Arraya Insights

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Dell Technologies World 2018 took place in Las Vegas earlier this month and Arraya was there to take in the sights and sounds. Our team returned to Arraya HQ with plenty of insights regarding what’s here and what’s coming next from the Dell Technologies family, including our strategic partners Dell EMC and VMware.

Here’s a recap of the biggest data center stories they encountered during their stay in the desert – and what they could mean for you.

Introducing the latest PowerEdge Servers

Dell Technologies pulled the tarp off a pair of new additions to its PowerEdge server line – the R840 and the R940xa. There’s plenty of alphabet soup to explain the possible impact of these servers. Example: R940xa promises a 1:1 CPU to GPU ratio while the R840 can support up to 24 direct-attach NVMe drives.

More simply, the R940xa and the R840 are each meant for a specific use case. The R940xa can handle graphics and compute-heavy workloads, enabling real time, GPU-related decision-making. Meanwhile, the R840 supports faster, more capable analytics and machine-learning workloads. If either of those scenarios sounds like your data center, these servers could make sense for you.

The R940xa and the R840 both hit the market on May 22.

Enhancing the onramp to SDDC

Much of the Dell Technologies World news fits the bill of “revolutionary.” Others are more “evolutionary.” The changes announced to VxRail and VxRack fit into that latter category but are no less meaningful because of it. By making these adjustments to its line of hyperconverged infrastructure solutions, Dell EMC is providing customers a robust and modern architecture around which to construct their software-defined data center (SDDC).

Perhaps the most noteworthy element of the latest VxRack is its support of the 14th generation of Dell EMC PowerEdge servers. This type of compatibility has existed for some time for organizations looking to build and maintain their own data center environment by way of vSphere or VSAN ReadyNodes. However, this marks the first time that this server family will be available through VxRack configurations. Co-developed with VMware, these technologies mark a fast, reliable route for those who want to create a multi-cloud or SDDC environment.

VxRack SDDC also includes the following developments:

  • Enhanced configurations with the availability of 14th Generation PowerEdge Servers
  • VDI enhancements via support for NVIDIA GPUs
  • IT-as-a-Service (IaaS) capabilities leveraging the latest VMware Cloud Foundation release

Meanwhile, VxRail nodes, leveraging Dell’s 14G PowerEdge Servers, now include support for the following:

  • NVMe cache devices – think higher performance and lower latency than SAS cache devices
  • Increased memory – up to 3 TB per node
  • NVIDIA Tesla P40 GPUs – 2x performance and 50% increased user support for high-end end0user compute use cases

The latest versions of Dell EMC VxRail and VxRack appliances are available now.

Redefining and renaming VMAX

VMAX, Dell EMC’s enterprise-grade, all-flash storage system, has undergone quite the transformation of late, including leaving Dell Technologies World with a new name: PowerMax. Dell EMC has redesigned PowerMax to make it the fastest storage solution on the market. PowerMax’s blazing speed stems from its ability for total NVMe device support end-to-end. Architected with full NVMe support leveraging NVMe-over-Fabrics, PowerMax can realize end-to-end NVMe support within a data center. This should prove appealing to enterprises continuing to leverage external storage arrays that need very-high performance and very-low latency levels.

Additionally, PowerMax can support organizations transitioning into more cutting edge, and workload-intensive, disciplines. This includes real-time analytics, IoT, and artificial intelligence. Another buzzy technology with ties to PowerMax is machine learning. The system uses years of data on VMAX performance and lifespans and internal data to boost efficiency and health.

Organizations who see themselves benefitting from this reboot won’t have to wait long. PowerMax arrays are ready to begin shipping ASAP.

Bringing XtremIO to a whole new world

While the latest XtremIO, X2, has been available for almost a year, significant news broke at Dell Technologies World. The newest version of X2 will support native replication with other X2 arrays. Previous generations of XtremIO leveraged RecoverPoint technology to perform data replication. However, the trend both internally at Dell EMC and among its competitors has been to deliver these capabilities natively. Dell EMC’s own Unity and PowerMax offerings sport this ability, and now the X2 does the same. For customers whose use cases align with what the X2 offers, native replication means one less technology to buy and manage. Reducing environmental complexities and spend are universally appealing upsides.

Furthermore, the entire XtremIO family to date has fallen into the category of enterprise grade storage. That could be starting to change after Dell Technologies World. During the event, it was announced that Dell EMC would offer a new X2 model with the same feature set at a much lower price point, giving an enterprise-grade solution a midmarket budgetary entry point. This can allow growth-focused organizations to invest in a proven storage solution ready to mature alongside their data center.

Next steps: Learn more about the news from Dell Technologies World 2018

Want to learn more about these or any of the other announcements made at this year’s Dell Technologies World? Visit: https://www.arrayasolutions.com//contact-us/. Our experts can help your team determine how these solutions fit into the present – and future – of your data center.

As always, leave us a comment on this or any of our blogs by checking us out on social media. We can be found on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Let us know what you think of this post and follow us to stay updated on our industry insights and exclusive IT learning opportunities.

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GDPR takes effect on May 25, 2018.  Fines for non-compliance can go as high as 4% of annual global turnover or $20M, whichever is higher.  The two-year transition period started on April 14,  2016, but like most regulations, it’s been easy to push off until later … well later is now.  With just under two weeks to go, it will be difficult to comply with everything if you’re only just beginning the process.  If you are playing catch up, below are 5 steps you can take to get on the right track.

Define Your Responsibility

First and foremost, consult your legal department. While online articles are helpful, your corporate counsel is the place to turn for an official take on GDPR.  Remember, just because you’re located in the U.S., it doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. For starters, if you are headquartered in the U.S., but you have offices or employees in Europe, you are probably affected. If you’re processing any personal data for any citizen of the E.U., you’re affected.  If neither one of these applies to you, consider the companies you partner with. Are they affected? If so, they’re probably going to want you to comply with the law as well.

So what qualifies as personal data? According to Article 4, “‘personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.” Examples given include name, ID numbers, location data, and online identifiers. It’s a pretty broad spectrum. So, if you’re storing an EU citizen’s contact information in your Outlook contact list, protecting that information is probably in scope (check with your lawyer first, however). Plus, you’ll have to consider where else any of this data may reside.

Assign a Data Protection Officer

Article 37 requires controllers and processors to designate a data protection officer. Duties for this role include reporting incidents and overseeing compliance with the law. Their contact details need to be readily accessible though, so it’s important to make sure you choose the right person. Any issues that relate to protecting personal data need to include the data protection officer. So, appoint this person early and do so in writing. That way, everyone knows who has this responsibility. Failure to appoint a data protection officer shows auditors you probably haven’t done much to comply with the rest of the law.

Formalize How You Handle Personal Data

GDPR is all about empowering the individual to know and have control over the way their personal information is stored by others. This means you are required to get consent before collecting someone’s information. If an individual requests to know what information you’re storing on them, it’s your responsibility to tell them and (potentially) provide them with that data in a readable format. You also have to be able to destroy (and prove that you destroyed) any personal data as requested by an individual. This is probably easy within your major applications, but what about all the other places that data could be? Think about your backups, your file shares, email … all of that is in scope. If you don’t have full control over your data, now is the time to start that process.

Have an Incident Response Plan

The law states that individuals must be notified within 72 hours of when a business becomes aware that data was disclosed to unauthorized individuals. This means you must have a way to detect if data is breached and a process that you can ramp up quickly to notify all those impacted. Incident response is complicated, but auditors will look at that capability in the event of a complaint against your organization.

Expect Laws to Get Even Tighter

If you’ve avoided cyber security laws in the past (including GDPR), don’t get too comfortable. These laws are only going to get more complex and burdensome. GDPR is a European law, but I have no doubt that, if U.S. lawmakers can increase revenue through laws and oversight, they will do so. If nothing else, GDPR has given them a perfect starting point.

Want to carry on the conversation about how to prepare for whatever attackers – and regulators – have in store? Reach out to us today by heading to: https://www.arrayasolutions.com//contact-us/. From there, we can start a dialogue about your existing cyber security posture and how you want it to evolve.

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Recently, I participated in a leadership session where we reviewed Arraya’s Vision, Mission, Core Values, and Unique Value Proposition (UVP). It’s good to reflect on these occasionally and make sure we are living and working by those statements. While I found the conversations worthwhile, the conversation about UVP in particular struck a chord with me.

As a prompt, thinking about what sets Arraya apart from the rest of a very crowded IT field generated plenty of interesting points and counterpoints. Some members of the team felt Arraya was best defined by our innate ability to set customers’ minds at ease. Others, that our blend of boutique service and enterprise-sized skill is what makes us … us! I see truth in each of those statements; however, as we talked, I kept thinking about the one thing that is the differentiator to me. I believe Arraya’s unique value proposition, our biggest differentiator, is our people.

Relationships are critically important to everything we do in business, whether it’s a relationship with a teammate or a customer. Even in this age of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality, for businesses, it is still about human interaction. It’s about the sales team’s interaction with customers. It’s about the collaboration internally between sales, pre-sales engineering, inside sales, project management, the delivery team, and finance. So many of our customers have no idea of the immense behind-the-scenes effort that goes into every engagement and deal. And those folks here in Plymouth Meeting never complain – they just keep producing; producing for the sales team and producing for you, our customers.

Knowing how important it is to have the right people, I couldn’t be happier that Arraya has chosen to regularly reward our best of the best, or, as we call them, our Arraya Superheroes. Once a quarter, we shine a spotlight on an employee who has gone above and beyond for our customers. Typically, their picture goes up on a plaque in the lobby, they get their story immortalized in our quarterly company newsletter, and they receive a gift card as a small token of our appreciation for what they do. However, I thought I’d take it a step further and give a shout out to our most recent crop of Arraya Superheroes.

Check out our Arraya Superheroes

First up is Bill De Sandro, a Senior Solutions Engineer on our Cloud and Workspace team. Bill earned his cape during the first quarter of 2017 by taking on some of Arraya’s most challenging projects with boundless enthusiasm. During the second quarter, we honored Gary Place, a workhorse Project Manager who brings engagements across the finish line on time and on budget and has embraced being the face of Arraya for our customers. The third quarter saw Kelsey LeBlanc, our Marketing and Events Coordinator, rise to the rank of Superhero for serving as the point person at our biggest and most complex event, the Tech Summit, and so many other events that occur throughout the year. We capped off 2017 by honoring Charles Coulter who, while serving as a Senior Systems Administrator on our Managed Services team, has become a real leader – one who never backs down from a project. Lastly, our first Superhero of 2018 was Dave Brill, one of our Enterprise Architects and someone whose super power is managing a packed calendar without letting our customers down.

Probably the hardest part of picking our Superheroes is only picking one a quarter. I can’t even guess how many times I’ve met with a customer and had a discussion temporarily derailed while they praised one of our engineers or a member of my sales team or someone else from the company. I have to admit, I love those tangents. All they do is strengthen my belief that Arraya’s team is one of the strongest I’ve worked with and that the people on it are what truly set this company apart.

I’ll wrap-up my blog with one final thought. I’ve been here for a little more than one year and that year has absolutely flown by! I’m often asked by people, “What is it about Arraya that has you so excited? What is happening that the marketplace is seeing a new sense of energy and excitement at Arraya?” In one word: empowerment. The ownership and leadership team empowers us all to deliver “superhero” service, to each other, and to you!

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Digital transformation has had an impact on all facets of modern businesses and end user computing (EUC) is no exception. In recent years, end users have begun to rethink their work tools and what constitutes a workspace. They’ve called for greater flexibility and the responsibility for delivering that has fallen on IT. Should IT come up short in its attempts to harness digital transformation, it can send users in search of their own solutions, opening the door to dangerous Shadow IT practices. In either case, digital transformation serves as a catalyst for change, although in the latter case, it’s certainly not the kind of change sought by the business.

IT teams must rethink their approach to managing EUC if they hope to see a positive return from digital transformation. How? First, let’s rundown the five demands we hear most often from the business side regarding EUC. Then, we’ll review what to do in order to make those demands a reality.

How the business wants EUC to transform

Demand #1: “I want a consistent technology experience.”
Employees have grown accustomed to the way in which technology fits into their lives outside of work. They know what technologies they like and which ones they don’t. If there’s an application that can make their lives easier, they simply go out and get it. End users want a similar experience during their 9-5(ish). They want an experience that is flexible and that is tailored to their needs as workers.

Demand #2: “I want the world to be my cubicle.”
Well, not exactly that, but close. Employees are eager to be freed from the traditional confines of the working world. They don’t want a desk and a PC to be a prerequisite to crossing off items from their to-do lists. Instead, employees want to work across devices, some company-owned and others carried over from their personal lives. Then, they want the freedom to use those devices in the office, on the go, and at home.

Demand #3: “I want to solve my own problems … if I can.”
The average end user is not going to be able to get a downed server back up and running. However, a smaller task, such as recovering a forgotten password, is probably in their wheelhouse. Employees want to take charge of an issue and find a solution without having to go through the process of reaching out to the help desk, filling out a ticket, etc. In truth, most help desks would probably be happy to shed these tasks, too.

Demand #4: “I want my device (and data) to be secure!”
End users want freedom in terms of the devices they use and the locations from which they work. With more freedom, comes more risk, particularly since many attackers view users as the weak link in organizational security postures. Users want to exercise their newfound freedoms safely, without risking their data or that of organization.

Demand #5: “I want the latest and greatest … but I’m on a budget.”
Users are drawn like magnets to the newest version of something. They see the features list and then dream about all of the ways they could use them. Upgrades, however, are also expensive. Few organizations can afford to keep team members permanently on the latest and greatest devices, even if those devices promise increases to efficiency and security.

Next steps: Delivering on End User Computing demands

Now that we’ve established what the business side wants from an end user computing strategy, the question remains: How can IT deliver? One option available is Arraya Solutions’ Technology as a Service (TaaS) offering. TaaS connects organizations with the user endpoints they need, covered under a fully supported and partially customizable, monthly agreement. The latest tablets, laptops, etc. arrive ready to use, loaded with the tools employees need to get to work. By transitioning the hardware refresh cycle into an operational expense, businesses can give users access to the most capable and secure technologies without the typical costs of upgrades. Furthermore, by combining TaaS with Arraya’s Managed Services, businesses can ensure devices stay updated with the latest patches and upgrades.

Want to learn more about TaaS or how digital transformation has changed the face of end user computing? Visit us at: https://www.arrayasolutions.com//solution/workspace or email mssales@arrayasolutions.com. Feel free to leave us a comment on this or any of our blogs using social media. Arraya can be found on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Once you’ve let us know what you think, follow us to stay updated on our industry insights and learning opportunities.

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Recently, IT partners descended upon Atlanta, GA for VMware EMPOWER – four days of hands-on training and accreditation opportunities all revolving around the company’s cloud, virtualization, and workspace solutions. Perhaps the event’s most newsworthy moment involved the immediate release of vSphere 6.7, the latest incarnation of VMware’s flagship server virtualization software. Several members of the Arraya Solutions team were onsite at EMPOWER to witness the announcement firsthand and they were eager to report the most need-to-know details back to us.

Here are five things we learned about vSphere 6.7 at EMPOWER – and what those lessons mean for organizations interested in modernizing their virtualization platforms.

  • It’s not possible to go straight from 5.5 to 6.7. The clock continues to tick down to vSphere 5.5’s end of support date, September 19. Once time runs out, admins will have to carry on without patches, seamless solution integration, and more. The risks and headaches of staying put are likely to inspire many organizations to look toward modernizing, but they won’t be able to go directly to vSphere 6.7. Instead, they will need to take a stepping stone approach to their vSphere upgrade, first moving up to either 6.0 or 6.5 and then to 6.7. Timeframes – and budgets – will require adjustments.
  • Out of box compatibility is not guaranteed. Some existing pieces of a business’ technology environment may not play well with vSphere 6.7 right away, while others may never get to that point. For example, components such as NSX and Horizon won’t be compatible with 6.7 upon its release. Instead, that functionality may take another quarter to come to fruition as VMware updates those solutions. Other compatibility issues may arise due to legacy components still in the environment, e.g., vCenter 6.7 is unable to manage ESXi hosts older than 6.0, necessitating further upgrades.
  • Changes abound for vCenter Single Sign On. vCenter’s Single Sign On (SSO) capabilities have undergone quite the transition from vSphere 6.5 to 6.7. To start, admins using 6.7 will be able to change vCenter’s SSO domain, enabling them to join systems in linked mode without having to redeploy either of them. Furthermore, 6.7 axed SSO site boundaries, removing a feature that never seemed to deliver on its intended value prop. Finally, it’s now possible for multiple vCenter versions to exist on the same SSO domain, adding a newfound level of flexibility to the equation.
  • Host management is easier and more intelligent than ever. Organizations who make the move to vSphere 6.7 will see a number of changes to the host management process. For one, updating or patching hosts will require far less downtime thanks to 6.7’s Quick Boot feature. Quick Boot only reboots the hypervisor following updates or patches, leaving the associated hardware up and running. This significantly reduces the amount of time IT must invest in keeping hosts secure and up to date. Additionally, VSAN host pinning and iSCSI target failover are both now supported.
  • Get ready to say goodbye to Flash for good. VMware has offered an HTML5-based client alternative to its legacy Flash client since the 6.5 release, however, 6.7 marks the official end of the line for Flash. The HTML5 client will be the only game in town moving forward, offering a more user-friendly experience that includes seamless encryption of virtual machines, intuitive policy creation and alterations, and 95% feature parity with its predecessor. This should make the process of provisioning, managing, and securing VMs much more intuitive compared with previous vSphere iterations.

Next Steps: Find the ideal virtualization platform for your business

This is just a quick fly-by of vSphere 6.7. There are plenty of other new features and capabilities under the hood. Interested in learning more about vSphere 6.7? Looking to move off 5.5 before it hits end of support later this year and unsure of what the ideal landing spot is for your organization? Arraya’s Data Center team can help. Our experts can guide your business through a vSphere Optimization Assessment to ensure you’re getting the most out of your existing deployments and, if necessary, help you determine what your next steps should be.

If you’d like to schedule a free assessment, or simply open up a line of communication with our team, visit us at: http://go.arrayasolutions.com/vsphere-upgrade. As always, feel free to leave us a comment on this or any of our blogs by checking us out on social media. We can be found on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Make sure to let us know what you think of this post and follow us so you can stay updated on all of our industry insights and exclusive IT learning opportunities.

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Arraya Insights Radio

Episode 7: Rise of the Machines? Business Process Automation Myths & Realities

Business Process Automation: Is it the real life first chapter of an epic sci-fi story pitting humanity against machines or is it a looming disruptor, a rising trend coming to make businesses smarter, more efficient, and even more secure? On this month’s episode, the Arraya Insights Radio crew goes toe-to-toe with the hype surrounding BPA and its various offshoots, taking a strategic look at what these solutions are, what they can do, and who stands to benefit most.

Host: Thomas York (Director, Quality and Operational Excellence)

Guest: Ed Briggs (Practice Director, Managed and Application Services)

Further Reading:

Theme Music: “I Don’t Remember (Yesterday)” by Hygh Risque

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One of the great truths in cyber security, just like in life, is that there’s nothing wrong with expecting the best – as long as you make sure to prepare for the worst. Recent research by The Ponemon Institute, however, suggests far too many businesses are expecting the best cyber security-wise and simply leaving it at that. In a report entitled The Third Annual Study on the Cyber Resilient Organization, The Ponemon Institute found 48% of participants feel confident that their “cyber resilience” is high or very high. Just how resilient they actually are is called into question elsewhere in the study, as more than three-quarters (77%) of participants admitted to lacking a formal incident response plan, indicating many may not be as resilient as they believe.

“No company wants to be on the news due to a breach, but the reality of the situation is, if you’re using technology, you’re going to be attacked at some point,” wrote Tom Clerici, Arraya’s Cyber Security guru, in a blog from early last year. “Unfortunately, too many organizations wait until after an incident occurs before developing an incident response plan and by then it’s too late,” he added before listing four strategies businesses should consider when building out such a plan.

One year on, the strategies contained in Tom’s initial blog remain valuable. Yet, considering the Ponemon Institute’s study, it seems as though many are still struggling to lock down what they need to do to prepare for – and respond to – cyber security incidents. With that in mind, here are four more incident response strategies businesses can implement to ensure they are ready for anything:

  1. Establish who owns the plan – Businesses must designate a chain of command to supervise the response effort. This should include an Incident Response Manager tasked with handling the more technical, nuts and bolts workloads. Additionally, an executive sponsor should be selected to oversee operations from the highest level. This will leave no doubt about the seriousness of organizational response efforts.
  2. Design a public relations campaign – Innocent bystanders, be they customers or employees, are likely going to have some sort of personal or professional stake in incidents and will need to know what took place. Businesses must decide when to loop in their marketing or public relations teams, who to involve from those teams, and the timing and content of announcements. Ideally, a business will be the one determining the narrative around an incident, but delays or muddled messaging are tantamount to ceding that privilege.
  3. Ensure the tech toolbox is up to snuff – Knowledge is power in today’s cyber security landscape and, as such, response team personnel should immediately be alerted to suspicious activity on the network. If activity does prove malicious, they should also be able to determine what attackers have been able to access in order to guide remediation. If an organization’s security solutions aren’t working closely together to provide personnel with this information, it may be time to consider other options.
  4. Define a desired end state and the path to reach it – Once a problem has been properly triaged, security personnel should know what goals they’re working toward, both in the long and the short term. The temptation may be to dive in and try to fix everything all at once. It’s admirable, but it’s also a surefire way to work very hard to stand perfectly still. Instead, team members should have a clear understanding of what the road to recovery looks like, complete with mile markers.

Next steps: Build or boost your incident response plan

Want a chance to hear executive-level insights into the right (and wrong) ways to respond to a cyber security incident? Join Arraya Solutions at Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse in King of Prussia, PA on April 24 for Bourbon & Duct Tape: How NOT to Handle Security Incident Response. This event will leverage the real world experience of Sean Mason, Director of Cisco’s Incident Response team, and Tom Clerici, Arraya’s Cyber Security Practice Director, to illustrate proper tactics as well as the consequences of failure. Register now by visiting: arraya.rocks/events.

If you’d like to get the conversation started with the Arraya team prior to the event, we can be reached at: https://www.arrayasolutions.com//contact-us/. Or, you can strike up a conversation with us on social media. Arraya can be found on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Be sure to follow us so you’ll stay updated on all of our latest industry insights, unique educational opportunities, and more.

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The worst way to find out about a cyber security problem is from somebody outside of your organization. We’re paraphrasing the words of Tom Clerici, Director of our Cyber Security Practice, who wrote something similar in a blog from early last year in which he stressed both the increasing inevitability of cyber attacks and the need for businesses to stay out in front of their attackers. Even though Yahoo was the breach du jour when that blog was posted, current events indicate many companies are still failing to properly gain, and act on, insights into what’s taking place on their networks and inside their data centers.

Case in point: Panera Bread. Panera is the latest company to have its name and logo splashed across headlines and cable news graphics for all the wrong reasons. Last year, a security researcher uncovered a major vulnerability with the company’s website – one that left an assortment of customer data – including names, saved addresses, and the last four digits of stored credit cards – plainly exposed. When confronted with evidence of the flaw, Panera did not exactly leap into action. After initially writing the researcher off as a scammer in disguise, the company eventually came around to the idea that something needed to be done. However, the vulnerability allegedly wasn’t corrected until, roughly eight months later, after the media got wind of the situation. Then, Panera pulled down its site, claimed the issue was fixed, realized it wasn’t and pulled it down again. The company’s site is back up, but discrepancies remain as to the scale of the initial issue. Panera claims only about 10,000 customer records were affected. The number being bandied about elsewhere is much higher: 37 million.

If there was a textbook example of how not to handle even a suspected cyber security problem, the Panera story may be it. The company had to rely on someone else to find the problem, it appeared slow to act, and there have been doubts about its ability to grasp the full scope of the situation. At least from the outside, Panera’s incident response plan seems to have left a lot to be desired. However, the company’s branding as something of a cyber security pariah may not be entirely justified. At least not when the overwhelming number of organizations who have found themselves in similar positions is taken into consideration.

Next Steps: Expect the best, be ready for the worst

Want to ensure your business is ready to swiftly and soundly respond to whatever cyber criminals have to offer? Join us at Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse in King of Prussia, PA on April 24 for Bourbon & Duct Tape: How NOT to Handle Security Incident Response. This multi-session event will provide executive-level, field-tested strategies on how to prepare for incidents and how to respond when one occurs. Leading the conversation will be two people with plenty of real world insight into what works and what doesn’t in cyber security: Sean Mason, Director of Cisco’s Incident Response Team and Tom Clerici, Arraya’s Cyber Security Practice Director.

Register for Bourbon & Duct Tape: How NOT to Handle Security Incident Response now by visiting: arraya.rocks/events. If you’d like to get a dialogue started with Arraya sooner, we can always be reached at: https://www.arrayasolutions.com//contact-us/. And, as always, feel free to leave us a comment on this or any of our blogs using social media. Arraya can be found on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. While you’re there, follow us so you can stay updated on all of our latest industry insights, unique educational opportunities, and more.

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Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) is a favorite topic in technology journals and blogs, but is the hype justified? Without consistent, measurable outcomes, plenty of buzzy solutions have struggled to make the transition from “wave of the future” to industry standard. However, IPA, a solution that stands at the intersection of automation and artificial intelligence, isn’t lacking in its ability to generate positive business results.

Based on the firsthand experience of Arraya’s IPA team, organizations leveraging this technology could realize anywhere from a 60-70% return on top of their initial investments. Furthermore, not only do IPA projects tend to pay off, they typically do so rapidly, breaking even in less than a year. With results like those, it’s easier to understand all of the buzz.

Where does that 60-70% ROI figure come from? Let’s take a look at how exactly IPA is able to create such immediate and meaningful outcomes for adopters.

  • Increased technological flexibility – IPA doesn’t require a massive upfront investment. Instead, it can begin with a lone automated process – or “digital worker” – and expand as needed. These digitized processes can operate alongside physical resources or assume full responsibility for a task, freeing employees to take on other, higher-value projects. Greater flexibility can also come into play should a new opportunity present itself in the form of, say, a new project or client. Rather than engaging in a drawn-out hiring and onboarding process, IPA allows new digital workers to be spun up quickly to account for increased workloads. Then, when they’re no longer needed, those digital workers can be easily spun down.
  • Greater workforce efficiency – Supplementing physical IT resources with digital workers can go a long way toward increasing operational and budgetary efficiency. Unlike their flesh-and-blood counterparts, digital workers operate 24/7. They simply, relentlessly plug away at the process or task they have been configured to execute – until they are directed to do otherwise. Plus, no matter how repetitive or tedious a task may be, there’s never a risk of digital workers being lulled into mistakes, eliminating costly rework.
  • Elevated data security – Data breaches are a real – and expensive – reality for all businesses. By incorporating digital workers, organizations can strengthen their overall security posture in a number of ways. The reach of digital resources can be greatly restricted, limiting the damage attackers can inflict should they compromise one. Also, digital workers log their every move, giving IT an easy way to diagnose and remediate issues. Finally, digital workers don’t commit the painful errors that can undo even the most thorough security efforts, e.g., taking work onto unsecured networks, falling victim to phishing attempts, etc.
  • Improved support for legacy tools – Regardless of whether the notion of “legacy” is measured in months or decades, the importance of some aging solutions remains undeniable. However, supporting those tools, and ensuring they can communicate consistently with their fresh-faced data center neighbors, can prove tough on IT and tougher on organizational budgets. IPA allows integration between existing applications through the front end, without the need for any custom coding, software, or configuration changes to current tools – each of which requires expensive, increasingly specialized, skillsets.

Next Steps: Where to start with Intelligent Process Automation

Want to learn more about how Intelligent Process Automation can transform your operation and business strategies? Arraya Solutions can help. The Arraya Intelligent Process Automation service can provide the knowledge and the hands-on ability necessary to automate the manual, everyday processes that consume far too much of your IT team’s time – and your business’ budget. To discuss the range of automation services we can provide – as well as how we ensure the long-term effectiveness of the tools we deliver – visit us today at: https://www.arrayasolutions.com//contact-us/.

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While certainly worthwhile, the journey to Windows 10 can be daunting. We touched on this topic in a blog post we ran last year, entitled “Don’t have 6-9 months to prep for Windows 10? Don’t worry.” In the post, we cited a recommendation from research firm Gartner that businesses should invest anywhere from, as the title indicates, 6-9 months in order to properly prepare for a move to Windows 10.  That’s a sizeable chunk of time to spend on planning alone. As it turns out, Gartner’s fellow research giant Forrester has its own data on how long it could take to complete the move to Windows 10. Unfortunately for IT pros, the timeframe is no less intimidating.

In its research paper entitled “The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Windows 10,” Forrester sought to quantify the experiences of organizations who’ve upgraded to the latest Windows OS. According to Forrester, businesses can expect to devote anywhere from 1-2 years on the move. Obviously, this total is dependent on plenty of factors, including size, environmental complexity, and so on. However, it does give IT teams an idea of what their own migration could look like.

The keyword there really is “could.” There is a way to potentially cut projections such as those from Gartner and Forrester in half – or more – and start realizing the benefit of Windows 10 without the deployment headaches.

Realize Windows 10 ROI in roughly half the time

By working with an IT partner like Arraya Solutions, businesses can see their anticipated rollout time drop all the way down to just 3-6 months. What’s driving that level of savings? Let’s take a look at some of the ways in which working with a partner to deploy Windows 10 has the edge over attempting to fly solo.

  • Firsthand experience – Partners such as Arraya have taken part in countless Windows 10 rollouts, across all sorts of industries. They’ve seen for themselves where the pitfalls lie and they know what to do to avoid them. That experience doesn’t just make a difference when it comes to mistakes and rework. All facets of moving from one OS to another become easier with a resource on hand who understands the decisions regarding enterprise features, security implications, testing methodologies and more that come up during a migration.
  • Dedicated resources – Interruptions are plentiful in IT. Whether it’s a fire that pops up and demands immediate attention or the incessant lure of multitasking, it’s rare for IT pros to have the opportunity to put on the proverbial blinders and plow ahead, completely focused on a task. During an OS rollout, this can contribute to costly delays or errors as IT personnel attempt to jump back and forth between tasks. When working with a partner, however, this isn’t an issue. Partners can fully commit members of their team to hitting technical checkpoints while, from a higher level, project managers can keep projects on task and on target.
  • Sufficient skillsets – It isn’t just enough to have a free set of hands around to task with a project. Deploying a new OS requires the skilled hand of an expert desktop engineer. However, desktop teams typically aren’t the top priority when it comes to IT spend, leaving many lacking the specialized skills (and, as mentioned above, the experience) needed to bring projects to a swift conclusion. Partners, again, may not share that problem. Since they participate in so many OS rollouts, it makes far more sense for them to carry this expertise (and expense) on staff than it would for an organization that only undertakes such a project every few years.

Next Steps: Supporting your Windows 10 investment now – and later

The upsides of working with a partner like Arraya don’t end when deployment does. These relationships can help ensure the long-term health and cost efficiency of operating systems. As explained in the Forrester study, Microsoft says Windows 10 will require roughly two feature updates per year. Organizations attempting to handle these on their own, on average, spend 160 hours per update on planning and testing as well as 40 additional hours for rollout. With the proven expertise of a partner at the helm, the time needed for planning and testing can be reduced to 40 hours per update, while minimal time will be required during rollout.

Ready to bring Windows 10 to your organization? Don’t go it alone. Let Arraya’s Windows 10 experts take your business to the most advanced Windows OS ever in the most efficient and secure way possible. Visit us at: https://www.arrayasolutions.com//contact-us/ to get started.

We’re listening! Leave us your comments or questions on this or any of our blogs via social media. We can be found on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. After you’ve let us know what you think of a post, follow us so you can stay updated on our latest industry insights and be the first to know about our upcoming opportunities to advance your IT knowledge.