Virtual Groundwork

For SMBs, virtualization helps create path to more effective digital initiatives.

The idea of harnessing emerging technologies to achieve “digital transformation” is appealing to small and midsize businesses (SMBs), but they struggle when it comes to actually developing a strategy for achieving that goal. Various industry studies show that although SMB decision-makers are eager to improve the way they use technology and data, most say their digital initiatives have been ineffective.

A recent IDC survey of 3,900 SMB leaders across 13 countries spanning a variety of industries finds that less than 7 percent are deriving any tangible benefits from digital initiatives designed to optimize processes and workflows.

“SMBs globally are increasingly recognizing the benefits of digital transformation and continue to add advanced technology resources,” said Ray Boggs, vice president, small and medium business research, IDC. “But the challenge is in connecting different technology areas for maximum impact. Firms that do that tend to grow faster and be more successful in an increasingly competitive environment.”

Lacking the budgets and resources of enterprise-scale organizations, SMBs typically don’t have the expertise or manpower to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy. Another problem is that SMBs have traditionally been overly reliant upon consumer-grade technology that isn’t designed for their needs.

Creating Efficiencies and Opportunities

Virtualization in all its forms — including server, desktop and application virtualization — could be the catalyst that pushes SMBs toward meaningful digital transformation. Specifically, virtualization lays the groundwork for new and exciting ways to consolidate infrastructure, improve resource utilization and streamline administration. This not only allows SMBs to reduce their IT costs, but opens the door to a range of solutions that improve mobility, collaboration and innovation.

Companies that leverage virtualization to modernize their infrastructure are experiencing up to three times the rate of growth in revenue, customer retention and profit as those that haven’t, according to IDC. These companies have also deployed twice as many digital transformation initiatives compared to companies with legacy networks.

Server virtualization is particularly useful in allowing SMBs to consolidate hardware costs by eliminating the need to deploy a physical server for each application. This makes it far more feasible to invest in business-grade hardware, including hyper-converged infrastructure that combines unified management with virtualized compute, storage and networking.

Desktop virtualization dramatically changes the way SMBs deploy and manage end-user desktops. It enables mobility initiatives by allowing virtual desktops to be controlled and delivered from centralized servers, allowing end-users to access a personalized environment via a wide range of devices from any location. This also improves data security and simplifies the process of updating applications, distributing security patches and onboarding new employees.

Application virtualization also promotes mobility by allowing apps to operate across a variety of different devices and operating systems. For instance, app virtualization can extend Windows applications to non-Windows clients such as iOS, Android and Linux devices.

Help Wanted

Despite the demonstrated benefits of virtualization, many SMBs lack the manpower and the expertise to fully exploit its possibilities. A ScaleComputing survey found that organizations with IT staffs of fewer than 10 employees struggle with daily troubleshooting requirements and managing virtualized resources.

Working with an experienced managed services provider (MSP) can be an effective way to achieve the benefits of virtualization without overloading in-house IT staff with new responsibilities. The processes and expertise gained through numerous virtualization projects give providers the proficiency to design, implement and support a broad range of virtualized environments.

Additionally, this expertise allows MSPs to offer a wide range of complementary services that can help companies boost efficiency, move appropriate workloads to the cloud, and leverage a modernized infrastructure for competitive advantage. For instance, a provider can help leverage the cloud to provide practically limitless capacity for virtual workloads. In the event of traffic spikes, virtual servers can be quickly provisioned without the need for additional hardware, and “cloud-bursting” to cloud storage can enable dynamic scalability.

A provider can also help ensure the availability of virtualized applications through policy-based prioritization of compute, network and storage resources. Outages can be minimized, if not eliminated completely, by automatically shifting apps to a different virtual machine.

Long a mainstream technology for large, enterprise organizations, virtualization is rapidly gaining acceptance among SMBs that recognize the technology’s undeniable benefits. They also understand that virtualization is a building block for cloud computing and a key enabler of the modern IT infrastructure. Nonetheless, designing, implementing and managing virtualized resources can be challenging for companies with limited IT expertise and manpower. A qualified MSP can help ease the burden and deliver the operational and competitive benefits of a sound virtualization strategy.