Branch Office Best Practices Newsletter, By Robin Gareiss, Network World, 08/15/06

I’ve discussed the growth rates we’re seeing in branch offices at length. For those who haven’t read it yet, we’re seeing an 8.9% annual growth rate in the number of branch offices organizations are adding to their roster of locations.

The IT/network/telecom staffs are managing seven networking devices at each location, and potentially dozens of servers and up to hundreds of desktops/laptops.

While the number of locations and devices continues to increase, the number of people to manage the IT in those locations/devices is holding steady (and depending on the organization, even decreasing).

So doing the math brings me to the same conclusion: Services are becoming increasingly vital to running an effective branch-office strategy.

The type and number of services can vary widely. Some organizations are starting to outsource their network infrastructure entirely, leaving internal staff members to deal with mobility and collaboration strategies, application development, or IT/business analysis.

Others are using services for a piece or pieces of the puzzle. For example, some organizations use managed remote access providers, such as Megapath, to handle the connectivity to their branch offices. Others use vendors such as LANDesk to oversee desktop management and support. And others rely upon major carriers, such as AT&T or Verizon, or second-tier carriers, such as Global Crossing, Masergy, or Broadwing, to take care of managed VoIP/video-over-IP services.

Moving forward, I expect to see other players - including systems integrators, vendors, carriers, value-added resellers, and others - offer “services.” What type? Professional, hosted, managed and outsourced.

The bottom line for those trying to maintain a consistent strategy when it comes to branch office management is to leverage services. Of course, you’ll need an individual or a team to manage those relationships, but a well-managed service relationship can prevent significant headaches for the internal IT staff.