Lifeguard IT is a podcast about the intersection between enterprise IT and the people, business processes, and technologies that define the modern workspace. Grab a towel, slather on some sunscreen, and tune in as hosts Heather and Linda discuss how IT can protect their users while making the computing experience more like a sunny day at the beach. In this episode, hosts Heather and Linda share…
IT leaders recognize the value of desktop transformation, but justifying the cost of such projects can be difficult. Read on to learn how to quantify transformation success in terms your CIO will appreciate. What is Desktop Transformation? Desktop transformation refers to the myriad ways in which fundamental characteristics of a user’s desktop can be altered…
Lifeguard IT is a podcast about the intersection between enterprise IT and the people, business processes, and technologies that define the modern workspace. Grab a towel, slather on some sunscreen, and tune in as hosts Heather and Linda discuss how IT can protect their users while making the computing experience more like a sunny day at the beach. In the first episode, hosts Heather and Linda…
Within every innocuous enterprise workstation exists untapped potential for savings and better system performance. Over a decade of working on large-scale desktop transformation projects, I’ve seen a gradual erosion in price point to supply a managed desktop to a user. At the same time, complexity of these estates has dramatically increased, with new technologies and…
As a former university IT employee, I’ve interacted with a lot of users with problems (and emotions) of varying difficulties. Excited parents would set up their brand-new tablets only to forget the password minutes later. Confused professors hauled in their 15-year-old laptops wondering why they weren’t functioning as quickly as the ones displayed. Frustrated students…
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) come in many forms and descriptions in life, promising a basic level of acceptable experience. Typically, SLAs have some measurable component, i.e. a metric or performance indicator. Take, for example, the minimum speed limit for interstates. Usually, the sign would read “Minimum Speed 45 mph”. I always thought the signs existed…
Millions of PCs currently running Windows 10 will lose feature support in 2018 due to incompatible drivers according to ZDNet. The issue affects systems with certain Intel Atom Clover Trail processors that were designed to run Windows 8 or 8.1, but were offered free OS upgrades as part of Microsoft’s Windows 10 push. The support…
Companies are finding that the traditional approach of a four-year, one-size-fits-all technology refresh cycle no longer works for today’s tech-charged workforce. For some employees, that cycle is too long and limits their ability to be productive by keeping them from the latest hardware and applications that they’re accustomed to in their personal lives. Other workers are less demanding, and…
Database administration is an important role within IT. Ensuring the backend infrastructure is available and functioning well is critical to the end users. If a SQL Server that’s hosting the backend of a Citrix XenApp farm has no available disk space then users won’t be able to launch any new sessions, which would cause massive…
We’ve all seen the rapid evolution of the workplace; the introduction of personal consumer devices, the massive explosion of SaaS providers, and the gradual blurring of the lines of responsibility for IT have introduced new complications to a role that once had very clearly defined purview. In a previous post, we discussed quantification of user experience as a…
In 1989, the blockbuster hit Back to the Future took the world by a storm with wild technology predictions. Now, we know the film might have missed the mark on flying cars and power clothes, but many of its predictions were more accurate than expected. Case in point: wearables. From virtual reality headsets to fitness…
For IT administrators, gathering data about user experience and application utilization can be a daunting task. There are many sources of user related data available; however, I will focus down on the data concerning a hypothetical organization’s Office 365 subscription and how SysTrack can help both show and give context to this data. The IT…