Your Information System Assessment

Transcription

1 Your Information System Assessment

2 John, You know that Information Technology is a vital asset to any business. Imagine your own company without a functioning network, servers or business applications. Chances are good that when any of these critical systems go down, business grinds to a halt. Technology is at the center of all business processes today. It opens vast opportunities for profitable growth but it s critical for a company to assess its systems and server technology or it will become problematic to provide support and security and the higher the risk of hampering a company s agility. Business can take advantage of numerous benefits from updated server technology including: A more secure and reliable architecture The opportunity to take advantage of virtualization Reduced downtime which can negatively impact a business image in the eyes of customers Preparing for the increased demand mobile requirements place on servers Cost savings - older systems can actually cost more to operate than newer systems cost to procure Current trends in technology (cloud computing, virtualization, etc.) make it possible to develop new uses and propel user productivity and organizational efficiency to new levels. However, these new opportunities and trends can thrive only with modern, efficient, and secure infrastructures and information systems. This assessment has been designed to assist you with this process in order to meet new challenges. The document developed from your answers to the questionnaire contains three main sections: Your IT dashboard Your focus areas (strengths and areas for improvement) Best practices and recommendations based on the identified areas for improvement Page 2

3 Your IT Infrastructure dashboard You have 80 personal computer equipment assets (desktop computers, laptops, and tablets), located at 1 site and are managed internally.. Your IT infrastructure is based on the following characteristics: Information System are managed internally 5 Servers - Lenovo is the preferred brand The oldest Server Operating System is Windows Server 2003 Virtualization is not deployed in your infrastructure Applications are used through Cloud Computing infrastructure Within your organization, the IT infrastructure needs to be developed. It limits you from enjoying all of the advances in IT in recent years, on both a technological and an economic level. Discussions about modernizing your infrastructure (operating systems, cloud computing, updated servers, outsourced management, etc.) can re-energize your infrastructure, boost user productivity, and lower risks. Efficiency Performance Security 38% Improve Weak Page 3

4 Your focus areas In order to enjoy the full potential of the latest technical innovations, it is essential to analyze your organization's strengths and areas for improvement. The following table summarizes the items that are advantages and the items for which a significant improvement can save time, improve efficiency for the organization, and increase productivity for all users. Strengths Areas for improvement You are already using cloud computing applications or services You have put a backup recovery plan into place to protect against a major incident Your information system is managed internally. You may want to look into outsourcing selected area to allow you to focus on key initiatives. Part of your server infrastructure is obsolete: Strong impact on performance and reliability Aging operating system: Security and compliance risks may arise in the upcoming months You have not had the opportunity to integrate virtualization within your infrastructure Your applications and data are apparently not secure from the standpoint of effectiveness You are only partially satisfied with the performance level provided by your IT infrastructure (server and storage) Page 4

5 Best practices & recommendations With your organization and challenges in mind, several best practices should be applied to optimize your infrastructure. Findings: Your server infrastructure is aging. Part of the infrastructure is 4 to 5 years old. You may encounter an increasing number of performance problems and risks in terms of reliability. Best practices: It is strongly recommended to refresh servers every 60 months. This helps ensure an efficient infrastructure, optimal security, and better productivity for users. Think back five years. Few businesses were thinking about social media and the smartphone was just two years old. It s hard to know what kind of technological advances the next five years will bring, but new servers will help businesses prepare for new capabilities. New systems are more robust and provide maximum uptime for applications and data. For example, updating your infrastructure with the Lenovo ThinkServer server with Windows Server 2012 and the latest Intel Xeon processors can modernize and standardize your IT infrastructure and consolidate servers. Findings: Your operating system will no longer be supported by Microsoft after July Under the Microsoft support policy, your servers will no longer receive new updates, security patches, etc. after that date. Best practices: It is strongly recommended you prepare to migrate your current server operating system to Microsoft Windows Server Migrating will give you a secure environment that is supported by Microsoft. Then, because your current environment is based on technology that is more than 10 years old, migrating will give you the opportunity to enjoy major advances: the ability to be cloud-ready, greater business agility and the ability to adjust capacities as your business grows, greater uptime, the potential to implement backup and recovery solutions at the lowest cost, etc.. Findings Virtualization is not integrated into your infrastructure. This is a strong trend for all IT infrastructures. It is a technological solution you should investigate. Page 5

6 Best practices: Virtualizing some or the entire infrastructure presents many advantages. It lowers equipment purchase costs, simplifies server management, increases the flexibility of the infrastructure, and adapts IT resources to business needs. However, virtualization must use a high-performing environment. Installing the Microsoft Windows Server 2012 operating system is recommended to fully benefit from virtualization. Page 6