Your IT infrastructure is like the human body, a complex system of interconnected parts, with each part playing a crucial role in keeping the entire system functioning optimally.

Just as exercise and proper nutrition can make the body stronger and healthier, IT Infrastructure optimization can unlock enormous potential and help your company thrive in today’s increasingly competitive landscape.

Let’s explore the most important benefits that come with an optimized IT infrastructure.

1. Increased Efficiency

Back in 2010, a CA Technologies survey revealed that Companies had, on average, suffered 14 hours of IT downtime per year, with half of the companies surveyed saying that IT outages had damaged their reputation.

An optimized IT infrastructure ensures that Business processes can run efficiently with minimal downtime, driving productivity and growth to the fullest extent possible.

2. Improved End User Experience

The direct impact of an optimized IT infrastructure on those who rely on it to perform their day-to-day tasks is significant. When it runs smoothly, employees can work without disruptions and achieve more in less time.

Additionally, modern IT solutions can be integrated into existing processes to create a digital work environment that empowers employees, streamlines workflows, and fosters collaboration.

The importance of end-user experience improvements was famously highlighted in 2017 by the MIT Center for Information Systems Research, whose research showed that companies with a great employee experience outperform competitors on innovation, customer satisfaction, and profitability.

3. Enhanced Customer Experience

In a world where customer satisfaction is king, delivering exceptional customer experiences is crucial to business success and a vital factor in the purchasing decisions of 73 percent of customers.

An optimized IT infrastructure enables organizations to provide faster, more responsive services, ensuring that customers never have to wait for an email server to finally start working again before they can receive the support or information they need, for example.

4. Greater Business Agility and Scalability

IT infrastructure optimization isn’t just about downtime and reliability—it’s also about agility and scalability because the ability to adapt to change is essential in today’s fast-paced business environment.

By implementing a cloud-first business strategy that prioritizes cloud-based services over their on-premises alternatives, companies of all sizes can gain the option to scale their IT infrastructure up or down as needed, without the need for costly hardware investments or lengthy procurement processes.

In addition, a cloud-based infrastructure can be accessed from anywhere, a perk that saved many companies from going under during the lockdown stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

5. Higher Information Security

The average financial cost of a successful cyber attack to a small US business is around $25,000, according to a statistic unveiled by the Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2021. By optimizing their IT infrastructure, companies can protect themselves against the ever-increasing threat of cyber attacks and their potential financial consequences.

The optimization of an IT infrastructure for higher information security should involve the implementation of such security controls and best practices as multi-factor authentication, endpoint protection, intrusion detection and prevention, patch management, and zero-trust architecture.

6. Reduced IT Operational Costs

An optimized IT infrastructure can yield significant cost savings. By streamlining processes, minimizing hardware requirements, and reducing energy consumption, companies can lower their IT operational expenses and allocate them to other business needs.

The cloud can be an especially great money-saver because leading providers of cloud services bill their customers on a pay-as-you-go basis, giving them the option to adjust their usage or cancel at any time.

The exact cost savings can vary a lot, but one Microsoft study reports savings of 20 percent on average as a result of moving hosting services and productivity apps to the cloud, while Oracle’s Clay Magouyrk mentions saving between 30 and 50 percent.

7. Better Compliance With Regulations

For companies that operate in regulated industries, IT infrastructure optimization is an essential enabler of regulatory compliance.

That’s because data protection regulations like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) require the implementation of specific technical and organizational measures to ensure the security and privacy of sensitive data.

Compliance with these regulations is not only necessary to avoid legal penalties and reputational damage but also to build trust with customers and partners. As such, an optimized IT infrastructure that meets or exceeds these regulatory requirements can be a significant competitive advantage.

Conclusion on IT Infrastructure

With the ever-increasing importance of IT infrastructure in today’s business environment, investing in its optimization is becoming more critical than ever before. An optimized IT infrastructure can provide a wide range of benefits to companies of all sizes, from increased efficiency and productivity to better compliance with regulations and reduced IT operational costs.

At OSIbeyond, we specialize in providing managed IT services to help companies achieve these benefits and improve their overall business operations. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help optimize your IT infrastructure.

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