Compliance is commonly overlooked when it comes to the implementation of applications and technology. In fact, 40% of businesses do not perform an annual compliance risk assessment. It’s certainly a cause for concern, as allowing compliance to slip away can be detrimental in terms of security. End-users for example could be navigating the system using shadow IT.
In the midst of compliance challenges, businesses need to implement best practices while ensuring they don’t stand in the way of agility and scalability. To make matters worse, many are lacking the capability and knowledge to deliver EUC services with the necessary governance needed, creating a negative knock-on effect for end-user productivity. The solution? Looking at application lifecycle management from a different angle.
Approaching application lifecycle management
Employees need to simultaneously encourage agility while keeping a tight grip on compliance. Application vulnerability management is also adding a new dimension to compliancy requirements. While numerous staff members can perform a range of duties beyond their core responsibilities, it doesn’t mean that they should. Lack of specialism in key areas could be a hindrance.
Meticulous management of applications is however essential. Picture for example a clothing retailer. If the store manager had no idea how many garments were in stock to meet demand, it would be in a perilous position. The same goes for application visibility. Without management, it’s more likely that businesses fall into the trap of having multiple versions, leading to higher support and maintenance costs. Multiple delivery methods can also create concern in terms of governance, compliance and security risk.
This is where Camwood’s managed services come into play. By assuming responsibility for the application estate, we carry out all the tasks that in-house staff should not be doing. Oversight allows for continuous compliance with key metrics, while application rationalisation also works to remove outdated legacy versions.
We know the struggles that businesses regularly face with resource allocation for regular compliance risk assessments. We cover the auditory process, providing information such as licensing and usage, which gives businesses the opportunity to refine their application lifecycles. Ultimately, organisations can pursue their growth goals while keeping compliance at the forefront.
Accessing automation
While managed services encourage compliancy, automated application packaging takes care of efficiency and transformation. This approach simplifies the preparation of software or applications for deployment, and with required time and resources reduced, development teams can spend more time on building new features and fixes in a release cycle.
With install, launch, close and uninstall cycles under the automation umbrella, quick confirmation of a compatible application can be achieved. Organisations can test thousands of applications in a few hours, saving time, money and resources. Packaging teams can focus on applications that fail to pass tests, while other staff are freed up to focus on value-adding tasks.
A key element of application best practice is ensuring effective rollout across different devices. Automated testing can check if the latest application iteration is compatible across desktop, virtual desktop, mobile and more, all while avoiding manual installs. Pre-approved packages can be deployed in a single click, accelerating the upgrade cycle.
Balancing application requirements
Application compliance and the pursuance of best practices shouldn’t come at a detriment to progress. In the modern world, applications need a comprehensive level of attention due to their stature as key business assets. They function as the operational hub of numerous business processes and provide a range of benefits to end users.
Crucially, automated technologies and managed services from Camwood allow organisations to increase the efficiency of development processes, reduce the cost of deployment and management of applications and crucially enable security and compliance. Fundamentally, all of these benefits can be achieved without diverting the attention of employees away from critical business activities that can foster greater agility and scalability. Teams can strike the perfect balance and reap the rewards.
Talk to us today and discover how your business can encourage agility and scalability while ensuring application compliance
