Systems Management Re-Defined

Thursday, September 03, 2009

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When Tata announced the Nano, there were mixed sentiments about it. On one side, people were happy and proude that the world's cheapest and most fuel efficient car had been finally launched. On the other hand, there were also concerns that it would crowd the already cramped roads. How will the already overburdened roads infrastructure cope up with this? While we wait to see how the govt tackles this problem of road infrastructure management, I would like to highlight a similar problem brewing at the organizational level-that of systems management.
There's a sudden surge of new mobile devices in the market today-laptops, netbooks, smartphones, UMPCs, mobile phones, and many more are expected. As more of them enter your organization, will you be ready for them? If not, then the time to prepare for it is now. Let's begin.

The first thing that's required is a change in mindset and an acceptance of the fact that mobility will gradually increase in your organization. You will have more users accessing their emails from their mobile phones or smartphones. You will have devices coming in and going out of the office premise. You will need to deploy business applications on different types of mobile devices, all running on different platforms. So, instead of resisting or worrying about it, accept the fact and start planning for it. Prepare a conscious strategy towards managing these new end points. Start by identifying software that can manage different types of devices. Look for software that can detect the maximum types of devices.

Next, you need to worry about the data on those mobile devices. If a device gets stolen, then you're bound to loose critical data. In other countries, there are companies that not only give you insurance on mobile devices like laptops, but they also provide insurance cover for the data on them. So start looking for partners who can offer you similar services here. Next, you need to take conscious steps for protecting the data on mobile devices. Look for data loss prevention solutions, encryption solutions, etc to protect the data.

More devices are also bound to increase the applications install base in your organization. You will have more applications to install, update, and manage. Work out how much bandwidth do you need to do that. End user support comes next. Suppose your helpdesk gets a call from a smartphone user, saying that he's sitting in a hotel room, and can't access your office network from his phone. How will you support him? In case of PCs or laptops, you could easily install remote assistance software, which could be used to access and resolve the problem. What would you do in case of a smartphone?

Our cover story this time is focused around laptops, but unlike the past where we merely reviewed laptops and gave you advice on how to choose the right one, our story this time focuses on other burning issues around laptops-combating laptop theft, data theft prevention, and bandwidth on the move. All this, with advice from some key CIOs on what to look for in laptops. I hope you find it useful. Do write in to me if you have any feedback on the subject.

Anil Chopra
Editor anilc@cybermedia.co.in

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