In business, reputation is everything. This is just as true within your organization as it is externally with your customers. Got a team with a reputation for getting things done working on your project? You’re going to feel reassured and excited to see what unfolds. On the other hand, when you’re lumbered with a team known for making things difficult and not delivering, it’s likely you’ll be worried about the outcome of your project.
Perhaps unfairly, the IT team has a harder job of cementing a great reputation than other teams. When everything’s going well it tends to be taken for granted, it’s when something fails or there’s a big transformation underway that its reputation comes into focus.
But there is something the IT team can do day-to-day to show its value and raise its profile across the organization. By providing highly performant access and continuous availability to files, eliminating the risk of outages, and taking away the horror of version conflicts across distributed teams, the IT organization is providing a vital service. Helping to boost the business’ productivity, and supporting colleagues to collaborate across different sites without slow download times and with added security.
Make it real-time
Real-time file synchronization, ensures that files across the IT estate are always up-to-date and consistent with each other. It means wherever your colleagues are based, they have fast local access to the most current global project files, cutting out worries of version control and eliminating the need for back-and-forth communication.
Get this right and your IT team will be enabling ambitious collaboration and informed decision-making, and enhancing customer experience. Here are 3 things to look out for when you’re choosing your next solution:
Opt for active-active real-time file sync
In active-active synchronization, multiple systems or locations share and synchronize data in real-time. A multidirectional data flow means all systems in the setup are capable of sending and receiving changes, improving performance and load balancing, and enabling efficient use of resources. The result is a solution with the ability to resolve issues when changes occur on multiple devices at the same time.
Look for continuous availability
Not all real-time file sync solutions are created equal. For the best experience, make sure that you can access your files at all times, without planned or unplanned interruptions – and ask your vendor how they guarantee this.
With the right provisions in place, you’ll be ensuring business continuity. The best enterprise file sharing and collaboration solutions incorporate a resilient storage infrastructure design across sites that can gracefully handle outages of a storage node in the distributed environment. You will also receive the benefits of balancing the workload across the distributed always on, always available systems. All of which goes a long way towards building your reputation.
Consider flexibility
Many real-time file sync solutions only work with particular vendor’s hardware. By selecting a solution that works across a heterogeneous mix of storage, you avoid vendor lock-in and are freer to choose the technology that fits your project goals and your budget.
Look for a solution that is designed to be compatible with different types of storage devices and operating systems and consider the level of vendor or community support you need. Opt for well-established solutions for ongoing support, updates, and compatibility with future storage technologies.
Reputation is important for any team – but for the IT team, which is inextricably linked to operational efficiency, collaboration and innovation, it is even more important that it is seen as an enabler rather than a blocker. Choosing a flexible solution will save you (and the business) money in the long-run – and earn kudos for the IT team.
