Extra tags: Smart DevicesDigital Transformation
by Eddie Ang, Executive Director & General Manager, Corporate & Public Sector Business, Lenovo Asia Pacific
With hybrid and flexible work arrangements now built into many enterprises, companies are working to meet employees’ expectations and priorities. A report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Talent Corporation Malaysia (TalentCorp) found that 80% of Malaysian employees prefer to work from home weekly, with almost half preferring to do so at least three days a week. For the IT teams, they are now tasked with maintaining a high standard of service from a distance to ensure support for so employees can stay productive. To keep employees productive and efficient, companies will need to build a more robust IT system and maintain a new approach to work.
Unfortunately, the challenge is that today’s hybrid environment makes remote fleet management complicated. Legacy asset management systems make it more difficult for IT admins to manage fleets and proactively manage threats. The good news is that technology has evolved and so too have the IT services that support it. Here are three ways to deploy a smarter IT services strategy that will help your IT team move from reactive firefighting to proactive planning and fleet management.
Take a proactive approach to security by addressing issues before a breach occurs
Security ranks as the #1 most time-consuming challenge among IT departments and will stay top of mind for IT teams as cyberattacks and data breaches continue to be a serious threat for businesses of all sizes. In a Lenovo survey, 66% of CIOs — the greatest proportion for the question – named data privacy/security and cybersecurity/ransomware as key job challenges. One of the most frequent questions asked whenever a company purchases new hardware for their remote workforce is, “What do I need to do to secure and manage them?”
The fact is that endpoint complexity is exacerbating risk. The hybrid workforce grew so quickly during the pandemic, it became very challenging for IT admins to keep track of and secure all the devices and applications that were deployed onsite or remotely onto their enterprise network. In fact, only 58% of organizations say they could identify every vulnerable asset in their organization within 24 hours of a critical exploit.
It’s a daunting task, but one that IT teams can tackle more readily with endpoint protection and management tools leveraging emerging technologies like AI and machine learning to autonomously detect, prevent, and even self-heal from zero-day attacks before they happen.
Smarter devices, services and software solutions that can self-diagnose and pre-empt IT issues can also help small businesses that don’t typically have a robust IT support team.
Built-in security across the supply chain is another way to help prevent security risks before they occur. Explore a mix of IT services and software that bolster security in each device, from the time of its manufacture through the supply chain to the end user, and all the way to end of life when it’s time to refresh that device.
Today’s sophisticated endpoint protection and management tools can utilize geo fencing to disable a device that travels outside of a specific area, lock it down with a secure encryption, or even remotely erase a compromised hard-drive.
Automate preventative maintenance updates to free up teams and maintain security
With more data points from connected devices in the network and by utilizing emerging technology like AI and machine learning, IT admins can begin to predict hardware failures, close security vulnerability points in outdated software, and detect and respond to malware attacks. In IDC's March 2020 Cost of Downtime Survey, almost 70% of respondents reported using proactive/preventive support technologies – saving an average of 201 downtime hours per year. Leveraging predictive maintenance within Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) tools can save 10-40% in IT maintenance costs and result in a 30-50% reduction in total device downtime.
Advanced endpoint management tools are becoming widely available to better support IT administrators in managing their fleets of devices and reducing manual labor by automating device updates. Today, updates can be pushed to a fleet of devices at the push of a button with minimal oversight, freeing IT teams up to direct majority of their attention away from routine operational tasks to other more strategic initiatives designed to drive their business forward.
Choose products and services that keep IT staff working smarter, not harder
Nowadays, employees no longer enjoy the same centralized access they once had to IT teams in the office, and IT teams no longer benefit from the efficiencies on-site work once provided. Support staff are stretched thin between remote fleet management and deploying new digital transformation initiatives. Having more IT resources on deck to troubleshoot and support the core admin team is critical to preventing employee burnout.
PCs have become core devices in delivering benefits such as productivity in an end-user’s workplace digital wardrobe. It is critical for organizations choose the right PCs that would cater to the evolving needs of their operations and improve workflow. At Lenovo, we design devices with purpose to meet customers’ needs, and developed ThinkPad– the #1 commercial PC globally. Lenovo’s ThinkPad such as the ThinkPad X1 Carbon are great work companions for employees and IT teams especially in the hybrid working world. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is powered by Windows 11 Pro for Business. Enable hybrid work with powerful out-of-the-box protection including enhanced phishing safeguards, passwordless security, and more control over apps and access anywhere.
In addition to that, organizations should also consider outsourcing IT support and leveraging managed services to free up your in-house resources for value-added activities such as future proofing your tech stack, proactively mitigating security threats and driving your business forward. Lenovo TruScale provides as-a-service offering from pocket to cloud, with a scalable and flexible business model that supports companies of all sizes. With offerings like high performance computing (HPC) as-a-service, businesses can use computing resources to meet workload requirements more effectively and free up IT staff for more important tasks.
Not only can employees’ tech issues be resolved faster with the added technical support structure in place but outsourcing time-consuming tasks like configuration and deployment improves the experience for remote users. By working with external IT service experts, companies can get speedy equipment repairs within the service level agreement and greater cost predictability, especially when securing these services and hardware through a Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) contract.
The Takeaway
With a comprehensive IT services strategy, in-house IT teams can work smarter at securing business operations. Today’s outsourced IT services readily extend beyond management of repairs and technical support. Partnering with an IT service provider can pay real dividends, helping to resolve problems more quickly and creating the necessary infrastructure that supports your enterprise’s digital transformation.