THE internal telecommunications infrastructure of most companies is becoming increasingly complex due to the need to run converged voice, data and video applications on their networks. For example, many companies are planning to integrate fax, telephone and mobile phone functionality on their networks, says Daniel Nel, CEO of Nebula. <\/p>\n
Corporate networks are being accessed over the internet by employees, customers and suppliers and in some cases companies are trading online from their websites. <\/p>\n
In many big companies users are accessing ERP, human resources and other back-office applications across the network from a centralised data centre or server. <\/p>\n
Some companies also allow users to access the internal network from a mobile device and collaborate online on projects and documents. This will require some kind of audit trail to keep track of who did what to the documents being stored. It may also give rise to corporate governance issues that dictate how documents should be formatted, amended and stored, says Nel. <\/p>\n
Companies need to broadcast antivirus and other software updates to users across the network regularly. <\/p>\n
He says that internal networks will be linked to external services such as banks, credit-checking facilities, debt-collection and bill payment services, and all these links need to be interconnected securely and managed effectively. <\/p>\n
In the future ATMs could be equipped with a video conferencing capability that enables users to communicate with customer services’ staff verbally and visually. Banks are talking about having real time monitoring of ATMs so they can see who is using them and how. <\/p>\n
“All these activities need to be secure so the network is not compromised,” says Nel. <\/p>\n
The network infrastructure will need to be optimised periodically to cater for new applications and changing business requirements and ensure that response times are acceptable to users. This presents a challenge to IT departments because it requires an in-depth understanding of all the elements of the network and the applications being accessed, and how these relate to each other. All this complexity is driving companies to seek help from professional service providers, says Nel. These specialists have an in depth knowledge and experience gained from constantly optimising networks for companies. <\/p>\n
He says networks generally need to be optimised every three months or so and checked once a year to see whether they need to be redesigned. <\/p>\n
The problem is that it is difficult for companies to retain people with these skills in-house for periodic work like this, because they are highly sort after. “They can get a better career path with specialist telecommunication outsource service providers like us,” says Nel. <\/p>\n