Why you need EUC specialists to guide your IT roadmap

After the expedited digital transformation of 2020, you know how difficult it can be to navigate your IT evolution at speed – but also that sometimes, it’s necessary. In the case of remote working, respondents to a McKinsey survey said their companies moved 40 times faster than they thought possible before the pandemic. End User Computing (EUC) is at the heart of that digital acceleration.

For many businesses, this process was no mean feat. The main challenges reported were that IT infrastructure was insufficient, or that organisational silos impeded commitment to – and execution of – the required changes.

In this blog, we’ll take a look at how you can avoid those challenges by hiring an EUC specialist to design your IT roadmap. Here’s why they should be involved.

The benefits of having an EUC specialist

An unmanaged and uncontrolled EUC strategy can be a significant source of problems for businesses. Organisations often start down the wrong path without realising it. Often, it’s because they don’t know enough about implementing EUC, and find it hard to think in those terms.

It’s crucial to have an expert on board to guide the strategy. For your EUC strategy to run smoothly, you need someone who can:

Assess application usage and determine how important each application is
Support your migration strategy from legacy applications into new cloud-based environments
Perform functionality testing with end-users
Pre-empt user issues, and resolve them when they arise

While you might think doing those tasks yourself will save money on salary, there are some specific benefits that come with hiring a specialist:

Secure and flexible infrastructure

There’s no ‘one-size fits all’ when it comes to EUC. By tailoring a strategy to your business, an EUC specialist will create the kind of infrastructure flexibility and security that your business needs. In a recent blog post, Brian Madden from VMware mentions the importance of said flexibility and how, for some, it ‘…will be expressed by going “all in” to the public cloud. For others, it will be doubling-down on on-prem infrastructure… And for others still, flexibility means a hybrid approach.’

An EUC specialist experienced in cloud, on-prem and hybrid solutions will be able to identify the best course for your business to take – and will ensure any transition or migration is as secure as possible. Get a great EUC specialist on board, and they’ll do this without sacrificing the end-user experience

Reduced EUC risk

Research provider Chartis estimated that the EUC Value at Risk for the 50 largest financial institutions was over £8.9 billion. This highlights the degree to which EUC risk can impact a business. Beyond financial loss, EUC risk can lead to a number of other worst-case scenarios: the massive data blunder in NHS contact tracing last year was a stark reminder of its importance.

Evidently, there’s much at stake when it comes to EUC risk. It’s critical that businesses assess, review and manage this risk accordingly. An EUC specialist can help guide you through these steps and will be able to spot the small but exponential risks to your business that others might miss.

Competitive advantage

In an unstable, unpredictable economic landscape, the ability to change and adapt to new requirements defines an organisation and allows you to retain – or lose – your competitive edge.

Achieving the required level of desktop mobility will often require new, cloud-optimised infrastructures. Once you’ve got the infrastructure, you can scale on-demand with simple, automated processes and tools. An EUC specialist with multiple partners will have the right knowledge, connections and experience with these tools to determine which solution is right for your business and employee needs.

Mobility is the NOW, not the future

Investing in your EUC strategy today will help you increase your organization’s adaptability for the future.

With 82% of company leaders planning to allow employees to work remotely at least some of the time, you’ll need to get your ducks in a row. The strategy you pulled together last March may have served your business in the short-term, but you’ll need something more robust to stand the test of time.

An EUC specialist will ensure you build a more secure, nimble and user-friendly IT infrastructure. Want to learn more? Here at HTG, we align EUC solutions and strategies with tangible business outcomes. For more information on how we can help you, get in touch.

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