The Strategic Role of IT in Business
Computers are tools that no business can operate without. From the simplest organizations to the largest corporate enterprises, computers enable the work. Yet business IT often operates without enough thought or attention paid to data access and governance, where applications or services are installed or implemented by non-technical users who don’t always understand the implications of their actions.
IT isn’t just about computers and servers, routers and switches. It encompasses the user environment, workflow, data, security, applications, infrastructure, and more. The resources that provide the foundation for whatever a business does are, at their core, the domain of IT.
IT as a Core Business Function
When businesses need to implement new applications, IT must install, secure, and protect the solution. When a business needs to set up databases or analytics infrastructure, it falls within IT to provide those resources. Very little happens in a business without the direct support of information technology.
The Hidden Risk: Underestimating IT Governance
Too often, small and growing businesses minimize the importance and strategic value of closely managing their IT governance when it comes to building longevity and reducing organizational risk. IT departments and managed IT services providers (MSPs) face a constant struggle to keep up with demand while fighting a battle against the ungoverned expansion of applications and services in use.
What Is Shadow IT?
According to Wikipedia, Shadow IT refers to “information technology systems deployed by departments other than the central IT department, to bypass limitations and restrictions that have been imposed by central information systems. While it can promote innovation and productivity, shadow IT introduces security risks and compliance concerns, especially when such systems are not aligned with corporate governance”.
The Real Costs of Shadow IT Expansion
When a business elects to implement a solution outside of its existing IT environment, or within that environment but without consideration of implementation standards or resource availability, the consequences are tangible:
- Reduced time-to-benefit of the new solution
- New security and compliance risks introduced through ungoverned deployment
- Additional infrastructure costs required to properly support the solution
- Remediation expenses to close gaps exposed in an improperly secured deployment
How Noobeh and Mendelson Consulting Help
Noobeh helps businesses manage and protect their IT environment more efficiently, providing the change control and data governance framework needed to turn IT into a strategic business advantage.
Mendelson Consulting’s cloud services team powered by Noobeh has the experience of helping businesses establish a solid foundation suitable to support sustainability, improvement, and growth. Leveraging the security, flexibility, and massive scalability of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform and Microsoft 365 Fabric and framework, Noobeh helps businesses:
- Improve infrastructure and reduce IT break/fix and administrative costs
- Strengthen IT governance and compliance across the Microsoft technology stack
- Keep systems managed, protected, and ready to handle whatever comes next
Whether the need is migrating applications from on-premise to cloud, providing remote support and management of computers and devices, licensing and administration of Microsoft 365 services, or setting up database, data warehouse, or data lake infrastructure for analytics and AI, the Noobeh cloud team at Mendelson Consulting deploys and supports strong foundations for growing organizations.
