Enterprise IT – Lifeline of Modern Workplaces
Organizations today are increasingly dependent on IT to keep their business operations running smoothly and efficiently. This is now integral to any company’s growth or transformation strategies.
As per a recent report, nearly 50% of companies are planning to increase their IT budget in 2023. Only 6% plan to cut down on their technology spending. In fact, according to Statista, global IT spending on enterprise software will increase to $856.03 billion in 2023, up from $783 billion reported in 2022.
Irrespective of the business sector, organizations are leveraging enterprise IT solutions to:
- Solve their business problems
- Make improved business decisions
- Improve their customer experience
- Elevate their operational efficiency
Through this article, let’s dive deeper into the criticality of enterprise IT and how businesses can alleviate risks posed by inefficient IT infrastructure.
Why Is The IT Infrastructure Critical For Business Performance?
Be it on the cloud or on-premises, IT infrastructure comprises all systems that support the functioning of enterprise software and data. The evolution of the cloud, in particular, has allowed organizations to store and retrieve their data and applications from anywhere thus improving reach, accessibility, and scalability.
Typically, IT infrastructure is made of :
- The physical hardware and IT facilities
- Data storage and retrieval systems
- Network systems
- Legacy systems and applications
Here’s how an efficient IT infrastructure adds to business performance:
1. Employee Productivity
Organizations can improve their employees’ productivity by employing a strong IT infrastructure. For instance, low-latency networks can improve application performance and reduce delays in responses, thus enabling smooth collaboration among teams and faster decision-making.
2. Data Security
With the increasing frequency and complexity of cyberattacks, companies cannot ignore securing their IT infrastructure from cyber criminals. In fact, as per IBM’s analysis, the average cost of a data breach amounted to a whopping $4.35 million in 2022. As it stands, traditional IT infrastructure is no longer effective against sophisticated zero-day attacks or advanced persistent threats (APT).
3. Regulatory Compliance
Customer-centric industries, especially those that are highly regulated (like healthcare and financial services) have to comply with regulations when managing their customer data. Any compliance-related failure can attract heavy fines and result in the loss of brand reputation. A compliant IT infrastructure is essential for protecting data from unauthorized access and breaches.
4. Business Operations
A well-designed, implemented, and managed IT infrastructure is essential for companies to deliver several crucial business functions. This supports a variety of positive outcomes, such as:
- Ensuring a rapid response to changing market conditions
- Building business agility that leads to proactive strategies
- Automating repetitive or manual work to reduce operational costs
- Accelerating application deployments
- Enabling and employees across the enterprise with powerful tools and data
- Creating strong platforms to enable employee communications and collaboration
Business Risks Posed By An Inefficient Of Ineffective IT Infrastructure
Among the major business risks, poorly managed, outdated, or overwhelmed IT infrastructure becomes a barrier to implementing digital strategies in any enterprise. Organizations with outdated or legacy systems or inadequate IT strategies can run into risks such as:
- Reduced team productivity, which can lead to employee frustration and low motivation
- An inability to adapt to changing market conditions, which can result in a loss of competitive advantage
- Loss of critical data, which can happen due to repetitive system failure and inadequate security measures
Besides being a drag on ongoing operations, an inefficient IT infrastructure can increase downtime, which in turn, means stoppages and a loss of productivity and revenue.
Besides, the improper management of the IT infrastructure can lead to business challenges such as:
- Lack of computing power when required
- Inadequate or low-quality data acquisition that limits data analytics capabilities
- Inefficient data storage compromising accessibility as well as security
The question is – can organizations overcome their IT infrastructure problems by working with expert IT management and support solutions partners? Let’s discuss that next.
How IT Management And Support Services Can Help
Modern enterprises need efficient IT management and support services to alleviate their operational challenges. In recent times, as new technologies have emerged, these services have made it possible for organizations to proactively troubleshoot technology-related problems that could otherwise lead to security issues.
With expert IT management services, companies can sync their IT environment to their business requirements, thus ensuring consistent availability and performance of their business applications. The objective of such IT management is to ensure that all adopted technologies are secure and perform at their optimum level. As a result, organizations can ensure and deploy the best IT security guardrails to prevent cyberattacks.
Additionally, robust and comprehensive IT support services include remote monitoring and security of vital infrastructural assets, including networks, servers, databases, and applications. Remote management of IT infrastructure serves as a centralized or “single” source of truth that can integrate diverse technologies and platforms.
Finally, organizations need efficient application maintenance and support to keep pace with the growing number of business applications. In essence, to drive their business growth, they need a managed service partner to support their applications while they can focus on their core business activities. This includes services like:
- Major and minor application upgrades
- New application development
- Performance monitoring
- On-time application delivery
Wrapping Up
Across industries, organizations have realized the importance of enterprise IT solutions and infrastructure. Most companies rely on efficient IT services to keep their operations running and growing.
Since its inception, i-Source has strived to use its technical expertise to enable customers to achieve their business goals. We have been a trusted partner in our client’s journey towards digital transformation. Our IT management and support services are designed to strengthen your IT infrastructure.
So, if you are looking for the right IT solution provider and partner, contact us today with your business requirements.