Cost reductions and automation are high on the agenda of many IT executives who are seeking to do more with ever diminishing IT budgets. Having been involved in IT service delivery, in particular IT outsourcing for much of my early career, I came up against the ‘cost reductions request’ all the time. Clients simply want a better service for less money.
Interestingly however, we could never quite deliver on the promise. Simply put, we either didn’t have the tools, didn’t know how to use the tools or the tools were too complicated to extract any real value and ensure that the promised cost efficiencies were ever realised.
The automated desktop isn’t actually a myth. The savings can be achieved, the improved user experience can be delivered and the promise of doing more with less can be achieved.
When we talk desktop automation we are not trying to boil the ocean. In fact I am of the strong opinion that trying to do too much or trying to tick every box and cover every angle is precisely why many of these projects and solutions fail. It is far better to be the best at what you do in some very key or niche areas, ensuring that business benefits are real, realised and measured.
It is necessary for me to go into a bit of product speak in writing this blog, not because I am trying a hard sell here but rather to explain how the automated desktop can be achieved by using the right solutions for the business requirement.
The basic foundation for the picture I want to paint is Microsoft System Centre Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr). As a systems management tool it has been around for many years and is embedded within the architecture of many of the largest and most complicated organisations in the world. It does have some challenges however and that is where the 1E suite of solutions come into their own.
Imagine if you would the following. A Windows OS delivered/upgraded across your network, requested and scheduled by an end user and done through a zero touch approach with zero impact on the business traffic on your network. Imagine that this could be achieved with zero branch infrastructure and that the migration process was intelligent enough to only migrate those applications that were being used, and hence were the only ones delivering real business value. Imagine not only the efficiency gains but also the improvements in the end user experience if the same technologies that delivered this could be leveraged on an ongoing, business as usual scenario.
The picture I have painted is absolutely not a myth and can be delivered through a combination of 1E’s solutions, namely Nomad Enterprise (content delivery with zero network impact), Shopping (portal and scheduling) and AppClarity (software usage and automated reclaim). These technologies are enterprise tested and deliver real value and in a repeatable fashion.
What also sets these solutions apart is that they are agile and rapid to deploy, ensuring your speed to value is achieved within timeframes that are acceptable to the business. These solutions are not trying to boil the ocean, they are designed to do some key things in a better and more efficient way than the underlying architecture and do so with a measurable return on investment.
Automation can be achieved, you just need the right toolset to realise it.
Author: Tim James
Director. sustainableIT