A Comprehensive IT Infrastructure Guide for Digital Success

The digital age is going strong today. It will remain that way for a long time. Many businesses of any size are making the necessary adjustments to make things a lot easier from the transactions made between themselves and customers to what’s going on behind the scenes.

An IT infrastructure will be necessary to ensure your business is fit for success. Especially in a world where many are utilizing technology that enables contactless payments, ordering online, and so much more. This guide will help you understand the infrastructure and how it all works.

Defining the IT infrastructure

The IT infrastructure consists of hardware, software, networks, and services that support the technical needs of a business. It can be made up of servers, storage devices, networking equipment, and software applications. You’ll want such a structure to be stable and secure for your business environment.

For the most part, you will be storing and processing data. Another major task that will be reliant on your IT infrastructure is communication. You will mostly use email, social media, and similar channels as a means to communicate between customers, clients, employees, vendors, and others that are connected to your business in any way.

What are the key components of IT infrastructure?

If you want to familiarize yourself with the key components of the IT infrastructure, it’s important to know what it’s made of. Let’s take a look now at the following pieces that make everything work together:

Hardware

Without hardware, your IT infrastructure would not have the foundation it needs to operate. It would be like a house on shaky ground that can collapse at any moment. With that said, your hardware setup will consist of the following:

• 
  Servers
• Computers
• Storage devices
• Networking equipment
• Peripheral devices

You want to select hardware based on your own needs. It is important to be mindful of the scalability requirements and the budget you’re working with. Another thing to keep in mind is making sure the hardware you choose is reliable and performs at a high level.

You want your IT environment to function smoothly without issue. Yes, more money can mean a more robust setup in terms of your hardware. Plus, you get better quality and performance.

Here’s the thing: budget constraints aren’t easy. However, it should never be a good idea to consider the cheapest option for the sake of saving yourself a few dollars. That’s because you’ll end up investing in something that will be disappointing both in overall quality and performance.

So it is important to take your time and explore the additional considerations when looking for the right hardware. Your organization’s needs, the reliability, and functionality have more precedence than the price tag. For those reasons, invest in the best you can afford regarding those attributes. 

Even if it means going slightly over budget, it may end up being the best investment decision for your business. So take into consideration what benefits you can get out of getting hardware that is reliable and performs at the level that meets your needs.

Software

Like hardware, it’s hard to imagine a functioning IT infrastructure without software. This will include your operating systems, applications, middleware, and security software among others. Once again, you want to make the right choices based on these so they meet your needs accordingly.

You want to choose solutions that will optimize your business processes, enhance productivity, and make sure your data and systems are safe and secure. At the same time, it is important to ensure that the software you use can be updated regularly (along with patches that can be applied) so the software environment is up-to-date and secure.

Networking

Networking is one of the other strong pillars of any IT infrastructure. It needs to be robust and efficient in its functionality. The components of this part of your infrastructure include routers, switches, firewalls, and similar devices that will facilitate data transfer and communication within the organization.

It is important to make sure your network has scalability and security so it functions properly. This will make sure connectivity and collaboration between your employees and systems are both seamless.

Storage

An IT infrastructure must have something that is responsible for effective data management. You want something that will store and manage data. At the same time, it should be easy to retrieve as well.

Once again, you want to choose the right options in this situation. The more data you are intent on handling, the more space you will need. Seems simple enough, right?

Of course, more storage space will command a higher price point. One more good reason to take into consideration how much you’ll want to spend on each key component when putting the entire budget. Remember that it’s not just storage you’re going to be spending on - but also the other mentioned components.

Security

It goes without saying that security should never be overlooked. At a time when cyberattacks are a consistent concern, businesses need to do whatever it takes in order to keep themselves one step ahead of any bad actors looking for sensitive data to steal and sell on the dark web.

Your security suite must include firewalls, antivirus software, encryption, multi-factor authentications, and security audits among other things. If your employees are using the IT infrastructure, it is important to make sure they employ the best practices regarding security.

For example, they must be aware of any potential social engineering attacks that may arise. Be sure to train them accordingly to ensure they know what is considered legitimate and what might be disguised as an attempt to breach an IT system.

Let Oamii Tech work with your IT infrastructure

If there’s one thing that Oamii Tech is well-versed at, it’s helping you put together the perfect IT infrastructure for all your business needs. Whether you’re a small business or something bigger, there’s an infrastructure idea that can be set up for you. For more information on how we can help, contact Oamii Tech today.