Branch network influences IP telephony management

10/07/08

One of the drivers encouraging companies to implement IP telephony throughout the organization is the ability to provide consistent communications features from any location.

Teleworking drives Web 2.0 applications

09/30/08

Though early adoption was primarily in the consumer space, Web 2.0 applications - including wikis, blogs, shared workspaces, and social computing - are infiltrating businesses, as well.

Green's effect on branch collaboration

09/23/08

We are bombarded lately with "green" everything. No longer does green simply describe the mixture of blue and yellow. And the Irish? Sorry, no longer do you have exclusive ownership of this hue. Now it describes everything from recycling to hybrid vehicles to energy-efficient IT organizations.

How rigid should you be at the branch?

09/16/08

Last week, I wrote about how companies are paying closer attention to the architecture, products, and decision-makers for branch office IT.

Branch decision-making: Then and now

09/09/08

One of the more refreshing changes to IT organizations is how they're addressing IT challenges at the branch. I have talked to many IT executives who have revamped how they make decisions about the technologies, products, and services that go into branch offices. As branch locations and virtual workers grow, IT staffs must take inventory of what is in the branches and how they will best deliver data, applications, and bandwidth out to the remote workforce.

Appliance-based option for remote troubleshooting

09/02/08

Troubleshooting IT problems among workers in branch offices is a challenge regardless of company size or IT sophistication. That's one reason companies are moving toward managed services to help offload IT staff responsibilities.

Location decision: Where to implement branch services

08/26/08

Flat IT budgets and lean IT staffs are making it challenging for organizations to effectively manage a growing number of branch locations. That's why about 60% of businesses rely upon third-party services to serve as an extension of the IT staff.

Social networking at the branch, the downside

08/19/08

Though there are benefits to bringing social networking sites, such as Facebook, Linked In, Myspace, and YouTube, to the workplace, there are disadvantages, too. And companies must weigh the two and develop an appropriate policy regarding the sites.

Social networking at the branch

08/12/08

Social networking sites, such as Facebook, Linked In, MySpace, and others, present numerous opportunities and oddities to employees - particularly those at branch offices.

Unified communications is catching on...but what is unified communications?

08/05/08

It hasn't taken long for "unified communications" to infiltrate corporate IT planning. Nemertes' latest research shows only 16% of companies are doing nothing with unified communications.

The trend is toward centralization

07/29/08

The movement toward centralizing applications continues to grow stronger. Nemertes' latest research shows 67.7% of companies store their applications centrally. Just one year ago, this figure was at 56%.

Automation of branch management picking up steam

07/22/08

As IT staffs discuss how to handle growing IT requirements often with flat IT budgets, one topic that always emerges is more efficient ways to manage the infrastructure.

Branch-in-a-box simplicity and security: 5 simple questions

07/15/08

Last week I wrote about the convenient confluence of consolidating multiple applications - the branch-in-a-box (BiaB) - and the emergence of virtualization as a consolidation platform. As discussed, there are real benefits to a BiaB, including: reduced cost, streamlined operations and reduced footprint (power, heat and rack space).

What's in your refrigeroven?

07/08/08

At Nemertes, our research shows that enterprise IT is very interested in consolidation of applications and devices into fewer boxes, especially for branch operations: the branch in a box (BiaB). Concurrently, virtualization has dramatically increased consolidation options. Consolidation done well has real benefits, including: reduced cost, streamlined operations and reduced footprint (power, heat and rack space). It's quite attractive - and seemingly straight-forward - to fire up your hypervisor, load up guest operating systems and run your IP PBX, e-mail server, file/print server and even your content management and Web servers all on one box.

Demand for unified communications not just from IT

07/01/08

As employees increasingly work virtually, collaborative applications and an overall unified communications strategy become more vital. Unified communications gives virtual workers a way to communicate effectively and productively.

Distributed workforce 'entitlements'

06/24/08

Last week, I spoke at a conference and during one of the breaks, I heard some incredibly interesting facts from an IT executive who is wrestling with the "younger generation" and the entitlements they believe they should have. I have been hearing similar concerns from other IT managers and leaders.

IT Action Plan: Teleworking does more than conserve gasoline

06/17/08

After raising the issue of teleworking to save on fuel consumption, I received some questions from IT managers wondering how to take the theoretical into the practical.

Gas prices and the virtual workplace

06/10/08

Gas prices have doubled in the past year, reaching a national average of $4 per gallon. Of course, this not only affects consumer spending on gasoline, but also on food and other goods whose prices also are rising because of delivery costs. IT has a responsibility here.

Flat IT budgets

06/03/08

Projections are in for the 2009 IT budget, and the outlook isn't so rosy: 44% of companies expect flat budgets, and only 28% project an increase. The remainder expects a decrease or is uncertain.

Faster app delivery to the branch

05/27/08

As IT staffs continue their focus on developing corporate standards their branch-office infrastructures, another option has emerged for the delivery and optimization of applications.

Opening Cisco: New platform consolidates branch functionality

05/20/08

One of the big discussions (and in some cases, arguments) in IT these days is how to architect the branch office. Should applications be stored centrally? Should they be located in the branch offices? Should some be central, and others be distributed (i.e., a hybrid environment)?

Branch functions: Centralized or distributed?

05/13/08

Building the right infrastructure to support a growing number of remote workers involves numerous decisions. Among them: Where to place products, functions, and applications.

Success with managed services

05/06/08

Signing on with a third party to manage a part of the IT infrastructure doesn't mean you've offloaded 100% of the work. You will reduce some workload from the task offloaded, but you will add different responsibilities for the internal team.

Managed services: What and why?

04/29/08

IT organizations are using a plethora of managed services to help them more effectively manage their remote workers.

The perfect storm

04/22/08

I'm seeing a perfect storm developing in the area of managed services, specifically to help IT and telecom staffs serve their branch offices and remote workers.

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Robin Gareiss is executive vice president and senior founding partner of Nemertes Research. Click  here for the newsletter archive.