| | July 20158CIOReviewToday's workforce prefers to use the tool of their choice in order to be comfortable and most productive. In addition, collaboration is key to driving innovation. The enterprise needs to bridge the technology gap for this new knowledge worker. But when you add in the number of mobile devices, apps, software environments, on-premise vs. cloud solutions, as well as constant merger and acquisition activity among the solutions vendors offering email, voice, video, document and sharing/collaboration services, the IT challenge to support these individual work styles has never been more complex. Gone are the days when IT would dictate one standardized solution. This approach often resulted in communication silos where entire groups would go rogue without IT knowledge. The new "Softer, Friendlier IT" seeks to bridge the gap, because while standardization can be easier to sup-port and control, it can also have a significant productivity downside that can impacta com-pany's revenue, earn-ings per share or other business goals.Analyst firm Forrester illustrates this point in a recent report update entitled, "Setting the Technology Foundation for Your Social Business and Collaboration Strategy," where it states that sixty percent of software decision-makers in Forrester Research's Forrsights Software Survey Q4 2013, reported that increasing deployment and use of collaboration technologies is a high or critical technology priority. Make sure you understand the tradeoffs of critical decision criteria such as suite versus best-of-breed and on-premises versus cloud. Failure to do so could result in costly technology rip-and-replace projects later or unmet business objectives.Even when IT is satisfied that all is standardized and secure, the company could make a major acquisition of another organization that uses a completely different platform; or the company could simply continue to grow and start adding more locations, domestically or internationally, that could disrupt even the best of efforts.This article will address how to avoid communication silos and attempt to make this ever-so-difficult task to support the new knowledge worker "easier" and more collaborative!Evaluate--First, we need to evaluate the enterprise itself and determine which applications, operating environments, devices or networks present enterprise security challenges, integration challenges or productivity opportunities that can support the organization's key business objectives. In this heterogeneous world, we must determine where seamless operation is needed to support the knowledge worker and overall collaboration. It's ByKen Boyd, CIO and Senior Vice President, Services for NetScout SystemsAvoiding Communication Silos --Making it EASIER to Support Today's Knowledge Workeropinionin myKen Boyd
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