Sadly, if you run an IT department, you’re probably used to IT being a reducible cost when budgets get tight, and with not much light visible at the end of the economic tunnel; this is unlikely to change any time soon.

With this in mind, it makes sense to take steps to make agility a priority for your IT infrastructure.

Although some “old school” IT managers remain stubbornly resistant to the attractions of cloud services, these individuals are becoming increasingly isolated. A recent survey from North Bridge Venture Partners, in association with GigaOM Research, revealed that 75% of respondents are now using some form of cloud service within their IT infrastructure.

One reason for the continuing march towards the cloud is the obvious and high profile push from major vendors. The past year has seen two great examples of this:

1. Microsoft discontinuing Small Business Server, the backbone of a vast number of SMB networks, in a move to push the sector towards the cloud.
2. Adobe making all future releases of their industry-leading Creative Suite products available exclusively “as a service” via Adobe Creative Cloud.

The good news for your IT department is that in reality you are far better served by the new generation of cloud services than you were by the old way of doing things.

Consider the rollout of a new system: Previously, you would have to base license counts and storage capacities on vague predictions. While this may have worked during boom times, it’s not a great model when times are hard and every penny counts. Now, you can roll out the same functionality with a cloud service but pay only for what you need right now. If demand for the system increases, cloud services bring inherent scalability. This is clearly preferable to the risk of disaster if you didn’t get the server specifications quite right.

If you’ve not been keeping track of the cloud-based alternatives to some of the things you do internally, it’s well worth having another look at the marketplace. Cloud service providers have been very responsive to customer needs and have done much to eliminate the doubts of all but the most traditional IT people!

At the same time, the focus of products has undergone some change. The very fact that businesses are now buying a service has not gone unnoticed; something illustrated by the fact that in-depth reporting for the business is almost a “given” on the features list of industry-leading cloud products.

Meanwhile, the datacenter infrastructures supporting these cloud systems have developed to use advanced multi-tenancy technology, which keeps prices low as well as ensuring clients’ data are compartmentalized and secure.

There’s no longer any IT service that can’t be handled from the cloud, from core user-facing systems that handle all the file, print and authentication that used to require “on premise” systems, to all of the back-end stuff that the IT department needs but the business always resents paying for: antivirus, patch management and monitoring being just three. It makes sense for the business to pay only for what it needs right now, rather than predict needs too far ahead, and cloud services exist that allow this to be the reality.

So, in conclusion, however long you’ve been in the industry, try not to fight progress. Cloud services are now very much “up to standard”, and provide you with the tools you need to provide a first class, agile IT service that management is sure to appreciate.

Want to learn more? Visit our website to find how GFI Cloud can keep your IT department agile with antivirus, patch management, monitoring and asset tracking all managed from the cloud.  Start a free trial and give cloud services a go!

The results are based on a survey of more than 170 customers who use the GFI Cloud platform.

Functionality, ease-of-use and price were the three main reasons why the respondents chose the GFI Cloud solution, the survey shows.

Key Findings

The IT professionals who participated in the GFI survey revealed the following interesting facts:

1.     Centralized device management is crucial

50% of the IT professionals surveyed stated that the lack of a central view of devices and issues was a strong motivator in purchasing GFI Cloud.

This central view is particularly important given the increased mobility of the modern workforce, as is well illustrated by the next point.

2.     Managing remote devices is a headache for IT admins

38% of respondents complained about the difficulty of managing remote devices, such as laptops, and 32% worried about keeping them secure. This is perhaps an unsurprising reflection of how employees expect modern IT to be inherently more mobile.

The survey responses showed positive signs that GFI Cloud implementation is an effective way to make things easier for the IT team: 61% specifically highlighted that centralized management was easier post-implementation.

3.     Security is enhanced with the right solution

40% of the professionals questioned reported that they had experienced fewer security breaches due to antivirus and patch management since they implemented GFI Cloud.

38% also reported a more stable IT environment, with less unplanned downtime.

 4.     GFI Cloud saves money

While centralized IT admin and the desire to save time were both reported as strong motivators for the initial purchase of GFI Cloud, the survey results seem to imply that users of the product have also experienced unexpected cost savings.

41% of respondents reported that using GFI Cloud had reduced their costs, and 39% said that they were able to complete more tasks using fewer resources.

In totality, the survey responses present a clear picture of IT departments that are now able to enjoy a greater level of control over their infrastructures. Furthermore, the biggest “headaches” reported by respondents prior to implementation (lack of a central view, and managing and securing remote devices) are soundly addressed by the functionality of the GFI Cloud software.

The most significant finding from the survey is great news, both for GFI and for the customers who have selected the GFI Cloud package for their business:

Over 86% of respondents said that they would definitely recommend the product to others.

Finally, and worthy of a special mention, is the fact that 22% of respondents felt that implementing GFI Cloud had helped the IT department be seen as more of a business enabler than a “break / fix” team. In an age where IT is becoming so much more service-driven, it’s pleasing to see that such a change in perception can be born of the use of just one product.

Do you want to learn more about this product? Visit our website to find how GFI Cloud simplifies IT management with one centralized view of antivirus, workstation and server monitoring, patch management and asset tracking across all your servers, PCs and laptops on the move! See for yourself, with a free 30-day trial of GFI Cloud™.

Meanwhile you have myriad systems to patch, and endless patches to test and then install. Then you have to do it all over again. And again. And again.

No wonder a recent study by the UK-based Federation of Small Business shows that little more than a third (36%) of small shops patch regularly. Then these shops wonder why they got compromised, or blame their software vendors, especially Microsoft® – a common security punching bag!

Patching, well, patching properly, solves the majority of security problems. In fact 90% of successful exploits are against unpatched systems.

Even environments that should presumably be highly secure too often fail to patch. Last year an audit at the U.S. Department of Energy found that some 60% of their desktops lacked important patches.

Unpatched systems are so vulnerable because most hackers are lazy. Script kiddies are one the laziest – they take existing exploits and maybe tweak a few lines and release it as their own creation. And because the script worked before, chances are it will again. Most tech savvy people these days can become successful hackers if proper defenses – like patching – aren’t mounted.

Patches offer another shortcut, and a main artery right into the heart of your computers. There are two ways this works. The worst is when some security researcher looking for a headline finds and then blabs about an exploit that the software maker is then forced to quickly patch. This is an alarm for hackers to devise and mount attacks against this vulnerability.

The second is a patch that is released to fix a hole that only the vendor really knows about.

Either way the patch defines the hole and acts as a blueprint for a hack attack. Even though the hole is presumably fixed by the patch, it is only fixed for those that install the patch.

Unfortunately many never patch (that crazy 36% again) and even those that do don’t always fix holes immediately due to time constraints and the need to test patches for conflicts.

Patching Microsoft Isn’t Enough

Microsoft, for all the knocks it takes, is pretty darn good at handling patches, and actually a bit of a role model. The company is open about its problems, and the second Tuesday of every month, Patch Tuesday, publicly releases its fixes. It even gives a heads up as to what’s coming.

And it has a decent free tool, Window Server Update Services (WSUS), to install these patches – think of this as Windows Update on steroids. That’s why Microsoft patches are the most commonly and regularly installed.

But when was the last time you came across an all Microsoft shop? These days FireFox, Adobe Web tools, and even Oracle® all have more patches than a pair of old hippy pants. In June alone Oracle released fixes for 40 holes in Java. And most of these holes allow attacks that bypass user names and passwords. In April Oracle fixed 128 holes in its applications, middleware and database. Still think Microsoft is all you have to worry about?

Gartner is all worked up about this problem:

“In the darkest woods of IT, patching 3rd party application on a desktop remains a significant challenge for many organizations. Patching server OSs (Windows and Linux/UNIX) and 3rd party server applications also remains challenging due to fragility of many server environments. Add virtualization to the mix – and you have a full-blown slow-cooking disaster. And then you have Java…a security disaster in a league of its own,” wrote Gartner analyst Anton Chuvakin in a recent blog. “Java, Adobe Reader and Flash, Firefox, Oracle fat clients as well as many vertical and business-specific applications are often patched MUCH later than Windows and Office.”

BYOD only makes this all worse. These days you have to patch anything and everything. And fix these holes before the hackers jump in!

If patches are the hackers’ best roadmap, shouldn’t patching be a top priority?

WSUS is not enough. You need a broader tool that embraces multiple platforms and automates as much as possible patch testing and deployment.

With today’s world of distributed enterprises, mobile workers, BYOD and telecommuting you need to keep remote off network machines patched. You simply can’t have IT travel to update all these devices or ask end users to patch the machines themselves. Here a cloud patch management tool is the perfect answer.

See for yourself how easy it is to keep your servers, PCs and laptops up-to-date, with a free 30-day trial of GFI Cloud™. Whether your users are in the office, on the road or working from home, GFI Cloud is the easy way to keep their devices patched, secure and running efficiently, from one central console.  Learn more

Webcast: Don’t get stuck in the technology trap

Date: Thursday, July 18, 11a.m. EDT

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In this webcast you will hear about:

• How to get out of the viscous cycle of technology, experts, costs and upgrades
• Finding the right balance between people and technology
• How to ensure your IT strategy is working for you
• The importance of spending less time managing technology…
• …and more time supporting business growth

Take back control of your IT – register for our webcast today!