Current Tip
Keep Cool As You Bump Up Your Power
Deploying new server technology, particularly multicore systems, can strain power and cooling infrastructure. Consider having your computing space rearchitected before beginning new projects.
More Tips
Know Your 2.0
Some Web 2.0 technologies, such as blogs and social networks, can be disruptive to the workplace. Others, such as RSS feeds and wikis, can be time-savers. Set policies that discriminate between specific applications and their use, particularly within the IT arena where staff are more likely to experiment with new facilities.
Move Forward Safely
The newest application development technology may be the answer to many problems you have in your enterprise, but transitioning a critical application to a new platform can be risky. Showcase projects funded by a business unit for a specific function can serve as low risk testing grounds.
Plan for Failure
All system and data recovery plans are flawed. Identify the areas that are the most difficult to test under live conditions and create offline testing scenarios to determine the plan's most vulnerable areas.
Limit Cable Chaos
Cables connect your most important computing components. Label both ends of every cable to avoid confusion when the inevitable tangling occurs.
Ease the Pain of Migration
While tiered storage systems generally move the most critical data to the newest and fastest disk drives, the migration process itself can be difficult. Consider automating only one tier at a time by replacing the storage devices rather than cascading data to lower tiers.
Help Employees Help Themselves (and You)
Good employees are scarce commodities, and the cost of finding the right one is measured in both dollars and time. Find ways to recognize and reward IT staff for jobs well done and look for ways to increase their job satisfaction. How can you find out what "job satisfaction" means to staffers? Go right to the source and ask them.
Stay Ahead with a Controlled Feedback Mechanism
Finding out what your customers, vendors and staff want from your organization can be difficult if the grapevine is your only source of information. Provide a sponsored feedback system through an online system like a Wiki, and solicit input. While you may not always like the comments, it's easier to address the concerns when you know they exist.
Make Your Service Oriented Architecture Usable
Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) provide programmatic functions as services so they don't have to be developed each time the function is needed. These services are useless if they are not used, and cannot be used if they cannot be found and identified as useful for a specific function. Make sure any SOA services your organization produces are well described and published.
Integrate Your Data for Flexible Results
When approaching the next data integration project, consider using semantic technologies to create more flexible connections than direct data translations can provide.
Equalize Your Wired and Mobile Devices
For most organizations, managing specific models, or even brands, of mobile devices purchased by employees is an impossible task. A more realistic strategy is regulating access to networked assets the devices can reach. Implement comprehensive security and profile policies that treat mobile access with the same level of concern as wired devices.
