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If your desktop-management strategy doesn't provide beefy end-user interaction tools or help with software compliance and patch management, it's not doing all it could. Although a new DM suite will dent your budget--our Editor's Choice lists for $80 per node, well above what readers polled said they want to pay--the payback is easy to quantify.
Take, for example, patch management. Although patching admittedly won't solve all your security problems (see "Patches Don't Equal Security"), a well-equipped DM suite will pinpoint which nodes are vulnerable, then help you get patches deployed in a timely manner. Other benefits of automation include reducing the software-deployment failure rate and freeing IT staff to build your business instead of doing inventory.
We devised a scenario that required DM products to perform a range of asset-management functions, integrate with directories and support remote users and three flavors of Windows. Patch management, access control and software metering were optional but desirable. Altiris, Computer Associates, LANDesk Software, Marimba, Microsoft, Mobile Automation and Novell sent their suites to our Real-World Labs® at Syracuse University, and we found something to like about each of them. However, Altiris' suite stood out and took our Editor's Choice award, while LANDesk snagged a Best Value award.
See "How Suite It Is"
To realize the benefits of cloud-native software, an application must actually be cloud-native—designed to run in the cloud, interacting with disaggregated cloud services, fully manageable as code—to deliver the expected benefits.
By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
