Borderless network applications
As companies become more distributed, not only is a borderless network essential, so are the applications that enable the success of a distributed enterprise.
On the network side, companies must acquire speed, reliable and secure connections, and service levels based on policies. What’s more, one enterprise network must be able to connect with all of its trading partners—either through direct network interfaces governed by strict policies or through access to Web portals.
This network would be irrelevant, though, if distributed employees didn’t need to access applications and data, typically stored centrally at the data center, in the cloud, or both. Making this a challenge is that the key applications they must access are changing in priority. Yes, typical corporate applications such as ERP, CRM, and email are crucial. But as employees become more distributed, collaborative applications are becoming more and more important.
Again, without the network, collaborative applications over the wide-area would fail. And without the real-time, bandwidth-sensitive collaborative application, such a robust network wouldn’t be as vital.
Employees in a truly distributed enterprise should have these collaborative applications:
• Instant messaging: This gives individuals quick answers to quick questions. It’s similar to poking one’s head into a colleague’s office and asking a question.
• Presence: Employees have many collaborative applications they could use, but without presence, they don’t have the context showing which application is best for that particular circumstance. Viewing the status of employees also helps supervisors manage the availability of their employees.
• Web conferencing: By combining audio conferencing with document sharing and viewing, meetings become much more productive.
To make the distributed environment more interactive, companies should also add video conferencing. I hasten to add this is required, because without the proper network resources, video conferencing could cause problems and frustration. With the appropriate network resources, a combination of the following elements will bring distributed employees together:
• Desktop video: Combined with web conferencing, desktop video provides a face with the audio and the document viewing, making the experience more interactive.
• Room-based video: Single, high-definition screens make meetings more productive by making it difficult for employees to multi-task and miss important, collaborative discussions. These screens also make meetings more effective by giving the ability to read facial cues and body language.
• Telepresence: Multi-screen, immersive meetings for multiple people all sitting around a table is the ultimate in bringing distributed workforces together in a truly interactive environment. This, however, requires careful attention to bandwidth and network availability.
Finally, IT and business teams should consider a host of non-real-time collaborative applications that help dispersed teams work more efficiently on projects. For example, wikis provide an ongoing stream of verbal (and sometimes video) communications among multiple people. In the past, when groups communicated verbally, they typically did so via email, which lacks organization and doesn’t provide one coherent view of all comments in one place. Shared workspaces also help groups organize projects around documents they can store, search, and find easily.
As the network continues to strengthen to support these applications, IT staffs should implement them. Problems do emerge, however, when business units or application groups implement them without consulting the network team. Remember, the new apps and the existing network must be harmonized for employees to successfully and securely use the applications.
