Three IT Outsourcing Trends to Watch Out for in 2016

The ever-evolving IT outsourcing landscape is braced for bigger changes this year. If you are a start-up contemplating expansion and growth, you must invest in the right IT solutions. Tampa-based firms can help. But, before outsourcing your software development projects, network maintenance or any other tasks to a third party, let's have a look into what trends are ruling the market and what are not.

Hybrid Cloud Is Making Its Way into the IT Scene

Striking the right balance between private and public cloud solutions will be one of the priorities for the companies in the upcoming days. With hybrid cloud – a combination of private and public cloud – they aspire to address multiple IT concerns relating to IT governance, data security, data and system integration, and system portability. Against this backdrop, more and more IT companies will be hired to help businesses to take a smooth transition from traditional data centers to a more open and flexible system. According to research reports, by 2018, at least 50 percent of global IT spending will be on cloud, and over 50 percent organizations will either create or partner with industry-leading cloud platforms.

Rise of Bimodal IT

Bimodal IT is set to become big in the upcoming days. It refers to the simultaneous handling of two IT delivery models. The first deals with the back-end systems, is more traditional in nature, and addresses the safety and accuracy aspects. The second mode, on the other hand, focuses on speed and agility, and is geared toward innovation and development.

If rapid innovation is what is in your mind, the adoption of bimodal IT can be your best bet. The model enables the businesses to gain some leg-up in the competition, though they might be required to give up some control around architecture and infrastructure.

A New Generation of Service Providers Emerge

Big ticket IT companies, such as Cisco, are no longer content with just selling products. In an effort to capture a bigger market, they are also offering services around their products. Emulating their big brothers, the smaller firms are ramping up their managed services capabilities. As such, the upcoming months will see more vendors in the digital technology sphere including ITO, BPO and cloud service providers to enter the market with product-driven managed services. The businesses keen on building a digital presence will turn to these IT firms.

Given the tectonic shifts in the digital technology landscape, businesses, especially the start-up ventures, should invest in the right outsourced technology firms. Some providing IT solutions in Tampa are good candidates for consideration. You can count on them to help you embrace the trends, and align your IT strategies with your business strategies.

IT Outsourcing Trends Of 2016

Even though travel has remained one of the top industries in Florida, the evolution of Information Technology in the last couple of years cannot be ignored. From advanced mobile technology to digital media, the industry has contributed immensely in 2015 to help the state achieve the fourth largest economic status in the US. The firms offering IT consulting in Tampa and many other regions of South Florida have further helped the state to evolve as the next big IT hub due to the emergence of startups.

The IT trends of 2015 that these companies were following revolved primarily around standardization, cloud computing and as well as embracing best-of-breed approach to offshore outsourcing. However, 2016 will be focusing on centralizing their IT delivery system that will lead to cost-reduction, enhanced scalability and increase automation. Here are some of the key IT outsourcing trends of this year.

• This is the year for implementation of hybrid cloud. The companies will work on their IT strategies to deal with the concerns of data security, IT governance, data and system integration and system portability. They will be shifting to more open and flexible systems that will play a big role in the global IT outsourcing industry.

• There will a rise of bimodal IT. The first phase will be traditional in nature dealing, with safety and accuracy of back-end systems. The second phase will focus on the speed and agility of new project development.

• The emerging digital technologies will experience integration challenge. In order to get a solution, the companies have to depend on organizations dealing with multiple emerging technology platforms. Hence, there will be increased chances of partnerships among providers.

Thefirms offering services like IT Consulting in Tampa and other regions in South Florida need to recognize such a shift. These companies must align their business to these changing IT strategies to stay ahead in this competitive global IT outsourcing world.  

Why Should You Care About Managed Services?

Probably you have already heard of all the rage about managed services? So, what is it after all? Let’s explain.

Whether you are in Tampa, Orlando, Sarasota or other IT hubs, with your reliance on the IT department growing day-by-day, you must have felt the need for better solutions and service other than having the repair guy on speed dial. Because, if you hit a snag while operating your on-line business, it will be too late to bring back the clients that have skipped you in favor of your more ‘functional’ competitors. So, you would definitely need something better to avoid damage to your business and embarrassment. Managed IT services in Tampa like their counterparts in any other part of the US can offer you 24x7 IT monitoring solutions to assure business operation safety. Here’s how they do it:

Monitoring is the Safest Option

Repair options do work, but they also mean that a part of your IT infrastructure is already out of order. This ultimately reduces your service delivery capabilities, producing unsatisfactory solutions to clients. If this is not something you are looking forward to, then you need to go for monitoring. Managed service providers can keep an eye on your security, network, recovery, terminals, storage devices, and applications, generating reports and working on parts of your IT infrastructure before things get out of hands. With monitoring services wide awake and focused on your IT, you can concentrate on running the business better.

Efficiency in Operation Execution

As every sign of problem in your IT infrastructure gets fixed before it surfaces, thanks to managed services, your operation will remain glitch-free. Plus, as your company doesn't have to tend to the IT handling operations, your business processes will be lean and completely focused on delivering the best results.

Your Clients Need Safety Assurance

More clients mean more data and sensitive information that are for authorized eyes only. Even a little glitch in your system can cause your clients to freak out and fear about information leakage. Repairing existing IT technology when the problems are clear and present may restore your IT infrastructure, but it will not save your reputation. Round-the-clock monitoring solutions can help you by checking up on information security and offer you performance guarantee.

Managed Services Are Well Within Your Budget

Some of us have the idea that 24x7 monitoring must come with a huge price tag. But, that’s not true. Yes, managed services are not a 'one-time deal'. You have to pay them monthly or yearly for their services. But, do the math, can the monitoring cost ever surpass the high charges of repairing, replacing, and modifying your IT infrastructure after it is totaled? Highly unlikely, right!

For a safe and secured business transaction, you need to be vigilant about the performance of IT infrastructure. Let IT services in Tampa just like other growing US cities take care of performance monitoring, so you can concentrate on better business opportunities.

Top 3 Benefits Of Shopping Apps For Your Ecommerce Business

Many believe that only large brands can afford a mobile app. However, several small to medium-scale businesses are leveraging mobile app development to promote their brands and to connect with prospective customers. Tampa in Florida presents a promising picture when it comes to the development of feature-rich shopping apps. So, if you're looking for mobile application development, Tampa is the place to explore. Based on a recent article published by Forbes, the right mobile app can give your business the required mileage as far as marketing, promotion and customer engagement is concerned. Here are three of the most important benefits of shopping apps for your ecommerce business:

1. Inbuilt Features Take Your App to the Next Level

Integral features such as camera, location tracker or microphone will help you monitor your customers' activities. For example, there are specific shopping apps that make the best use of the camera feature. How? These apps allow shoppers to take their selfies and post the same in the app. This helps the other buyers make an informed purchasing decision. The features are beneficial for ecommerce site owners and customers.

2. Improves Your Business Visibility at All Times

Based on a 2015 data by the statistics portal Statista, m-commerce retail sales in the United States reached a whopping $74.93 billion. Again, the total smartphone users in America was $65.2 million. The perfect mobile app for your business is the one-stop shop for mobile customers. Some of them also help shoppers to work offline. They can take a look at their saved wish lists or most popular products offline. Later, customers can go online to click the 'Buy' button and finalize their purchase.

3. Helps You Know about Customer Shopping Habits

Mobile apps offer deeper insights into customer likes, dislikes and buying habits. This helps your business to attract repeat buyers and loyal customers. This way, your shopping app improves customer engagement with your brand. Based on your customers' buying habit, you can recommend products that they would love to purchase.

Mobile application development in Tampa is booming, and can provide a significant payoff to your ecommerce business. Develop user-friendly and engaging apps to attract more customers.

How Migrating Your Server Helps Your Business And The Planet

Server migration, a process of moving your existing server to a new environment, especially to a cloud environment, is particularly appealing to the start-ups, as it allows them to build a scalable hosting architecture for the future. While server migration technologies continue to evolve, a growing number of small and big enterprises are taking advantage of this new game-changing technology. Many tech-firms that offer IT support services for Tampa-based startups are offering server migration services as part of their package.

Benefits

It does not matter whether you belong to the tourism industry, or run your start-up business in the education sector, the migration from a premise-based server to a public cloud or virtual server can offer many benefits to your organization.

Besides improving uptime and freeing you from the obligation of maintaining a complex hardware infrastructure, a planned migration can help your business save energy and reduce your carbon footprint.

Migration for Sustainability

If you are a Tampa-based business-owner, who shares the city's passion for saving energy, a server migration to a cloud environment can help you embrace sustainability in several ways.  Transferring physical servers over to a cloud environment enables you to consolidate them into a few virtual machines.  You can migrate all your data assets, including image files and mission-critical applications. As a result, you will require lesser number of racks in the data centers, which ultimately translates into less data-center floor space. All these eventually enable you to achieve a huge cost saving in your monthly power consumption costs.

Not sure how to simplify your move from physical to virtual? Simply rope in a city-based tech firm known for its premium IT support services. Tampa is today a thriving tech-hub, so finding one will not be difficult for you. However, before you hire one, make sure to understand everything that’s included in the package and the cost involved.

How Using Mysql Can Give You Better Control Over Your Database

When you are stressing about relational database management systems, MySQL reaches out to save the day. Although there are some rumors about MySQL slowly losing clients, it still remains a strong contender in database managing sector. MySQL offers comprehensive solutions to database server requirements, while running a diverse quantity of information flow and supporting various operating systems such as UNIX, Windows, and Linux. However, working on such management systems require experienced IT solutions providers. Tampa, like many other technologically enriched cities,has many. However, before embracing MySQL, ask your service provider about the many benefits. Here are a few to help you take an informed decision: 

 User Friendly

Apart from handling complex and multi-layered information flow, MySQL is easy to install. It takes very less time to implement it in your setup regardless of your OS preference. This system comes with graphical management tools that can easily help you to operate all the connected servers from one terminal. Plus, MySQL plays really well with third party software that can be added to improve data administration and performance monitoring operations.

24x7 Availability

Being a popular open-source platform, MySQL has a huge community of developers. You can turn to them when necessary and get a quick response or solution. Plus, you can go for MySQL supported solutions from third party vendors to take care of your database issues.

Efficient yet Feasible

Total MySQL implementation in your setup is considerably less costly than service charges of proprietary software solution providers. This software has already shown its reliability, offering database management/administration facilities with complete control. However, now with the cost-effective attribute added to it, we can consider MySQL as the best tool for databases.

Backing Application Development Requirements

MySQL offers support in building applications. It uses plug-in libraries to build and support software. Whether you are using Perl,Visual Basic, PHP,  Java, or .NET, with MySQL you can easily cover all the bases of your development necessities.

These are four of the many service advantages that MySQL can bring on the table for better database management and control. If you are in the Sunshine State, you can reach out to one of the IT solutions providers in Tampa when you decide to opt for MySQL. Finding trusted assistance is as important as selecting the right services. So, make your decisions after a thorough research.

Is Penetration Testing Must for Your Business?

The burden of cyber security lapses is becoming increasingly heavier for the country. According to a CSI/ FBI report, on an average, each US organization loes a whopping $350,000 to standard security breaches. Whether you have a strong market presence or are just a start-up, if you are in a business that has to deal with a lot of customer’s data, you must invest in penetration testing. Several IT consulting companies in Tampa can help you. With more and more companies realizing the importance of this service, private sector penetration testing market has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry across the US. No wonder, many Tampa-based IT firms today offer pen-testing as part of their IT service package. 

What Is Penetration Test?

It refers to a planned software attack on a computer system. The scheme is aimed at detecting security loopholes and vulnerabilities. But instead of stopping there, it goes one step ahead to proactively simulate attacks in order to find out real-world attack vectors against an organization’s data assets. The findings are reported to the system owner with test reports assessing potential impacts to the organization and recommending countermeasures to cut down the vulnerability.
If your start-up belongs to an industry which mandates the use of pen-testing, the followings are the reasons why you should invest in it:

• Understanding the possibility of different types of attack that may hack disparate systems or the entire network
•  Sorting out high-risk vulnerabilities from lower-risk ones
• Identifying vulnerabilities that may be otherwise impossible to detect with software
• Assessing the financial impact of successful attacks
• Meeting compliance 
• Re-create an attack chain to validate the upgraded security system in order to avoid a similar attack in the future

Pen-testing is a high-risk endeavor. Ensure that you only hire a reputable IT consulting company in Tampa, one with enough domain knowledge and satisfied clientele. Hire it wrong and it is going to be all false alarms without any positive actionable result. So hire a team that comes up with a solid test plan and assessment of risks.