Picture yourself way back in the wild west. There is a feeling of lawlessness. Crime is rampant. Gangs have free roam across the countryside. Robberies and murders are commonplace. Now imagine that your desktop environment is the wild west….without the murder bit. Anything goes out there. You might not have any kind of control over this environment but that might be ok, it might be working well for you. But sometimes that wild west can get a little too wild. And if you’re expecting it to grow, it can get worse if left unchecked. Let me show you the benefits of ‘taming the west’ by bringing in a little control and consistency to your desktop environment:
- Performance – one of the most common complaints of an unregulated environment is wildly varying performance reports from users. This is typically because operating environment has become compromised with multitudes of apps, add-ins and plugins that are not necessarily business related. And this could be the machine of one user that is bringing everything down for everyone else. If everyone worked off the same standard set of applications (and even standard configuration), the performance for users would become a lot more consistent and easier to maintain.
- Data loss (stolen or wiped/encrypted) – Imagine being held at gunpoint by a gang of horse-mounted outlaws, forcing you to hand over everything you’ve got. Now if we invoke my dodgy analogy – this is pretty much what ransomware is doing if it ever reaches your environment. An unregulated desktop environment means that security and malware protection, in particular, could be missing or out of date. If you don’t control the environment, how do you know that everyone is protected? All it takes is for one of those machines to open a suspicious file and it could bring down your whole company.
- Compatibility – This is a sneaky one. Suppose that a user upgrades the software on their machine to the latest and greatest version. They then proceed to modify and save important company documents with this software. But what if that latest and greatest software version introduced a new file types or features which could no longer be accessed by older versions of that software? Then you have a mad scramble to get everyone on the same version so they can open the documents they are supposed to be working on.
- Consistency – A standard operating environment ensures every user starts with the same experience. Expectations can be set knowing that every new starter begins from the same baseline. A consistent environment also means that a machine can be swapped between users and they could hit the ground running, continuing with the tasks. Consistency is also key for the next points which is…
- Supportability – This one is simple – if you are responsible for ensuring the environment, a consistent one is going to run a lot smoother and should be predictable. Your job will become a lot easier.
If your environment is becoming wilder than you can handle, we can help you get back on track. We’ve seen it all – bank robberies, vandalized general stores, overwhelmed local sheriffs, and it’s this experience that allows us to help make your desktop environment the best it can be.
If you’re looking for consultancy services to help design your own IT business processes, contact Starboard IT to find out what we can do for you.
