Success with managed services
05/06/08
Signing on with a third party to manage a part of the IT infrastructure doesn't mean you've offloaded 100% of the work. You will reduce some workload from the task offloaded, but you will add different responsibilities for the internal team.

Managed services: What and why?
04/29/08
IT organizations are using a plethora of managed services to help them more effectively manage their remote workers.

The perfect storm
04/22/08
I'm seeing a perfect storm developing in the area of managed services, specifically to help IT and telecom staffs serve their branch offices and remote workers.

Affordable MPLS access
04/15/08
MPLS has become the de facto standard for converged WANs. Its growth has been swift and steady, with adoption between 38% and 73%, depending on the market segment. Large companies have adopted in greater percentages than small and midsize organizations.

Unified communications steering committee
04/08/08
It's certainly common for IT departments to experience some infighting among groups or individuals who want to own control of a new project or technology direction.

WAN refresh
04/01/08
The growing distributed enterprise requires special consideration when selecting a WAN strategy. Requirements of the branch office should be paramount, considering that without them, you wouldn't need much of a WAN.

The optimization boon
03/25/08
There is no shortage of demand for more bandwidth to remote locations. The combination of more branch offices housing more employees needing access to more applications dictates increased spending on bandwidth. Or does it?

Fix for retail: Avaya aims to improve customer service
03/18/08
How often do you go to a store, only to leave it because you're not getting timely answers from customer service reps on the products you want to buy? Since patience, unfortunately, is not one of my virtues (despite years of trying to change this), this happens to me more often than it should. That's why a new solution from Avaya piqued my interest.

SaaS ECM: It's all about Scope
03/11/08
Last week, I wrote about some of the challenges of a small business implementing Enterprise Content Management (ECM). This week, I focus on Software as a Service (SaaS) as an ECM option. When considering an ECM solution, the primary choice is between implementing a turnkey solution and SaaS. Both have their pros and cons, though SaaS is increasingly becoming a viable solution for ECM.

Content management for the branch
03/04/08
Recently, we at Nemertes Research have been focused on the challenges of content management; specifically implementing an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system and flow that supports our widely-distributed office environment. Even though we're a small business, based on our work with large businesses, it's clear we all face the same fundamental challenges.

Putting a cap on bandwidth
02/26/08
As I wrote last week, the actual and projected growth in bandwidth is extremely noteworthy. In our upcoming Advanced Communications Services research project, 98% of organizations said they increased bandwidth in 2007 - on average by 80%. And for 2008, 90% expect to increase bandwidth by an average of 66%. The reasons for this growth vary from company to company.

Bandwidth demands soar
02/19/08
In the world of research, when I come across any number that exceeds 75% (heck, even 50%), I take notice and analyze what's behind the numbers. But when the number approaches 100%, it's downright fascinating. And, you guessed it, I've found that type of data. Nemertes is getting ready to publish its latest research, called "Advanced Communications Services." Among the 200-or-so data points we gathered were several about branch-office trends.

Help me out! Using managed services in branch offices
02/12/08
Fewer than four in 10 companies are managing their branch-office IT completely on their own. The rest? They're relying on third-party Managed Service Providers (MSP) to help them with a variety of tasks.

Ratification of standard gives new life to SIP trunking
02/05/08
SIP-trunking services have been around for a while, but their pervasiveness among enterprises has been hampered by interoperability concerns. Early results from Nemertes' Advanced Communications Services research show 65% of organizations are using or plan to use SIP-trunking services somewhere in their network. I expect that penetration to increase with a new the SIP Forum's ratification of Version 1.0 of the SIPconnect standard.

Embracing the virtual workplace
01/29/08
When financial indicators start suggesting an economic slowdown, employees question the stability of their jobs and employers look to trim fat from the company. So how does a rudimentary economic discussion relate to your branch offices? That depends on how and why your company embraces the concept of a virtual workplace.

Flexible connectivity
01/22/08
Recently, I was talking to a client about Ted, one of the analysts here at Nemertes, who in a two-week period worked in "branch" offices in several states. And he thought more people needed to know about Ted's cross-country experience and why it's so telling about how far we've come with our Internet connectivity capabilities. Ted's experience truly underscores the changing definition of the branch office.

Prioritized DSL
01/15/08
Companies have used DSL as a low-cost, (usually) high-speed way of connecting remote locations to the headquarters or Internet. A new service from New Edge Networks adds a unique - not to mention useful - twist to DSL.

How will branch office IT change this year?
01/08/08
It's the first column of the year, so after sifting through the backlog of topic ideas, one that wasn't on my list came to mind. It's the start of 2008, so what will change this year?

The telepresence factor
12/18/07
For years, individuals who work in remote offices have had mixed blessings. They're away from the mothership ... and, they're away from the mothership. The results vary depending on the company. But for the most part, ambitious people must move to the corporate location if they want to advance beyond a director-level position. (Of course, in certain disciplines such as sales, that's not always the case because they're on the road the majority of time.) Enter telepresence. As this technology becomes more pervasive, will individuals still need to move to locations they may dislike to work in an atmosphere filled with politics? I don't think so.

Bandwidth bonanza
12/11/07
It was only two short years ago when I gathered data on the average speed to branch offices. At the time, 56Kbps was the most commonly referenced access speed to remote offices - and these were branch locations with up to 50 people!

What's in a branch?
12/04/07
Quick. What's the most common IT infrastructure design in a branch office? Answer: There is none.

Collaboration works great for small businesses
11/27/07
When we think of collaborative applications, we often think of large companies with far-flung locations and herds of mobile employees - all using the latest and greatest communications applications to stay connected and productive. Collaboration, though, has just as much of an impact on small businesses, particularly those that compete with the big guys by making location irrelevant.

The branch of one
11/20/07
Editor's Note: The Branch Office Best Practices Alert was sent this morning with the main story by Robin Gareiss missing. We are resending the newsletter now with the main story included. We apologize for the error and for the inconvenience. One of the most basic and frequent questions I receive when advising clients about branch-office strategies is: "What is a branch office?" In other words, is the large regional contact center a branch office? What about a telecommuter who works from home? Or, how about a mobile worker who works primarily from airports and hotels?

Broadband wireless cards for laptops
11/13/07
As Nemertes launches its research benchmark on advanced communications services, one of the strongest early trends is the huge level of interest and adoption in broadband wireless cards for laptops. (In fact, as I write this column while at the airport, I’m relying on mine to deliver this file—without having to pay $5.99 for 1 hour of Wi-Fi airport access.)

Automated troubleshooting
11/06/07
Many factors are intersecting to make branch-office management increasingly difficult. On the bright side, some vendors are focusing on making this challenge a bit easier.

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