#1 Is this infrastructure solution easy to use?

Useability is the most important consideration when developing your IT infrastructure solution. Your IT infrastructure will be part of your business operations every day. Choose something that’s easy to use, maintain, and update.

Many companies choose to hire a partner to manage their IT infrastructure instead of managing it themselves, which certainly makes IT easier. Managed IT services can be a great way to benefit from predictable, top quality IT infrastructure without dealing with the challenges of hiring IT infrastructure professionals, maintaining hardware, and managing infrastructure details.

If you choose to work with a partner to make your infrastructure easier to use, consider the partner’s expertise and internal skills. You should also make sure that your partner has a deep understanding of client needs and is easy for you to work with going forward.

#2 How will you keep your IT infrastructure secure?

Security is an increasing concern, and should be a primary consideration when choosing an infrastructure solution. When considering a platform, look at the number of attacks it has experienced. It is worth it to invest in a highly secure solution.

You should also consider security if you choose to use open source technology as part of your IT infrastructure management. Open source tools can be a useful way to try out different options and benefit from new features, but open source tools do not supply support — which means that if there’s a security breach related to your open source technology, you are responsible for it.

#3 Will the infrastructure solution be flexible enough for future plans?

What are your organization’s plans in the near future? Will you be changing your ERP next year? Are you planning a large hiring campaign? Or launching a big new product?

Consider these future plans when choosing your IT infrastructure solution. Make sure you choose one with enough flexibility to adjust to future developments that you know will or may happen. Even if you are not planning a major change to your organization, it is wise to choose a flexible IT infrastructure in case of unforeseen events.

#4 How much downtime can you tolerate?

Determine your business’s tolerance of IT downtime. If your business cannot be down at all, then you will need an IT solution with the highest availability — and you will need to plan carefully how to implement your new IT solution without disrupting operations. If your business can be down for two hours, you will have other options available to you. If your business can be down for two days, for example over a weekend, then you will have still more options to consider.

#5 What is your budget?

As with any business decision, cost is a consideration when choosing an IT infrastructure solution. But don’t just look at the surface level price.

When choosing an infrastructure solution, consider how much you can tolerate a variable cost. If you manage your own infrastructure on prem, then you will be responsible for unpredictable expenses to maintain your hardware. If you choose a managed IT services provider, then you will likely have a predictable monthly invoice that makes budget planning easier. (Though if you choose an American-based partner that sends invoices in US dollars, remember that your invoice will vary month-to-month based on the exchange rate.)

When choosing a cloud solution, consider if you may become locked in. Many cloud solutions are easy and affordable to begin using, but have high egress fees that make it difficult and expensive for you to change to a different IT infrastructure in the future. Consider both future and immediate expenses when choosing a cloud provider.

#6 When do you need it?

Consider when you need your new IT infrastructure up and running, and therefore when you need to begin planning, testing, and implementing your solution.

The first phase of implementing a new IT infrastructure solution will always be to analyze your existing solution and IT needs. This can add complications to your timeline, because you should conduct this analysis during your peak time. So if your business’s peak time is during November and December, then that’s when you need to collect data. That may have a big effect on when you can implement your new infrastructure.

Implementing a new IT infrastructure solution is a major change, and we at R2i wish you all the best as you begin this project. If you have any questions, reach out to our IT experts any time. R2i provides companies like yours with flexible, complete IT infrastructure solutions every day, and we’re happy to support you in your digital transformation as well.