Hybrid cloud forecast: Industry report

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The cloud is generating a lot of hubbub in tech circles lately. Verizon’s latest State of the Market report found that 87 percent of enterprises are using virtual environments for mission-critical workloads, and that number increases daily. A recent report published by Synergy Research Group found that the cloud services market – which includes six major verticals – grew by an annual rate of 28 percent. Operators and vendors in this market earned a total of $110 billion in the four quarters leading up to September 2015. In addition, the private and hybrid cloud services markets grew by 45 percent.

“The private and hybrid cloud services markets grew by 45 percent in 2015.”

The importance of hybrid cloud

While IT infrastructure spending still tops money spent on the cloud, the latter is inching upward. The hybrid cloud, especially, is becoming more important in the overall tech strategies of businesses at every level, including small firms and large enterprises. An important benefit of investing in cloud storage services that utilize these hybrid environments is in security.

One of the main draws to the cloud is its inherent flexibility. With hybrid strategies, however, this concept is taken a step further, as businesses can choose what they want and don’t want running in their cloud infrastructure. Hybrid clouds, according to CloudTweaks contributor Daniel Price, allow companies to take advantage of the vast scalable resources of public cloud environments. This can positively impact security in the long run.

Security is an important benefit to consider when investing in hybrid cloud environments.Security is an important benefit to consider when investing in hybrid cloud environments.

Demand for hybrid cloud expertise

The popularity of the hybrid cloud has skyrocketed in the last few years. It’s becoming such an important part of nearly every industry’s tech strategy that the specific skill set that comes with the hybrid cloud territory is now coveted by companies across the board. According to WindowsITPro contributor Cheryl J. Ajluni, there is a high demand for workers with these types of skills.

“As new cloud technologies emerge, enterprises are struggling to find employees who can keep up with the changes and deliver the skills they need,” Ajluni wrote. “Some of the new skill sets those employees will need training in include open source knowledge, particularly around OpenStack, and container expertise. They’ll also need vendor-specific skills tailored around the cloud solutions those vendors offer.”

By partnering with ISG Technology, companies can rest easy knowing their hybrid cloud strategy is in the right hands. The stress of having to find new employees to effectively manage the hybrid cloud can be alleviated when you consult our cloud and managed services experts. Contact ISG Technology today for more information!

Which industries are going to be affected by big data?

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The digital age has ushered in a level of information transfer that has never been seen before. A Cisco report predicted that in 2016 alone, the human race will generate more than a zettabyte of worldwide IP traffic. For those who don’t know much about data storage, a byte, as Tech Target describes it, can contain about a single letter of the alphabet. A zettabyte, on the other hand, is one sextillion or 10²¹ bytes. That’s a lot of letters zipping around the globe every year.

With all of this data creation, it’s not surprising that many within the field of IT are looking to analyze the massive piles of information out there to try to find patterns and trends. This is called big data analytics, and it’s become a hot topic in recent years. Until now, people hadn’t really dealt with data on the massive scale that the world is seeing now. As such, analytics experts hadn’t developed ways to sort through huge data dumps until recently.

As big data analytics becomes more popular, people are beginning to ask the question of which industries are going to be affected by this trend. While this is certainly an understandable inquiry, the real question is which industries aren’t going to be affected by big data. Just about every sector can benefit from analyzing massively produced data, and we’d like to take a look at some of the industries with the most potential.

“Those working outside IT can benefit from analytics.”

Insurance

Although a lot of people like to discuss the effects big data is going to have on the tech industry, those working outside IT can also benefit from analytics if they take the time to do so. Insurance is definitely one of these sectors, as agents within the field have to sort through a lot of information in order to assess risk.

Forbes contributor Bernard Marr brought up the interesting point of how big data analytics can help insurance companies set premiums for potential clients. He discussed how many insurance agencies install tracking devices in cars and use the information gained to analyze the driving behaviors of that specific client against the mass of data collected from other clients. Essentially, big data is helping to turn setting a premium into more of a concrete procedure rather than an educated guess.

Health care

As compliance standards such as HIPAA begin to accept more digital means of transmitting patient information, health care is increasingly seeing the benefits of big data analytics. Taking massive quantities of information and forming them into workable understandings of the current health landscape is going to be a critical part of the industry’s growth in the coming years.

One of the biggest areas with potential for big data analytics has to be the adoption of smartphones – and to a lesser extent wearables – into the general populace. About 68 percent of Americans currently own a smartphone, according to the Pew Research Center, which means a majority of U.S. residents are taking advantage of the ability to have a computer in their pocket.

These handy devices have a plethora of everyday uses, but one of the ways people are using them currently is to track their exercise and dieting habits. The number of apps that follow your activity levels are nearly innumerable, and all of them are gold mines when it comes to big data analytics.

Big data has serious implications within the health care industry. Doctors can seriously benefit from an analysis of health care data.

Imagine if doctors working on a cure for diabetes could see the dietary and exercising habits of the average diabetic. Years ago this would have meant intense research, followed by an even longer amount of time dissecting the results. Now, with modern technology and big data analytics, it is possible for diabetics to simply track their own activities via smartphones and upload that information straight to the doctor’s data storage method. Combining these specific studies with the millions of data points already created by diabetics using existing tracking applications like Glucose Buddy – an app that keeps a log of the food intake and activity levels of diabetics – could potentially allow for a breakthrough in the field.

Social networking

Although industries outside the tech field can obviously benefit from big data analytics, those within it are seeing endless possibilities for this unprecedented wealth of information. One of the most prominent areas would be social networking sites, which are known for their data storage habits when it comes to user information. Facebook is already using the comments and articles you like on the site to influence the ads you see, but many within the industry think these sites can go even further.

In fact, a recent study from Stanford showed that big data analytics has the potential to understand your personality better than your friends do. The study, which had a computer analyze what kinds of pictures and statuses a person liked on his Facebook page, attempted to find out how well a computer can get to know you personally. What they found was remarkable:

“Forget targeted ads.”

A computer, given only information from Facebook to match up against a personality inventory test of the participant, was able to guess personality patterns better than the participant’s friends and family. While this certainly has quite a lot of implications for sociology and psychology, this study shows the truly limitless power of big data analytics on social networking sites. Forget targeted ads; a properly calibrated machine is now able to comprehend the deepest workings of the human mind.

Although that may sound like something straight out of a dystopian novel, being able to fully understand the personality of an individual is immensely helpful in areas like criminology. Tens of thousands of felons could have their personalities tested in a much shorter time than one-on-one interviews, allowing for law enforcement officials to truly map out the mind of a criminal and discover preventative measures for the future.

The world is in the exploratory stages of big data analytics right now, and it’s really hard to know what’s going to happen next. That being said, it’s pretty obvious analyzing huge amounts of information could have serious benefits for multiple industries. Knowledge is always necessary for a society’s growth, and big data has the power to give people a level of understanding that has never been seen before.

ISG Technology: Who we are

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We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog discussing what ISG’s services can do for you, as well as what kinds of specific problems we can fix. We’ve even done an opinion piece here and there about current trends within IT. What we haven’t done so far is explain what kind of a company we are on a more personal level.

As a modern company, it’s really important to us that you not only understand what we do, but who we are. In an effort to fully introduce ourselves to you, we’d like to explain the three guiding principles that drive our company’s innovation each and every day: people, technology and service.

“People come first.”

People

When it comes to business, even the business of technology and machines, people come first. When we’re considering initiating a business relationship with a company, the first thing we do is try to fully understand the people who work there.

The reason we do this is simple: We can’t figure out how to fix your problem if we don’t know anything about who you are and what you need from us.

For the average managed services provider, solving an issue starts with what the MSP can do to fix the problem, followed by how the company is specifically going to solve it and finally finishing with why that particular situation was a problem in the first place. While this gets the job done most of the time, we at ISG think these companies have it backwards.

We begin our problem analysis by first figuring out why this obstacle is in your way. Starting here works better because it allows us to fully understand all aspects of your particular situation, without coming in with any preconceived notions. After this, we begin to work on how we’re going to fix the problem, followed by a full and detailed investigation into what the actual problem is.

What this means is that you can rest assured ISG will solve the problem you’re actually having, and not the one you think you’re experiencing. While you may think you need simple malware removal – something ISG could easily provide for you – it may turn out that you actually need comprehensive firewall protection services. By figuring out why a situation is a problem for you first, we can diagnose the root cause of your dilemma and provide a solution based on your company’s specific needs.

Technology

Technology is evolving at a truly remarkable rate. The Pew Research Center found that in 2015, about 68 percent of American adults owned a smartphone. In 2011, that number was closer to 35 percent. In four short years, smartphone usage had almost doubled, showing how fully technology has been integrated into our everyday lives.

Technology is everywhere, and with around 84 percent of your American clients identifying as Internet users, being on the forefront of this revolution is absolutely vital to stay profitable. That being said, keeping up with the latest and greatest in technological innovation is extremely hard when you’re trying to run a business.

To anyone working outside of IT, something like server virtualization can sound like magic. Just wrapping your head around the concept of fitting multiple, virtual machines on a single server can be impossible if you don’t understand the finely tuned technology behind it.

Thankfully, our team of highly trained tech wizards can make this magically complex technology simple and easy to comprehend. With ISG, you can rest assured that you’re getting the technology your business needs, from experts who truly understand it.

ISG tech experts are extremely knowledgeable. Our tech wizards can help bring the magic of modern technology to your business.

Service

Although you obviously want a cursory understanding of the technology you’re investing in, we know that you want IT solutions to just work. You don’t want your business goals to be hampered by constantly having to figure out what’s going wrong with the services provided to you, and as such, ISG has always been focused on providing a quality service to all of our clients.

Whether it’s disaster recovery services, or even online backup of your mission-critical data, we value giving the businesses we work with the best product we can. Investing in ISG is investing in consistency, and nothing is more important to us than making sure your IT problems get solved as efficiently and as effectively as possible.

If you’d like to learn how ISG can help bring your business to the next level, make sure to check out the list of managed services we offer on our homepage.





Join the ISG Technology Team




What to know before deploying: Cloud capabilities

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Cloud environments are being used for more things within every industry. Its advantages come in many flavors: IT executives polled by the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services named business agility, collaboration and cost savings as the biggest drivers for cloud adoption. In fact, a full 72 percent of those surveyed reported that collaboration was the best business benefit of deploying virtual environments. After all, with the cloud, business partners can more easily communicate and share documents from remote locations.

This is only the top of the list of cloud benefits. Let’s take a look at how the cloud was used in 2015 and how it’s likely to be used as this year progresses:

“The cloud presents itself as the ready answer to DR problems.”

Disaster recovery and business continuity

Keeping companies afloat was right up the cloud’s alley in 2015. Cloud Tech contributor Monica Brink noted that one of the biggest trends seen throughout 2015 was the use of the cloud as a disaster recovery tool. As IT budgets diminish and cloud adoption grows, these kinds of virtual environments present themselves as the ready answer to DR problems. The market for Disaster-Recovery-as-a-Service, as a result, continues to grow. Projections in a report published by MarketsandMarkets indicate the DRaaS market will be worth $11.92 billion by 2020.

IT management

As mobile devices continue their entrance into the workplace and new computers are constantly added, network administrators have their work cut out for them to try and manage the growing number of endpoints any one organization has to deal with. A poll conducted by IT management provider Autotask found that the increase in endpoints is more easily managed with the cloud. Around 55 percent of the IT service providers surveyed said they had seen significant or steady growth in the number of endpoints they have to manage.

The majority of these respondents noted that they used the cloud to manage all of these endpoints. With network virtualization and cloud computing, it’s easier to view, manage and define all the devices on any one network, and that in turn enhances security.

Cloud storage

The market is looking good from the cloud storage end, as well, and related verticals are beginning to show the impact of the cloud. For instance, the video surveillance market is on the incline, according to MarketsandMarkets. This vertical is expected to be worth a total of $18.28 billion by 2020, growing at a compound annual rate of 22.41 percent. As a result, the cloud storage market will also exhibit some growth, because where else are companies going to store those surveillance videos if not in the cloud? The value of this market is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 40.55 percent from 2015 to 2020, according to Research and Markets.

The cloud is used to enhance business agility and decrease complexity within an organization.The cloud is used to enhance business agility and decrease complexity within an organization.

Unified communications in the cloud

The CIOs polled by the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services reported that collaboration tops the list of priorities in terms of cloud adoption – and it’s for good reason. When the cloud is paired with powerful communications technologies that bring all methods of contact into one suite, it becomes monumentally easier to exchange ideas and get business done. According to MicroScope editor Simon Quicke, small to medium-sized enterprises are adopting cloud-based UC at a faster rate than ever before. These communication tools are flexible, cost-effective and reduce complexity within an organization.

All of these capabilities are going to be crucial for IT managers to take advantage of in 2016. By streamlining business processes and investing in managed cloud environments, your company can make sense of complicated IT processes and increase agility where it counts. Contact ISG Technology today for more information about how the cloud can go to work for your business!

Deploying hybrid cloud in 2016: Tips, tricks and stats

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The cloud is everywhere. No matter where you look, it seems nearly every company is using cloud technologies or talking about the cloud in some form. Verizon’s recent “2016 State of the Market: Enterprise Cloud” report indicated that 87 percent of organizations are now using cloud-based tools to run mission-critical workloads, with 69 percent of enterprises touting the cloud’s usefulness in helping them revolutionize business processes. While adoption of private cloud is on the incline, hybrid architectures are also set to enjoy an increase in the coming months.

Why are enterprises across the board and within nearly every industry adopting cloud technologies? The advantages speak for themselves. Cost effectiveness, increased ability for collaboration and better flexibility are only a few of the benefits that companies can glean from deploying applications in these virtual environments. Private and public cloud environments are useful in their own rights, and hybrid cloud allows companies to choose the best of each kind of deployment – mix and match cloud, so to speak.

The ability to combine private and public deployments into one solution is enticing for many businesses, and as such, the outlook for hybrid cloud is good.

Cloud adoption: Past and future predictions

In 2011, Gartner projected the rise of hybrid cloud by saying that 90 percent of organizations had plans to hybridize their IT strategies in the near future. The subsequent years have shown that, yes, hybrid deployments have practically skyrocketed since those Gartner predictions were made. Research published by MarketsandMarkets in March 2015 projected that the total market value of the hybrid cloud space would reach $84.67 billion in 2019, growing at a compound annual rate of 27.3 percent beginning in 2014. This is a huge portion of the market share allotted to the overall cloud industry.

The new year is already beginning to see important changes when it comes to hybrid architectures. Cloud Cruiser contributor Dave Zabrowski predicted that in 2016, the hybrid cloud would become the standard for operation among enterprises and small businesses alike. Zabrowski cautioned that deploying hybrid cloud environments can add complexity to IT infrastructure, but drawbacks like these aren’t slowing the adoption rate any. Network World contributor Brian Butte noted that because enterprises are learning the real benefits and disadvantages of each kind of cloud deployment – public and private – they are more likely to turn to hybrid environments to serve them for different purposes.

“Hybrid cloud is being utilized for more than simply storing and running applications.”

Cloud containers: Good news for everyone

Hybrid cloud deployments offer a bevy of advantages to those enterprises that make the decision to hybridize their IT infrastructure. Enhanced flexibility, better business agility and customizable pricing are all important incentives for cloud adoption. However, these are only surface-level benefits.

One of the biggest advantages of the hybrid cloud lies in the ability to develop and deploy containerized instances that run applications and store data. Containers work in a similar manner to virtual machines, except that VMs run complete instances of servers and thus take up a lot of space. Containers, on the other hand, are extremely small. Essentially, they represent building blocks that can form complete instances, instead of coming as a complete package. According to WindowsITPro contributor Orin Thomas, this facilitates the movement of containers between hosts, because all you have to do is shift the container files themselves.

This enhanced ability for movement and application support is advantageous for numerous reasons. In a hybrid cloud environment, this allows developers to streamline app development and delivery.

“[D]evelopers creating applications can build a container on their development machine, push it into their organization’s private cloud deployment for wider testing, and then push that same container up into Azure when the application is ready to be deployed into production,” Thomas wrote.

Hybrid cloud is helping enterprises make the most out of their IT infrastructure.Hybrid cloud is helping enterprises make the most out of their IT infrastructure.

Considering hybrid? ISG can help

Hybrid cloud is being utilized for more than simply storing and running applications. Development and delivery are two other important aspects of IT infrastructure that should be considered when making the move to the cloud – additional benefits that may not be at the top of administrators’ minds when considering options in the new year.

Partnering with a managed services provider like ISG Technology can help take out some of the complexity of deploying a hybrid cloud solution. Our cloud experts can successfully guide you down your path to hybrid IT deployment – call us today for more information!

What is the future of the hybrid cloud?

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With 2015 in the rearview mirror, people are starting to look ahead toward 2016. Although most people are looking forward to a New Year’s resolution they probably won’t be following, many in the tech industry are eager to see what 2016 holds in terms of cloud computing development.

The cloud has completely changed how modern business is conducted, but it hasn’t stopped revolutionizing yet. Improvements in the technology have brought about something called the hybrid cloud, an incredible combination of the private cloud’s security and the public cloud’s affordability.

This advancement is working so well that MarketsandMarkets predicted that the hybrid cloud market would be worth a staggering $84.67 billion in 2019. That’s a huge improvement over 2014’s worth of $25.28 billion and simply points out how fast this technology is catching on.

Hybrid cloud is the ‘next step’

The hybrid cloud really is a breakthrough and has quite a lot of fans all over the tech industry. One of these fans is Brian Butte, a contributor for Network World. Butte states that the hybrid cloud is the next big thing for IT due to the rapidly changing landscape of modern technological innovation.

He states that advancements like the Internet of Things and real-time analytics are “cloud-dependent technologies” that work very closely with the end user, thereby requiring a public cloud option. However, the public cloud isn’t a perfect solution.

A hybrid cloud solution solves a lot of problems.Thinking about the cloud? Now’s the time!

Cybersecurity is always a huge concern for businesses these days, and the public cloud simply isn’t safe enough for all company data. Some information is simply too sensitive and therefore needs the security of a private cloud. That being said, the private cloud isn’t very cost-effective for housing all the data a business might produce.

This is why the hybrid cloud is so incredible, and it’s why this technological leap is becoming so popular. By combining the best attributes of both cloud types, the hybrid cloud is making quite a name for itself in the IT world.

As Butte puts it: “Deploying hybrid clouds is the next step beyond private clouds in the evolution of cloud computing.”

“The hybrid cloud is only getting bigger and better.”

Implement your hybrid cloud solution now

The hybrid cloud is only getting bigger, and there has been no better time than now to invest in it. If your company has needs that can be met by public cloud managed services, but you need a more secure option for other data, the hybrid cloud is right for you.

Make sure to check out ISG Technology’s cloud services page today and see what the hybrid cloud can do for you!

Hackers hit hard and fast: Is your company ready for 2016?

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As the world increasingly moves online, cybersecurity will continue to play a large role in how businesses operate. A Forbes report found that the cybersecurity market is predicted to hit $170 billion by 2020. Organizations will obviously be putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to the security of their data, but will it be enough?

Hackers are a malicious bunch, but they aren’t stupid. They are always working to take what’s rightfully yours, and they’re often successful. Less-than-perfect cybersecurity systems are no match for today’s cybercriminal, and companies that don’t take security seriously in 2016 will be paying the price.

“Around 84 % of data breaches took only minutes.”

Many companies just aren’t prepared

The problem that many organizations face is that hackers are consistently refining their techniques, working daily to stay one step ahead of standard cybersecurity protocols. These attacks have gotten so sophisticated that cybercriminals are gaining access to networks faster than ever before.

According to the Data Breach Investigation Report put out by Verizon, around 84 percent of data breaches took only minutes for hackers to gain access to private information. The speed at which these criminals can get their hands on your company’s data is scary enough, but the truly frightening part of this report has to do with how long it takes to discover this kind of intrusion.

The study found that 66 percent of these breaches weren’t discovered by the organization until months after the original intrusion. That’s a very long time to have your company’s information completely open to hackers, and would allow these cybercriminals to get away with a lot of private data.

Finding an intrusion can take a very long time. Hackers love when companies take their time discovering cyberattacks.

While the theft of sensitive information is certainly bad for business in and of itself, the thing organizations really have to worry about is their public image. Money comes and goes, but reputation is all a company really has. The Ponemon Institute found that a business’s client-facing reputation can be damaged by as much as 31 percent following a data breach.

Although it is kind of cruel to blame the victim of a cyberattack, this data makes sense from a consumer’s point of view. Purchasing products or services from a company often requires the exchange of personal information, and no one wants to do business with an organization that’s known for having been hacked.

What’s more, the Verizon report found that around 9 percent of breaches were discovered by a client rather than the company itself. Being known as the company that was hit with a cyberattack is bad, but that’s nothing compared with the reputation blowback of not even being able to discover the leak yourself.

Finding cybersecurity professionals is tough

After reading all of that, you might be thinking to yourself that it’s probably time to beef up your cybersecurity team. While that’s probably a good idea, the reality of the situation is that actually hiring these professionals is a lot easier said than done.

According to Peninsula Press’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, there are around 209,000 unfilled cybersecurity positions in America right now. Due to the high level of training these professionals have to go through in order to work in the field, cybersecurity workers are few and far between.

This will make it incredibly difficult for you to find new members for your team. The pickings are really slim at the moment, and if you’re lucky enough to find someone with this kind of training you’re going to be paying quite a lot to hire them. Low supply equals high demand, and cybersecurity professionals know exactly what their skills are worth.

You might need some outside help

Asking for help can be hard, especially when you’re used to running an autonomous company. But considering the huge threat of a cyberattack against your company, now is no time to be proud. Hiring an outside company to help with things like malware removal and secure data management allows you to find the cybersecurity professionals you’re looking for without having to pay their massive salaries yourself.

Thankfully, ISG Technology makes acquiring these service easy and affordable. With everything from virus protection to intrusion prevention, ISG Technology can help keep your company safe as it moves into 2016.

How To Speed Up Applications

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Critical workloads and applications like Oracle, VMware, virtual machines and more run on the traditional storage area network (SAN). Business users expect a certain level of immediacy when opening applications. In truth, that level of responsiveness wouldn’t be possible without an efficient storage solution.

Whether it’s big data servers, email, the CRM system or document management system, they all would run at a snail’s pace without the right SAN. If you want your sleek, new applications to perform at their peak to maintain a productive workforce, make sure your SAN is prepared to make it happen.

Because companies have a lot of capital tied up in storage technology, the desire to extend and enhance existing system isn’t surprising. Storage solutions exist at the heart of the data center, and the key to success is to first determine which storage systems are right for your specific strategic business needs.Since the data boom between 2011 and 2013, companies are being inundated with new customer data. This surge in data requires storage solutions that can keep up with it all. The storage hardware, software and services industry has grown more than 50 percent—from a $43 billion industry in 2009 to $65 billion in 2015. We’re seeing this demand continue to rise.

Assessments can analyze every byte of data throughout your storage solutions and clean up old data that often gets left behind by legacy applications. Next Gen converged infrastructure solutions and storage offerings may be used to take once-divided data centers and unify them to streamline business processes and application performance. These converged or hyper-converged solutions can be built for your unique workloads and environment to solve your specific business needs.

How to deal with IT infrastructure challenges: App development

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As companies grow and mature, their IT infrastructure needs to evolve with them. This includes capabilities surrounding mobile app development and operations workflows. More enterprise technology begins to revolve around mobile devices, and making sure your company is on top of the game and surmounting the challenges of mobile app development is going to be hugely important.

Demand for mobile apps is increasing at an astonishing rate. According to IT research firm Gartner, there will be 2.1 billion mobile phones sold by 2019. As a result, by the end of 2017, this demand will be growing at least five times faster than IT can deliver.

Here are a few tips on how to deal with app development challenges within your organization:

1. Establish goals before beginning

Any development project should have concrete goals. The first step in any successful initiative is to ensure that there is a particular end in mind before you get started. It could help to ask certain kinds of questions:

  • Where does mobile fit into the IT strategy of this organization?
  • How do we prioritize mobile projects?
  • What kind of security do we need for these development projects?

By first establishing end goals of the app development aspect of your organization’s IT infrastructure, it greatly increases the chance for success.

It's important to first develop goals as far as your mobile IT strategy.It’s important to first develop goals as far as your mobile IT strategy.

2. Invest in the cloud

Mobile Enterprise contributor Sravish Sridhar noted in March 2015 that 63 percent of enterprise CIOs are going to consider deploying mobile projects in the cloud. With the inherent cost savings, scalability and flexibility that cloud environments offer, deploying and developing applications in the cloud can take a lot of headache away from IT endeavors.

“Leveraging the cloud during app development can be beneficial during prototyping or parallel branch development,” Sridhar noted

“Demand for mobile app development is increasing at an astonishing rate.”

3. Take advantage of continuous integration and delivery

One of the basic tenets of agile app development and DevOps methodologies is the idea of continuous integration and delivery. According to IBM, the pressure on development teams to push apps to market as quickly as possible has generated a need for agile development methods that integrate the steps of planning, development, testing and delivery into one continuous process – instead of conducting each step linearly. You should utilize these techniques to make it easier to create and deploy applications.

Contact the managed services experts at ISG Technology for more information about how we can help you with your app development operations – whether that means pairing you with the right cloud deployment or helping you consolidate your infrastructure. Our application support teams are here to assist you in any way they can.

Is your health care facility's data safe?

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When people go to the hospital for help, they’re already in a vulnerable position. They’ve become the victim of circumstance, and all they want is to get better. Sadly, there are malicious individuals out there who want to exploit these people by accessing their private health care information and using it for personal gain.

A new study conducted by IDC, which was reported on by the International Business Times, found that patient information is nowhere near safe from hackers. The report stated that one-third of all heath care client in the U.S. will have their records breached in 2016. Despite the horrific nature of stealing from someone with a serious medical condition, it seems like the hacking of health care records is on the rise.

Health care data storage at risk

Medical records are extremely valuable on the black market, and for good reason. These documents generally have a lot of private data that could be worth a lot to the wrong people. Health care documents generally have banking information on them, and sensitive medical conditions could very easily be used by a hacker to blackmail the patient.

“A single medical record is worth around $363.”

This is why it isn’t really surprising that the Ponemon Institute found that health care records cost the industry more than twice the average for all other sectors. A single medical record is worth around $363 per document, with the average of all industries being $154. The health care field simply has a lot of valuable personal information hidden within their data storage systems, and yet they may be woefully unprepared for a data breach event.

Medical field isn’t ready for hackers

Although those working within medicine are extremely knowledgeable about the human body, they aren’t IT experts. This isn’t their fault really, as knowing how to perform surgery is more important to their job than knowing how to construct a secure data management system. That being said, this lack of knowledge about IT is costing the medical profession a lot in terms of data breaches.

A separate study conducted by the Ponemon Institute found that the health care industry simply cannot handle the sophistication of modern cyberattacks. The report discovered that 78 percent of medical institutions had experienced a malware attack. While that number should be high enough on it’s own to scare health care professionals, the study really drove this point home by finding that only 40 percent of medical organizations feel cyberattacks are something to be worried about.

The fact that less than a majority of health care institutions think hacking attempts are worrisome shows how uninformed many in the medical industry are in terms of cybersecurity. While these professionals obviously need to focus on the physical health of their patients, the health care sector needs to start focusing on the cyber health of these people as well.

Patient document security is extremely important. Keeping your patients’ information safe is just as important as improving their health.

Proper data management and cybersecurity is a must

Those working within the medical field need to start putting an emphasis on cybersecurity within the workplace. Ignoring the problem, or simply staying uninformed about it, is the surest way to leave patient information open to attack. Of course, this doesn’t mean doctors need to drop the medical textbooks in favor of cybersecurity manuals. Rather, those within health care need to look outward for experts who can help them get a tighter hold on the private information of their patients.

Anyone within the health care industry worried about patient data should absolutely contact an ISG Technology security professional today. With services ranging from malware removal to intrusion detection and prevention services, ISG Technology can help your organization stay safe.