Gary Slabaugh

IT Leadership continues to be asked to do more with less budget and less resource. No longer a “back-office” function, IT is on the front lines with customer facing, marketing and operational initiatives. Something has to give. Here are a few simple strategies you can employ today to reduce your departments workload, and in most cases, not pay a thing. In fact, usually you will save money: 1. Review the design of your WLAN networks. Poor initial design, or networks that have outgrown their initial design, result in end user inefficiencies and time-consuming trouble tickets. 2. Stop managing Unified Communications, Contact Center, Wireless and related services internally. In all likelihood your team does not live and breathe these services every day, which means it is impractical to stay current. And, a qualified consultative service provider can almost always find you lower prices than you can on your own and, best of all, they are paid by the supplier, NOT you. 3. Utilize available resources to reduce your connectivity spend and keep your suppliers in check. Were you aware that overcharges are rampant among legacy telecommunications carriers? That your wireless service rate plans (cellular, tablet, IoT) can be automatically updated in real time to get you on the best available plan according to usage? That the same can be done with cloud services? 4. Perform a cybersecurity readiness check. Nothing is more disruptive to an enterprise than a cyberattack. Not to mention reflecting negatively on the IT team. While this will not save time or money up front, it certainly will if it stops an attack. It is also a necessity in today’s world. One size never fits all. It is vital that you are able to take comprehensive look at your universe of network connectivity products and services to properly determine how you can best leverage your available resources. If you are facing WLAN challenges or need to free up some resource by outsourcing the mundane, let’s chat.