Technology Trends Short List

3 Technology Trends That Can Empower IT and Grow Business

Information technology (IT) professionals are generally time starved and under resourced which makes it even more challenging to find the necessary time to stay apprised of promising new hardware and software technologies. Many IT projects are never done, they just lay low during slower periods of less activity. Something always needs maintenance, hardware needs technology refresh upgrades, databases and operating systems needs patches, the network needs information security protection for the latest zero day exploits and business software systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software applications need upgrades and continuous process improvements.

So with so many IT activities required just to keep the lights on and keep the company in business, who has time to think about new IT trends and innovative technologies that could improve IT services delivery or bring down costs?

It's a difficult balancing act, however, critical to maximizing IT effectiveness. With that in mind, here's a mini-guide for the time-impaired IT manager - three IT trends that you should make time to review and consider integrating into your operations.

1. Mobility

Your customers are mobile. Your vendors are mobile. Your employees are mobile. So do your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems support mobility?

Packaged ERP systems and CRM software suites often provide anytime/anywhere access. This can deliver business advantage for account managers meeting with customers, field sales professionals or traveling executives. Mobility allows flexibility and can streamline business processes and help grow your company's revenue and goodwill. It's something you should be exploring for possible deployment. It can give you a leg up on competitors and make life easier for your call centers, sales people and your bottom line.

Complicating mobility technology strategy is a wide array of mobile devices. Your staff probably already use iPhones, BlackBerrys, Androids and other smartphones. Trying to standardize on just one type of phone will surely incur user adoption challenges. Trying to support every smartphone means that you'll support none of them well. You may also find that tablets or iPads are ideal devices for some business processes. A balance of portable devices must be determined. Legacy ERP and CRM systems can deliver another challenge as they were never intended to deliver access to these types of smartphones. There are middleware tools available but they can be pricey and require IT support. Or if you already considering a business software system replacement, the current generation of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) CRM and ERP systems provide mobility support out of the proverbial box.

2. Virtualize

Virtualization has been a hot topic for a few years now, but there are still a lot of unknowns for IT managers and administrators. So what do you need to know?

By running virtualization applications on powerful servers, you can reduce the number of physical servers and achieve that server consolidation buzz by running multiple virtual server images. The payback can be huge. The hardware, utility and IT administration costs, and the carbon emissions savings, from migrating 100 physical servers to 10 physical servers with each of them running 10 virtual servers or any other combination that you choose is material. You can cut your floor space, power, cooling and maintenance needs, while at the same time administering your core applications more efficiently.

A benefit of keeping virtualization on the back burner until now is that you can gain knowledge and lessons learned from those who have deployed it before you. See how smart your strategy was?

3. Modernize

Sure, many of us have been in hunker-down mode for the last couple years because of the global economic uncertainly and pressure of the recession. As things improve, though, it's time to catch up on the infrastructure items we had to abandon since things began heading downhill in late 2007.

Many IT managers under-invest in IT infrastructure and don't recognize it until its too late - when systems start failing, applications incur downtime, databases get corrupted, data gets lost, high availability hardware fails to correctly fail-over or users become disenfranchised.

Technology refresh and IT infrastructure can be done even with tight budgets. Deals are still out there, from software upgrades to hardware replacements to technical services and consulting to help you get back up to speed now that the economy is showing renewed signs of life.

Go back and look over your short-term and long-term IT plans and budget. Analyze your situation carefully and re-rank the most important goals based on today's situations. Then jockey for the funding. You may need to visually point out how money invested in IT is money that will measurably benefit your company as the economy is re-ignited. Share your research and don't be afraid to share vision. This is why you are an IT leader. So go in there and lead.