Standardize the system

Standardization is not a four-letter word in IT. But sometimes it is treated as one. No one is at fault. It is just the way systems have grown. The effort to create a standardized PC fleet is not easy but it is important for IT managers to make sure the hardware can support the software and applications for day-to-day operations. Standardization is an important component of making sure the IT shop runs smoothly, according to a Forrester Research survey of 565 enterprises in North America and Europe. But the reality is that many IT operations buy pieces of a system and patch them together over time.

"Enterprises that can settle on one desktop and one laptop configuration from a single supplier with standard application configurations save big on building, maintaining, and deploying images across their distributed corporate environment," Benjamin Gray, an analyst with Forrester, wrote in the report. Standardization is one of the biggest challenges IT executives face. As systems are refreshed and legacy components are phased out, the important strategy is to have a plan that will make every piece of the pie fit together as a whole.

For more on the importance of standardization:
- See this eWeek article