One of the main responsibilities in my job as an architect is to look at what’s happening in the industry, discuss with people closest to the sources and then experience the innovations for myself to help set direction for CDW and provide recommendations to our customers. When I first saw the Surface Hub, I didn’t…
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a proven way to minimize IT costs while maximizing scalability, security, uptime and resilience. IaaS is also an opportunity to be perplexed by all the choices in technology and service providers, potentially winding up with a hodgepodge solution that undermines your business goals and bottom line. That complexity is…
The workplace is changing dramatically. For decades, work was a place to go every morning and come home from every evening, but those days are over. Now, we’re seeing an environment in which work is what you do, and workers want to be able to remain productive no matter where they are or what time…
Next-generation firewalls and other advanced security tools can be a double-edged sword. They’re great at ferreting out and thwarting attacks that get past older technologies. But they also generate far more alerts and logs, which overload IT staff. No wonder one of the first things IT departments do after deploying next-gen security tools is minimize…
Cisco’s Identity Services Engine (ISE) is a powerful tool for providing cybersecurity and networking teams with visibility into the identity of users accessing their networks. I’ve spent the past few years working with CDW customers deploying ISE in a wide variety of environments. During that time, I’ve learned a few lessons that can help organizations…
When patients are hospitalized, doctors track their blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen level and half a dozen other metrics. Some hospitals do a better job than others of using this data to arrive at real-time medical insights, but at least the information is available. When patients leave the hospital, however, their doctors often receive…
During the day, I speak with banking executives who want to be as strategic and efficient as possible with their customer outreach. But when I go home, my mailbox, my email inbox and sometimes even my voicemail are filled to the brim with offers from financial institutions for products and services that don’t fit at…
Cloud has been on many minds when it comes to contact centers. Cisco has its Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS) platform, which is a part of its on-premises software to run in partner data centers and function as if it were a cloud. Many have considered this more of a haze than a cloud. But it…
From an IT perspective, mergers and acquisitions activity often falls somewhere between a headache and a nightmare. The problems may begin with internal discussions and external negotiations, which typically involve the CEO and CFO. In many cases, the CIO and other IT leaders aren’t brought in until the deal is done. This tendency is a…
The power of Platform as a Service lies in its ability to bolster profitability and productivity. Microsoft Azure’s PaaS and App Service offerings, in particular, give organizations a wealth of options that can help make enterprise IT more competitive. In an earlier blog, I explained the three P’s of PaaS: people, process and platform. In…
