Standardised desktops = productivity, less downtime, happy people!
When you bring together standardised Workstation and Servers, good things happen. The end users get more done and security policies can be easily rolled out.
The products offered by Microsoft such as Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 are fast becoming the new replacement for Windows XP and (woe betide anyone unfortunate enough to have to use it) Vista. With this new relationship between Server and Workstation, powerful features like DirectAccess, Branch Cach, and Group Policy help the end users to connect directly to what they want, when they need it.
Standardising the operating system is just one small factor in improving productivity in the workplace and reducing possible downtime. If you ensure all your desktops are the same or similar hardware, re-imaging them and rolling replacements out when catastrophic failure occurs takes just minutes as opposed to hours.
Many businesses buy their IT over a period of years, and as a result, the hardware for each workstation is considerably different. If your business has the budget to get rid of the old and bring in new, get the same piece of kit for each workstation. Get your IT provider to “image” each drive so that if the worst happens, a quick fix is all that’s needed to get the workstation back into life.
If you can standardise your IT equipment, software and settings, your entire business will fundamentally be based on a more robust, redundant and reliable infrastructure.
