Businesses of all sizes have to manage an increasing diversity of remote users and devices. The task ranges from simply keeping systems running to ensuring security, compliance and the achievement of environmental goals. Under this sort of pressure, IT managers and managed service providers, to which the task is often outsourced, must have flexible access to powerful tools and an ability to share the data those tools rely on.
QUOCIRCA BRIEFING September 2008 Remote IT management Contacts: How SaaS-based tools provide a superior end-user service Bob Tarzey Businesses of all sizes have to manage an increasing diversity of remote users and Quocirca Ltd devices. The task ranges from simply keeping systems running to ensuring security, Tel +44 1753 855794 bob.tarzey@quocirca.com compliance and the achievement of environmental goals. Under this sort of pressure, IT managers and managed service providers, to which the task is often outsourced, Rob Bamforth Quocirca Ltd must have flexible access to powerful tools and an ability to share the data those Tel +44 1962 849746 tools rely on. rob.bamforth@quocirca.com Heidi Wieland ? In the average business 65% of employees now regularly use IT, 20% access NTRglobal IT remotely at some point and many others work in branch offices Tel +1 805 7227413 The IT infrastructure all these workers rely on needs to be managed remotely, hwieland@ntrglobal.com not just for the sake of the employees but also for the partners, suppliers and customers they are constantly interacting with electronically. ? Remote IT management needs to be proactive, continually ensuring the BRIEFING NOTE: security of remote devices and the adherence of their users to policy This briefing has been Management tools must allow IT managers or the staff of managed service written by Quocirca to providers (MSP) to run tasks that address widely dispersed groups of users as address issues faced by well as providing individual attention when required. organisations that have to manage an increasingly dispersed IT ? Those managing IT need flexible access to the tools and the data they rely infrastructure. on, and must be able to share data easily Hardware failure and new equipment deployment will still require IT managers The report draws on Quocirca's knowledge of to leave their normal place of work and they, too, have a right to the flexibility of the technology and working that they are enabling for their colleagues-IT management tools must business issues faced by be accessible from anywhere. organisations and provides advice on the approaches ? The data the tools rely on must be up to date and accessible to a range of that can be taken to ease the task of IT users management. If business managers change the status of employees then this information must During the preparation of be immediately reflected in the actions of IT managers. MSPs must be able to this report, Quocirca has easily and securely share this data with their customers. spoken to a number of end users, service providers ? Such wide ranging access to management tools and data that is held in-and vendors and is grateful house behind a firewall is hard to provide for their time and insights. Just as with email, collaboration tools and many business applications (e.g. Quocirca would like to CRM), there is a strong case to be made for the deployment of IT management thank NTRglobal for its sponsorship of this report. tools using the software as a service (SaaS) delivery model. ? Using SaaS has additional benefits for all users of the system as it allows an aggregated view of IT usage for the benefit of a community of customers Whilst the security of the data owned by individual organisations is paramount, the aggregation of anonymised data across the community is of great value, answering questions about usage trends, upgrade issues and providing advice on other commonly encountered problems.
An independent briefing by Quocirca Ltd. www.quocirca.com Remote IT management Page 2
The travails of Average Inc. Given the diversity of businesses, describing an average one may seem a bit pointless. However, it does serve to underline the extent of a problem most businesses now face when managing their information technology (IT) and trying to keep their end-users happy. In the average business 65% of employees now use computers, 20% access IT from remote external locations (figure 1) and many others work in one of around 30 branch offices(figure 2).
Managing the mundane Even when all is good and users are happy, IT managers cannot sit back. Good practice means a continuous round of maintenance ... [download for more]
