As we head out of 2023 and into the new year, it’s a great opportunity to review your IT infrastructure to ensure it’s supporting your organisation – keeping it secure, helping it grow, innovating new ways of working, as well as driving the full value from your data.

Reviewing your IT infrastructure is essentially a progress check on your organisation’s digital transformation to stay competitive in a rapidly changing technological, economic and business environment.

To help your business review its IT Infrastructure, Digital Space’s Chief Technology Officer, Richard Beeston suggests his top 4 most insightful questions as starting points:

1) What is your (ageing) technology costing your business?

Businesses are operating in an intense economic environment; they’re under increasing pressure to review and optimise IT consumption, alongside evaluating any current infrastructure to assess if it is fit for purpose – and that IT costs are transparent and fully understood.

As a starting point, a FinOps (Financial Operations) review looks closely at your use of Cloud to ensure that it’s cost effective. We typically find 20% or higher savings and can help you to improve your forecasting for consumption-based services. We can also use tools to check that you are not over-licenced as many organisations get into the habit of paying for licences without checking that they are still required or looking at available discounts.

This is why, organisations who may have traditionally run their own IT, are working with trusted Managed Service Providers (MSP’s) such as Digital Space, who can fulfil their IT service in the way they need, whilst transforming an ageing infrastructure through specialist resources.

2) How secure is your business?

An increase in cyber-attacks combined with the introduction of mass remote working, means organisations are more susceptible to cyber security breaches than ever before.

This means that reviewing and applying advanced security solutions that can find threats in real time, isolate risks and respond to attacks, is crucial for peace of mind and ultimately, the secure space to scale and grow.

Utilising security tooling to check application use as well as network traffic is becoming critical in identifying potential breaches and being able to report on compliance.

Richard Beeston, Digital Space’s CTO explains: “As cyber-attacks become more sophisticated and widespread, regulators are asking more and more of businesses. Having the right cyber security solution and specialist partner is key to mitigating risk for businesses.”

Moreover, businesses are not just focusing on security, but on the visibility and application of applying and reviewing security to manifest compliance, such as, to their appropriate industry regulations (GDPR or the Financial Conduct Authority for example).

3) How will the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) ‘Switch Off’ affect your business?

In case you’re not aware, our national telephone infrastructure is being overhauled with the old copper network replaced by digital. The programme, known as the ‘PSTN Switch Off’ will be complete by December 2025. This means every phone line in the UK will go digital; affecting phone lines and Internet connections in many businesses for older connected devices and services.

Whilst it is important to acknowledge that BT Openreach is implementing this change upon the UK and that the end of 2025 may feel distant, the switch off has already begun. As a business, this means you have the opportunity to use the PSTN Switch Off as a catalyst to revaluate your IT infrastructure; to ensure it is supporting new working practices (such as hybrid working), collaboration and communications to gain competitive advantage.

Planning is critical to a smooth transition – and by working with your technology service provider, you can prepare for your migration or replacement options to support your business.

For further guidance and support, our PSTN FAQ Guide is a useful resource, with details on first steps and how our Connectivity Team can help migrate or replace threatened services.

4) Is your business ESG compliant?

Along with cyber security, Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) has become a prominent standard for business, with your IT playing a key role in driving initiatives to achieve your sustainability goals: factors that matter to your board, regulators and your customers.

You should review your IT to demonstrate your ESG responsibilities such as energy-efficient IT infrastructure, ethical use of data, and corporate governance, leadership and risk management, (crucial for maintaining trust in your IT), data, and business services. Externally, embracing ESG principles enhance corporate reputation, attracting socially conscious employees and investors, as well as addressing compliance and regulatory standards.

At Digital Space, our principles are closely aligned with ESG factors. Our purpose built, state of the art data centres run from 100% renewal energy, and we value being a responsible supplier; having been awarded Ecovadis’s Silver Award for environmental score, human rights, ethics and sustainability, putting us in the top 25% of companies they assess. For more information on our Carbon Reduction Plan, please click here.

Arrange a free data centre Tour today.

Contact us to start your IT review, through free assessments covering cost optimisation, security PSTN and ESG, including free tours over our Telford and Newark carbon-neutral powered data centres spanning the Midlands.