difficult to monitor, integrate and manage all of their needed solutions.

Online Tech’s managed hosting solutions offer comprehensive IT disaster recovery, offsite backup, remote server monitoring and more for colocation, managed dedicated servers and cloud hosting services.

Our OTPortal is an easy-to-use, secure client hosting portal designed as an all-inclusive dashboard detailing everything you need to know about your server, from bandwidth to firewall rules.

The portal allows for optimal process, service and asset integration to cut down on the time it takes to manage your IT services, streamlining your business operations and giving you more time to focus on your own company.

The IT convergence report also details some trends that will demand more of IT teams and require more integration. A few notable trends include:

• Remote access – Evolving working habits and schedules means critical applications and data need to be accessible and available nearly 24×7. A fully redundant data center built for high availability is ideal since it provides automatic failover and protected power to keep servers up and running.
• Full compliance – Industry and government regulations such as PCI DSS compliance and HIPAA compliance are demanding IT services to all meet pre-defined standards for optimal security and privacy of sensitive data. Noncompliance can result in major legal and security fines and damage to your business. Your PCI hosting and HIPAA hosting provider should be able to prove compliance with their reports on compliance completed by independent auditors.
• Mobile support – With the use of personal devices in a work setting come the security concerns around transmitting or storing sensitive data. The issue of integrating and managing mobile applications and data is now a necessity.
• Cloud computing – Complex IT infrastructures require a computing solution that can support many applications and easily scale up or down as needed. Compliance concerns may be eased with private clouds, while managed clouds take the burden off of internal IT staff and allow them to focus on other projects.

References:
The Convergence of IT Operations Management