63% of modern businesses are currently using some form of virtualisation, according to research from Aberdeen Group.
But nearly two thirds of those businesses are not using best practice and have failed to get the most out of their virtualisation initiatives.
By implementing virtualisation and private cloud solutions more effectively, organisations can deploy and upgrade applications more quickly, improve their disaster recovery capabilities, and reduce IT expenses.
So what should you be considering within your organisation?
- Demands on your IT resources – do you have staff using work mobiles, laptops and tablets from locations in the field, at home or on the road?
- How easily can your mobile staff access resources they need to do their jobs effectively?
- What are the potential physical risks to your data if it is currently stored in an onsite server?
- Do you have an effective backup plan in place for your critical information, and has it been tested recently? Have you been able to recover data easily and quickly?
- Are you increasingly needing to use tools like video streaming, video conferencing and other technologies that put a strain on your existing infrastructure?
If you have already made a decision that migrating to a virtual server environment would be better for your organisation, has the time been invested to ensure your new setup is well designed?
According to Aberdeen Group, only 20% of companies who have implemented virtualisation have achieved the efficiencies associated with being the best in class.
Steps for a Best-in-Class Virtualisation Infrastructure
- Understand that you may be relying on hardware designed for a pre-cloud and pre-virtualisation era. Look to standardise on server hardware platforms that meet your needs today and tomorrow.
- Prepare and research how to best use and manage virtualisation before diving headfirst into the technology. Make sure your servers are optimised to handle the loads of server virtualisation and private cloud.
- Don’t tolerate downtime or poor performance. This can have serious costs for a business. Implement hardware with high-availability capabilities and maintain a focus on business continuity.
- Put the right management tools and processes in place. With tools that have real time and extensive insight into the performance of servers, applications and virtualised services, smart businesses can ensure that infrastructure is running well and can handle anything that crops up.
Download the Aberdeen Group White Paper to find out more, or give us a call to discuss your options in person.