BTEX 2024: How Managed Services Are Transforming the IT Workplace

When it comes to implementing AI in the workplace, most organizations are naturally worried about things like cost and security, which are valid concerns, but there is a preliminary question that leaders should consider. “What problem is your organization trying to solve? I think this would be the biggest one (of the questions to consider) and then we can get into the guardrails and how AI will be managed throughout the organization,” said Hardy.

Another common question Hardy puts on the table when working with clients is “Do you know how to use it? Understanding what are the features, how is it going to make your job easier and how it’s going to help you in your day-to-day tasks?”  

One of the key values that CDW’s managed services offer is helping customers make sure that AI technologies get the continuity they need after the initial hype, St. George pointed out. “We are less about the flashbang of oh, look, shiny toy, and more about how to sustain this. How do we make sure that it will continue to be successful in your organization at an operational state?”

CDW has successfully been implementing AI in its internal processes, and this is a use case that Hardy often brings up when speaking with clients.

“We've built a ton of automation ourselves, for example, we have a virtual agent available to us through a chat, and we are now bringing that experience to our clients when things like password resets, manager approvals and software provisioning are needed,” said Hardy.

Hardy highlighted that CDW is there to help clients navigate through those key AI-related questions. “When we talk about AI, the big keys are ‘What is the use case? What’s the problem you are trying to solve?’ And then, as you consider those problems, how do you leverage AI in a responsible way? And how do you make sure you put guardrails around that and consider things around your corporate data and your privacy as an employee? There’s a whole workshop that we do with our clients into some deep discussions.”

When we think about compliance requirements, classic examples such as banking, insurance or companies in the defence sector come to mind. Luckily, prevention is an increasing trend and organizations with other types of profiles are into it now as well, explained St. George.

“Something that we're continuing to see more and more every day is customers coming to us and saying, ‘Hey, look, I don't actually have a compliance requirement, but I need to do more and be better. Maybe I don’t have to cover everything, but a lot of the key things that are going to make a material difference to my business, because I don't want to be on the news that I was exploited.’”

“So, Caius, when we talk about compliance and security, is that a standalone island, or do you think that’s more of a chain reaction with other areas that really play a key role there?” asked Hardy to take the discussion to a deeper layer.

St. George answered: “I think more and more every day you need to ask yourself ‘Have I thought through security in this service? Have I got a comprehensive approach to security with each technology that I support in my environment?’ Because a lot of technologies run themselves. There's a lot of software-based networking that you can buy now, and these technologies will run themselves in the infrastructure layer, but it's got to be secure.”

Asset management plays an important role in security and compliance, said Hardy. “When customers decommission a device, they don't know what they have, they don't know where it sits. I think one thing that every organization has to think about is how do you make sure that your data is securely destroyed and destructive, but then also safely disposing of your devices so that your corporate data doesn't get into the wrong hands?”

Patching is also essential to keep devices safe; the challenge lies in finding a balance between employee experience and security, explained Hardy. “Patching third-party applications still proves to be a challenge for a lot of customers because there hasn't necessarily been something like the Microsoft update service for those, but I think we're seeing really a lot of changes in the way home devices are secured.

“We're seeing that there's a big shift from things like Microsoft System Centre Configuration Manager (SCCM) in the Windows world for example. It's now moving more towards modern device management with things like Intune where your desktop is treated like a mobile device. The way security is viewed today and the way there is a balance between employee experience and the device itself is massively transforming.”

Employees often work with different types of devices from several manufacturers and different operating systems. The challenge is creating a consistent experience across the board so that you create the same policies and experience from Windows to Mac, to Android to iOS. St. George offered an idea for facing this problem.

“I think somebody inside the company used the term ‘closed loop management’ to talk about identifying what's on the network, adding it to your asset inventory appropriately, making sure that you've got the right tools deployed on it to manage it. And then the closed loop really starts to come in when you start looking at continual vulnerability management of that device. So, that way you know exactly what's on all of your endpoints and what patch levels you need for all of your applications. When a critical vulnerability appears, you can very quickly identify what is vulnerable to that exploit.”

During the last minutes of the chat, St. George and Hardy talked about Device as a Service, an offering that takes a lot of weight off the shoulders of IT departments, in Hardy's words.

“Device as a Service really is an end-to-end experience for us. It's not one size fits all, I think that's the important message here. But it's really understanding each organization's needs.

“When you work with a partner like CDW, you're looking for that single partner that can allow you to find the right hardware, the right solution to plan procurement. And then, once you have your devices in your fleet, it's about the proper management, the proper mechanism, getting the right device to the right employee.

“Persona development is a big thing for us as we work with clients now, as are performance-based refreshes, device analytics and telemetry and then, ultimately, once those devices are delivered, making sure we’re patching the right software and the right vulnerabilities are covered off.”

CDW is there to support its clients at all levels so that their IT departments can focus on mission-critical tasks, concluded Hardy.

“We can work with organizations at all levels. We can help you plan your procurement or develop a lifecycle strategy. We can help you with disposition of your devices. We can help you with penetration testing. We can help you with your refreshes.

“The list goes on, but the beauty is we have one benefit that most organizations don't have, which is we're exposed to so many different environments, so we do bring a lot of experience and a lot of background to each and every customer interaction.”