Modular IT Solutions and How Your Business Can Benefit From Them
One of the key revolutions over the past 30 years has been the slow death of proprietary, closed systems. Building on an earlier theme I’d like to explore just exactly how far we’ve come in the technology world.
30 years ago most people worked with computers strictly on mainframes. The personal computer explosion hadn’t begun yet, save for a few hobbyists. If a company purchased “A” computer, it was an extraordinary capital investment. Furthermore, choosing one vendor over another meant locking in to not only the hardware, but the software and all the programs moving into the future. On the telephony side, systems were similar: you’d choose a vendor first, and then take what the vendor offered you. From financial systems to HR to filing, proprietary solutions dominated the field, and single-purpose equipment (e.g., a fax machine that just faxes, a calculator that merely does simple calculations on paper, no overlap between a “copier” and a “printer”, etc) was omnipresent.
Flash forward to today. Not only do multifunction devices rule the office world (e.g., fax/scanner/copier/printers, or phones that can check email, send text messages and surf the web) but even regular IT solutions have become much more modular. Instead of going to one vendor to build a single system, offices may use ten different vendors, often creating heterogeneous systems even within a single product line (i.e., OS X workstations next to Windows 7 laptops spring to mind). This added complexity seems counter-intuitive, but the real driving force is cost. Instead of having to invest large amounts of capital for office “equipment”, many employers simply assume employees will have access to email while remotely, take laptops on travel trips, and always, always have a cell phone handy. The choice often creates a mental stumbling block: before, customers could just choose a vendor and be finished. Now, any new purchase allows a variety of customizations and options before it even enters the door.
The real benefit to customers is that an interoperable world allows seamless, real-time replacement of any device. Is your firewall too slow? Switch it! Does your office suite not open popular files? Buy a different version! Is your fax/copier/scanner/hole-puncher machine on the fritz? Lease a new model! New Signature has enough experience to help our clients sort through the mind-numbing choice that can accompany the most mundane of purchase. The trickiest task with a truly modular system is to know not merely that some pieces work together, but that the system as a whole has been engineered to perform at the highest level.