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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION AND
OBJECTIVES…………………………………………………………………………
…...#
TOP BUSINESS PRIORITIES FOR
2010………………………………………………………………………….#
BUSINESS PRIORITY #1: BUSINESS PROCESS
IMPROVEMENT……………………………………..#
BUSINESS PRIORITY #2: REDUCING ENTERPRISE
COSTS………………………………………………#
BUSINESS PRIORITY #3: INCREASING THE USE OF
ANALYTICS……………………………………..#
BUSINESS PRIORITY #4: IMPROVING ENTERPRISE
WORKFORCE EFFECTIVENESS…………#
BUSINESS PRIORITY #5: ATTRACTING AND RETAINING
CUSTOMERS……………………………#
REMOTE MONITORING AND
MANAGEMENT……………………………………………………………….#
CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………….#
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INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES
According to Gartner, “CIOs are eying relatively flat IT budgets this
year.” Budgets are expected to rise on average a modest 1.3 percent
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and IT spending in 2010 will be on a par with 2005 levels . Similarly, the
United Nations has forecast a “fragile and uneven economic recovery in
2010 from the worst recession since World War II, with a global growth
2
rate of 2.4 percent.” That’s the good news.
1
Credit: Gartner, January 2010, based on a poll of 1,586 chief information officers.
2
Credit: United Nations annual economic forecast, a 176 page report released January
2010.
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IT DEPARTMENTS CAN The ideas and strategies presented
in this white paper are based on the
MOVE IN LOCKSTEP WITH
ongoing work by N-able
THE TOP BUSINESS Technologies with over 2,000
PRIORITY Managed Service Provider Partners
(MSPs) and IT departments
Automation is a key to worldwide. N-able is a recognized
business process leader in IT automation solutions
improvement and can with a proven ability to reduce IT
streamline or replace many costs, improve network performance
labour intensive, manual and increase productivity.
processes such as:
This white paper will be invaluable to
Updating patches any IT manager or director, providing
Resetting passwords services to a 100 to 1,000 seat SMB
Running defrags
or midsize enterprise, and who
Application deployments
wants practical strategies for cost
Performing asset
effectively improving their IT value.
management and updating
software on employees’
systems,
Endpoint security TOP BUSINESS PRIORITIES
Regulatory compliance
FOR 2010
An IT department can dramatically
improve its perceived value to the enterprise by directly supporting and
aligning its strategies with business priorities. According to Gartner, the
top five business priorities for 2010 appear in the first column of figure 1
below. These priorities translate into concrete business drivers if not a
battle cry for IT departments.
In our work with IT departments and MSPs around the world, N-able has
mapped specific IT strategies for addressing these business priorities
and delivering superior IT value to the mid-size businesses. These IT
strategies are summarized in the second column of figure 1.
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Source: Gartner EXP (January 2010). The left column shows the business priorities for
2010; the right column shows specific IT strategies proposed by N-able Technologies.
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Each IT strategy has specific challenges that will be briefly discussed in
this whitepaper.
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THE FINANCIAL BENEFITS OF BUSINESS PRIORITY #1:
AN AUTOMATION STRATEGY BUSINESS PROCESS
IMPROVEMENT
The following is a realistic,
hypothetical scenario that Motivated by a global marketplace,
dramatizes the financial increased commoditization of both
benefits of automation: products and services, and growing
regulatory compliance, businesses of
Cost of IT help desk all sizes have scrutinized their
resource: $60 per hour
business processes with the goal of
Conservative savings per
device from an automation
finding more efficient ways to do
solution: $10 to $20 per business. Redesigning, optimizing
device and automating business process
Size of SMB: 200 devices are central ideas for achieving new
Total enterprise savings efficiencies and realizing business
resulting from an goals.
automation platform in an
SMB with 200 devices: Business process improvement
$120,000 to $240,000 per through automation is also an area
year
where IT departments can move in
lockstep with this top business
While hypothetical these
conservative figures are
priority – if not lead by example. The
consistent with N-able’s key is to automate the right type of
experience with partners and routine tasks to realize new
enterprises. efficiencies, achieve a systematic
approach, and improve technician
Cost savings go hand-in-hand productivity. For example, an
with dramatic improvements in automation platform can replace
IT technician utilization and the many tedious manual in-house
ability to do more with less:
processes including:
An automation platform
easily boosts the number of Updating patches, resetting
devices that can be passwords, running defrags,
managed per technician application deployments, performing
from 125 (to 150) to 500+: asset management and updating
a 300% productivity software on employees’ systems,
improvement. endpoint security, and regulatory
compliance – with auditable logs –
and many other tasks.
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An automation platform enables IT departments to deliver superior IT
value by:
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Questions to ask
The key to a successful IT automation platform that realizes these
important benefits is one that integrates remote control, remote
monitoring, remote management (including desktop management),
and reporting into a single integrated tool set. However, before leaping
on the automation bandwagon, the enterprise should ask a number of
critical questions to objectively assess potential IT automation solutions
including:
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Over-licensing adds costs
Most software licenses incur maintenance or renewal fees – and as such
they have a long-term financial impact on the business. For example,
technical support and upgrades for software are typically charged to
SMBs as a percentage of the licensing fee. This can vary between 10 and
25 percent of license fees. Over time, these software expenses add-up
on the balance ledger. Despite these recurring costs, many companies
find they are over licensed – effectively they are paying for licenses to sit
idle or unused.
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THE PROBLEM WITH POINT Key business drivers for over
SOLUTIONS licensing
Typically over licensing happens for
Many corporate IT professionals two reasons. First, a reduction in
have tackled IT automation by headcount during an economic
securing a variety of individual contraction can quickly lead to over
midmarket tools for various licensing. Second, fear of license
tasks. This can lead to a compliance from major software
proliferation of individual “point vendors has driven many
solutions”.
organizations to err on the side of
Generally point solutions:
caution and overbuy software. In
both cases, management complexity
Add complexity to is further magnified when the
planning, managing, and enterprise has different releases and
governing the IT renewal dates of the same software
infrastructure or tool. The underlying problem, and
Cannot be integrated into a a major challenge for many IT
single flexible, easy to use departments, is the inability to
solution effectively track and manage
Do not give IT visibility on network assets deployed across the
all devices and applications
mid-size business.
Result in vendor “finger
pointing” when things go
wrong Asset management
The key to ensuring an organization
Consolidating around a single, is not over-purchasing software
integrated solution is a key IT licenses – and paying more than it
strategy for: should – is through an automatic
Reducing costs – and software based asset and license
realizing improved management tracking tool. In
efficiencies and superior
addition to avoiding costs from over
productivity
licensing, introducing an effective
Introducing centralized
accountability asset management strategy enables
Simplifying technological IT departments to provide superior
complexity, training and value to the enterprise through:
maintenance requirements
Improved corporate
transparency and governance
Reduced cost of support
Increased network security
Improved budget and upgrade planning
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In the same way that many businesses have a proliferation of unused
requirements software licenses, many also deploy a number of “point
solutions,” particularly antivirus, firewall, anti-spam, and spyware tools.
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Key requirements for an IT
CONSOLIDATING DRIVES consolidation strategy
STANDARDIZATION AND The desired requirements for an IT
SAVINGS solution that reduces costs by
consolidating point solutions – while
By consolidating and integrating saving time and simplifying
multiple point products into a
management complexity – include:
single, centrally controlled,
remote monitoring and
management platform, IT Centralized management and
departments can: monitoring – the ability to monitor
and manage all networks, devices
Standardize endpoint and users from one, integrated
security applications management console
deployment, configuration True platform approach –
and management across allowing IT to add solutions and
the entire enterprise
applications that are needed today
Train IT technicians on one
with the flexibility to grow in the
tool to realize important
new operational future
efficiencies
Significantly reduce the
time and cost of delivering BUSINESS PRIORITY #3:
high value IT services,
particularly in a distributed INCREASING THE USE OF
environment. ANALYTICS
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Security incident summary – a summary of all security-related
events detected
And many others
These and many other types of reports not only provide crucial data to
support decision making, they make it easier for IT to audit and track
assets that require hardware and software upgrades – and ultimately
they boost management confidence in the IT department.
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IT PERFORMANCE REPORTS C-Level Reporting
Tough economies put all senior
The ability to quickly gather and resources – the VP of Finance, VP of
report on vital business Human Resources, the CTO and
information is a critical part of others – under pressure to
an IT strategy for supporting demonstrate the ROI of their team
business priorities. or business unit to the enterprise’s
profitability. Increasingly, these
Strategic and technical reports
stakeholders need and expect their
enable IT to quickly demonstrate
IT infrastructure to give them
the performance of the IT
infrastructure and can also be customized reports on key areas of
used to maintain compliance the network that directly impact
with internal SLAs and their productivity, often using real-
regulatory requirements. time data.
More than anything, performance reports give IT visibility into the entire
infrastructure, enabling them to become true business managers rather
than technicians.
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Workforce effectiveness interventions cover a wide range of activities
that ultimately strive to improve employee engagement and
productivity. IT can play a significant and strategically important
supporting role in enhancing employee productivity by:
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Better service to remote and mobile
NUISANCE CALLS TAKE THE users
LION’S SHARE OF IT TIME This type of approach enables IT to
reduce or eliminate the time it
Up to 75 percent of IT’s time is spends “in the field” while speeding-
taken up attending to desktop up and improving service delivery.
related “nuisance” calls. Without remote access to device in
the field, IT is handicapped in its
Top nuisance problems reported
ability to implement corrective
by IT departments of SMBs and
midsize enterprises that N-able strategies to secure, safeguard,
works with around the globe troubleshoot and effect corrective
include: action.
This list barely scratches the surface of issues and complaints that keep
IT resources scrambling from dawn to dusk, if not working around the
clock in highly distributed environments with many satellite or branch
offices. A strong desktop management strategy will enable IT
departments to eliminate many of these problems, maximize technician
utilization rates while simultaneously improving workforce productivity
and IT as a service.
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Provide endpoint security with anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-malware,
personal firewall and host intrusion prevention – for desktops, and
other devices such as laptops and servers
Automate a number of desktop related activities including cache
clean-up and the distribution of software, upgrades, and patches
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BUSINESS PRIORITY #5:
“JUST DO IT”… ATTRACTING AND RETAINING
Many businesses have put
CUSTOMERS
critical purchases on hold
pending an economic New and current customers are the
turnaround. New devices, lifeblood of any business. Satisfying
software, and upgrades such as customer needs at a profit is the
Windows 7 are all part of a overriding goal of any SMB or
growing backlog of legitimate enterprise. While IT departments
and in some cases desperately typically do not interact directly with
needed purchases.
end customers, it plays a crucial role
When the economy does turn, IT by optimizing the enterprise
will be one of the first infrastructure for optimal
departments to feel the responsiveness, reliability, and
pressure – and the last to be service delivery.
offered additional budget or
new headcounts. Patience will Enterprise agility supports customer
be thin for delays when the acquisition
embargo is lifted and the In this way, IT department directly
business starts to grow. IT will
supports client acquisition and
be under the gun to “just do it.”
retention by ensuring highly secure,
By taking proactive steps now to always available, 24/7 Internet-
ensure an optimized, “always- speed business services for all
on” IT infrastructure, IT applications, desktops, servers,
departments can better equip switches, routers and printers. These
their resources to: are the indispensible tools and
services that the entire enterprise
Meet pent-up demand for counts on to be agile, efficient, and
IT related investments
ultimately highly competitive in all
Proactively support
client facing engagements.
anticipated SMB growth
with existing IT resources
Support customer Problems occur when IT department
acquisition and retention are forced into a reactive, “break-fix”
through enhanced mode of service delivery. When this
enterprise agility happens, technicians are deployed
unpredictably in a kneejerk reaction
to resolve unanticipated problems.
While it is hard to quantify
downtime, everyone will agree that it is expensive regardless of the size
of the business. At minimum, downtime means lost employee
productivity. In worst case scenarios, downtime translates directly into
reduced service levels to customers – and lost revenue from sales.
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Efficient management of distributed architectures
The ability to remotely support multiple office locations
Access to critical network devices
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In a 24/7 world, employees and
HOW IT DEPARTMENTS customers have virtually “zero
BENEFIT FROM A REMOTE tolerance” for device or application
MONITORING AND problems, service interruptions, or
MANAGEMENT PLATFORM system failures. By implementing an
IT strategy that ensures secure,
Reduce IT operational costs and highly available systems and
increase IT staff productivity
support, IT goes a long way to
Easily automate a host of
helping the enterprise attract and
manual tasks behind the
scenes, such as: retain customers – and thrive in an
o Run defrags, send patch ultra competitive economy.
updates, distribute
software, execute scripts
Desktop policy
management REMOTE MONITORING
Remote monitoring to deliver
AND MANAGEMENT
higher levels of proactive
service This whitepaper has introduced a
Become proactive with number of IT tactics and strategies
access to real-time, 24x7 for supporting top business priorities
network information and delivering optimal IT value to
Manage a distributed SMB and midsize enterprises.
architecture as if it were
local The total solution for efficiently
Detect and correct network delivering this value requires an
and system problems
integrated platform that gives the IT
before they lead to costly
downtime
manager complete visibility on all
Apply monitoring enterprise assets. The solution needs
automatically based on to give IT the ability to manage;
discovered asset report on, and control assets in a
information cohesive way that brings
transparency to the organization and
Improve transparency with superior utilization of all devices
tactical and business reporting across the infrastructure. All of these
Budgetary and capacity requirements can be directly
planning
supported by a Remote Monitoring
Legislative compliance and
and Management (RMM) platform.
warranty management
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Remote monitoring and
Reporting performance metrics.
Remote control
Technical issues need to be resolved as quickly and easily as possible to
ensure no downtime and lost services to end customers. With the right
software tool, IT can immediately take control of devices and servers to
troubleshoot and fix issues without disrupting employees. Having the
ability to access and control all devices on a distributed network goes
hand and glove with the ability to fix issues remotely. Remote control is
a key way to increase technician productivity, reduce internal IT service
costs, shorten resolution times, and ultimately, to keep employees
productive – and customers happy.
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A PROVEN PLATFORM
Moreover, IT can work proactively to
FOR DELIVERING
correct problems before they lead to
SUPERIOR IT VALUE costly downtime for users. The most
effective monitoring and
N-Central from N-able
Technologies provides IT management solutions use a
Departments with a powerful combination of both agents (used
platform that has been purpose primarily on mobile devices such as
built to meet the needs of laptops) and probes to provide a full
resource challenged IT view of the entire business network
Professionals who want to: in the most flexible and efficient
way.
Remotely monitor and
manage their network and
Reporting
all devices using a single,
easy to use console The ability to access, troubleshoot,
Reduce costs by driving fix, and manage problems remotely
superior operational is undeniably powerful. The ability to
efficiencies easily report details of IT
Automate manual tasks to intervention and resolution is the
improve technician final, critical component of an end-
utilization rates – and free to-end RMM platform for IT
up time to proactively focus automation. For example, IT will
on strategic IT initiatives want the ability to report on the
Auto-discover the
number and duration of downtime
complete network
infrastructure and remotely
incidents, the number of prevented
connect to end user devices incidents, and other key metrics to
instantly regardless of their help quantify the value of the IT
location organization.
Quickly demonstrate IT
value to enterprise users
In addition, the reporting function of
and C-level executives alike
an integrated RMM platform should
through over 40 pre-built,
enable IT to provide customized
easy-to-read performance
performance reports to senior
reports
managers. For example, can the CEO
log in and immediately see that the
CRM is up and running? What is the
status of email functionality? The
ability to report on these and other
questions through customized CXO level views of the network is critical
to delivering IT value.
CONCLUSION
IT departments can directly support all of the top five business priorities
highlighted in this paper through the use of a remote monitoring and
management (RMM) platform. Specifically:
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Priority #2: Reducing enterprise costs
Priority #3: Increasing the use of information/analytics
Priority #4: Improving enterprise workforce effectiveness
Priority #5: Attracting and retaining customers
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Includes Endpoint Security Manager
Request an N-Central has seamlessly integrated
Evaluation Copy enterprise-class endpoint security
into a leading edge remote control,
of N-Central 7.0… remote monitoring, remote
management and reporting
The latest release of our platform. IT can now monitor,
industry leading Remote manage and control all devices
Monitoring and Management through a single management
platform comes complete console. Extending N-Central’s
with advanced new features native multi-tenant capabilities to
that make it the easiest, least endpoint security makes managing
complicated and most employee devices in distributed
flexible platform for geographic locations dramatically
optimizing your entire IT simpler and more cost effective.
infrastructure and adding
superior IT value. Advanced new features include:
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About N-able Technologies
N-able Technologies is the global leader in remote monitoring and
management software for managed service providers and IT
departments. N-able’s award-winning N-central platform and
complementary toolsets, backed by best-in-class business and technical
services, are proven to reduce IT support costs, improve network
performance and increase productivity through the proactive
monitoring, management and optimization of IP-enabled devices and IT
infrastructure. N-able is 100% channel-friendly and maintains operations
in North America, the U.K., the Netherlands and Australia. Get N-central
with managed endpoint security free for one year.
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 N-able Technologies.
All rights reserved. This document contains information intended for the
exclusive use of N-able Technologies’ personnel, partners and potential
partners. The information herein is restricted in use and is strictly
confidential and subject to change without notice. No part of this document
may be altered, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written
permission of N-able Technologies.
Copyright protection includes, but is not limited to, program code, program
documentation, and material generated from the software product
displayed on the screen, such as graphics, icons, screen displays, screen
layouts, and buttons.
N-able Technologies, N-central and Monitor Manage Optimize are
trademarks or registered trademarks of N-able Technologies International
Inc., licensed for use by N-able Technologies, Inc. All other names and
trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
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