Infrastructure Modernization for Future Efficiency

So what exactly is Infrastructure Modernization?

‍“Infrastructure Modernization” is fast becoming the new buzz-term in business IT, but since it was coined there’s been some questions as to what it really means, why it’s becoming increasingly important, and what can be done to address the challenges it raises.

The first question is the easiest to address. The term Infrastructure Modernization rose from the expensive struggle businesses face maintaining, upgrading and scaling their digital content infrastructure requirements. This infrastructure refers to data center hardware, including all the storage servers, network devices, operating systems and middleware that allow companies to store, protect and access content. It’s usually complex, expensive to manage, a hassle to manage and update, hard to expand, and, in many cases, needs modernizing.

‍Why is it so important now?

‍As ever in the digital world, the times are always changing. However, the rise in mobile devices, collaboration apps, data regulations, and ever-increasing data breaches has caused times to change a little too quickly for many businesses –– especially when it comes to scaling their business and controlling content.

Most of today’s organizations rely on a legacy of expensive, cumbersome infrastructure to hold their content needs together. Not only that, but the sheer amount of digital content that needs to be stored, shared and protected is growing exponentially.

Executives around the world are being forced to rethink their vision for content management before they begin losing sensitive data, or the cost of scaling hardware becomes too much to bear. To maximize efficiencies and take full advantage of the latest cloud technologies, they’ll need an effective, scalable and rock-solid roadmap to modernize their IT environments.

‍The typical pain points.

‍Many companies have a content infrastructure designed specifically to work with their business. Just ripping and replacing hardware systems is not only costly, but it may not serve their unique requirements.

The administration of file servers, back-up, and archive solutions, will continue to need expensive maintenance and upgrades; and the struggle of building disaster recovery options with a complex infrastructure will only become more difficult. The goal would be to somehow reduce hardware and software updates, minimize maintenance costs, but without limiting productivity. No easy feat.

Then there’s keeping the company collaborating smoothly. Managing the impact of large files on network performance at the server site, or plowing through helpdesk calls when employees try to configure their VPN, all slow productivity to a crawl. And each system often requires a different administrative interface, making management a long hard slog.

Increasingly on the mind of every CISO is security and compliance. It’s difficult today to know if end users are all following security best practices, any one of whom could put the company in violation of industry or global data regulations. Additionally, the struggle to meet the needs of the modern end user has caused a sharp rise in shadow IT, leaving many companies struggling to maintain control.

Talking of end users, an inefficient content infrastructure can cause serious productivity issues, which is a problem for the whole business. Accessing content remotely on a laptop with spotty wifi is not ideal, but it’s often inevitable and always a struggle. Users relying on VPN access can often find it cumbersome, and with multiple teams using different, unconnected platforms, any productivity gains will feel like pushing a snowball up a hill.

‍A clear roadmap for future efficiency.

‍When it comes to modernizing content infrastructure, some companies simply choose to replace their entire framework with a secure cloud-based system. But as we know, for many businesses that’s not always a practical choice.

It’s why we decided to build Egnyte as a complete hybrid platform, designed to modernize all infrastructures while preserving past hardware investments. Egnyte works from the core of any current infrastructure to streamline it from the inside out. Old hardware investments are maintained, software is reduced and, all content requirements are optimized. We like to think of it as a simple SaaS solution for robust future efficiency.

To find out more, visit egnyte.com