Ana Lamelas

apml

Content and Digital Coordinator

Technology Trends 2024: a perspective on the future

5 SECONDS-SUMMARY:
  • At Xpand IT, our teams drive digital transformation, shape companies’ data journeys, lead transformative customer experiences, deliver cloud services, and harness artificial intelligence’s full potential.
  • In this article, our partners will explore and give you their vision about five technology trends for 2024 that will mark the upcoming years in the IT industry: Platform Engineering, Augmented Connected Workforce, Generative AI, Intelligent Applications and Customer Experience.

Organisations must stay updated on the latest technology trends in a rapidly evolving technological landscape to remain competitive and adapt to swift changes. With 20 years of experience, Xpand IT is a global technology consultancy aiming to find the best solutions in distinct but complementary areas such as data journeys, the cloud, customer experience, artificial intelligence and workplace transformation. As experts in the fields we work in daily, this content aims to bring new insights into the technology trends identified for this year.
Using sources such as Gartner, Forrester and IDC, we analysed the most recent studies on technology trends for 2024 and identified five trends we think will shape the year ahead and may have a direct short-term impact on businesses.

Our analysis is based on themes such as platform engineering, augmented connected workforce, generative AI, intelligent applications and customer experience. The five videos below aim to deepen Xpand IT’s perspective on these technology trends for 2024 and show the vision we deliver in each area discussed.

Platform engineering: a paradigm shift

Nuno Barreto, Partner and Big Data Lead, emphasises the importance of platform engineering as a key technological trend for the future. This approach has transformed how applications are deployed, promoting greater flexibility and efficiency.

The sector’s evolution shows a transition from traditional administrative tasks to more complex platform engineering roles focused on delivering value. Nuno Barreto comments, „The cloud has played a significant role in accelerating this trend. Platform engineering has been a distinct division within our team for over eight years, demonstrating our long-standing commitment to this innovative approach.“

Augmented connected workforce: embracing generative AI

Francisco Costa, Partner and Enterprise Solutions Lead, discusses the transformative potential of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in creating connected and augmented workforces. By automating everyday tasks, generative AI allows teams to focus their work time on differentiating functions that add value to the company, thereby improving their productivity.

Francisco Costa states, „Generative AI is not just a tool but a team member. It is essential for optimising our workflows and decision-making processes.“ The example of Atlassian Intelligence illustrates how organisations can use AI to deepen data analysis, enhance workflows and make more strategic decisions.

Generative AI: the new frontier in technology

Luís Vicente, the Partner and Data Science Lead, emphasises the recent popularity of generative AI, marked by the emergence of tools like ChatGPT. While its impact is undeniable, challenges such as talent scarcity, ethical concerns and the need for transparent investment strategies remain.

Luís Vicente underlines, „Despite its potential, the journey with generative AI is complex and requires a nuanced understanding of its technical and ethical dimensions.“

Intelligent applications: redefining data analysis

Ricardo Pires, Partner and Business Intelligence Lead, explores the world of Intelligent Applications, emphasising their role in improving analytics and decision-making. The emergence of generative AI has expanded the potential of applications, enriched the analytical context and promoted continuous improvement cycles.

Ricardo Pires also observes, „The emergence of intelligent applications represents a significant advance in how we use data, providing unprecedented insights and enabling more intuitive interaction with data.“

Customer experience: the digital-physical convergence

Sergio Viana, Partner and Digital Experience Lead, discusses the evolution of customer experience in the digital age. According to the experts, companies must integrate technology to create unique and memorable experiences that help them stand out.

He also advocates a holistic approach where the digital and physical realms converge, improving user engagement at all touchpoints. He notes that „the merging of digital and physical experiences, supported by technologies such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality, presents a significant opportunity for brands to connect with their audiences on a deeper level.“

As 2024 unfolds, we observe that generative AI emerges as one of the most significant pillars in the technological world. It promises to transform companies‘ internal operations and customer interactions and optimise their experiences. By betting on and investing in this technology, companies can revolutionise their decision-making processes and project operational efficiency. Adopting generative AI, platform engineering, and intelligent applications is essential for organisations seeking to remain competitive and ensure innovation.
To address challenges such as talent scarcity and ethical issues associated with AI, organisations must adopt strategies focused on continuous learning, collaboration between areas, and developing clear policies that regulate the ethical use of new technologies. Integrating AI in connected and augmented work environments improves the productivity of teams and companies. It redefines our interaction with machines and technologies, paving new paths for future developments and innovations.

Investing in solutions based on these trends is about maintaining relevance and setting the stage for future growth and transformation.

Ana LamelasTechnology Trends 2024: a perspective on the future
read more

Global technology company Xpand IT reaches the German market

The German market has now a new player in the technology area. The Global company Xpand IT has just announced its arrival to the market, through the opening of a new subsidiary in Fulda, Germany. 

Xpand IT is a technology company with 20 years of history and a strong presence in more than 30 countries. The company has a wide range of services and specializes in Big Data, Business Intelligence & Analytics, Data Science, Systems Integration, CRM, Digital Xperience, Collaboration Solutions and User Experience. One of the company’s focuses is innovation, with R&D areas focusing on the development of new software products. 

The company has been growing year after year and is fully committed to executing a comprehensive expansion plan. In addition to its presence in Portugal, it has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Croatia and now Germany. The investment in the German market intends, above all, to provide reliable IT services by ensuring broad and deep technical expertise from the best-skilled people in the market.  

The German subsidiary will focus on providing a compelling IT consultancy offer to serve the market demand for topics such as app modernization, data, and artificial intelligence, as well as follow companies along on their digital transformation journeys. The German team will be focused on the business areas of Big Data, Business Intelligence, Digital Xperience and Enterprise Solutions, having also as partners Microsoft, Databricks, Confluent, Cloudera, Hitachi Vantara, Atlassian and WSO2. 

Currently, Xpand IT is looking to recruit talent in Germany for all business units, with the intention that the new employees will work together with the Xpand IT team internationally.  

This is another important step in the internationalization of Xpand IT, and it made perfect sense for us to be present in the German market, especially because it is a market that increasingly needs qualified talent in the area. We intend to be a trusted advisor for German companies, experts in technology and in disruptive and customized solutions, just as we already are in many other markets.

Paulo Lopes, CEO of Xpand IT

Above all, we believe that Xpand IT will be an asset for German companies, by providing a range of services that meet the current needs of these same companies, such as Cloud Modernization and Data Analytics.

Stefan Müller, General Manager of Xpand IT in Germany
Ana LamelasGlobal technology company Xpand IT reaches the German market
read more

3 myths and 3 truths about Jira Software: is it just a tool for IT teams?

Jira Software is a management platform that allows teams to manage all stages of their work, assign tasks to different members and track and make reports. But what are the hidden truths we can reveal about this platform? Get to know 3 myths and 3 truths about Jira and see what you think about this planning software.

Myth 1: Jira is just for technical teams

Let’s get this myth out of the way directly: Jira Software was not designed just for technical teams! Even though its development originated through software development practices and the respective stages of the process, from testing to deploy, Jira Software can be adapted to any reality for any team. Evidence of this can be found in the implementation of Jira by Xpand IT in an individual institution for social solidarity, Associação Crescerbem, or even the adaptation of the software for our Marketing team, who were then able to start working using Scrum methodology.

In reality, the size of the team does not matter, nor the field or industry, because Jira Software could be just the solution to improve productivity and organisation you’ve been looking for. If you want to know more about this myth, watch the talk Agility for All by Sofia Neto Canário, our Collaboration & Dev Tools Manager. You will see we are right.

Myth 2: Implementing Jira Software makes your team automatically more agile

Even though Jira Software may be a tool meant for agile teams, and even though it can improve productivity and organisation, all the problems of your team will not disappear like magic as soon as you implement it. Implementing Jira Software is only a piece of the puzzle you are trying to put together. In order to make yours a truly agile team, you will also need to change your mindset and theirs.

Your leadership will not benefit from a planning and reporting tool if you are not available to follow the good practices of the Agile manifesto – some of which you can read here. This may seem like just another inspirational quote, but the truth is that “change starts with how you think”. Jira Software is the supplement that makes those thoughts real, more practical and more agile by implementing a collaborative mentality in your teams.

Myth 3: With Jira, you don’t need other communication tools

Jira is a tool that works at its best alongside other tools within the Atlassian ecosystem. So, you cannot expect that it will improve communication in your teams by itself – nor was it developed for that purpose.

Communication between team members, in person or remotely, is essential for keeping projects on track and resolving any obstacles that may arise. Furthermore, there are other options such as Jira Service Desk or Confluence that, alongside each other, enhance communication and promote, once again, collaboration not only between the members of the same team, but across the whole of your organisation.

Now that we have unravelled these 3 recurring myths about Jira Software, feel free to contact us if you need to implement Jira Software or any of other Atlassian tools.

Ana Lamelas3 myths and 3 truths about Jira Software: is it just a tool for IT teams?
read more

Experience Economy: 3 trends for 2020

The concept of ‘experience economy’ is not new, but clear recognition and awareness of it by businesses is now driven by the possibilities offered by the digital age and growing use of so-called edge devices (smartwatches, smart TVs, smart cars, home assistants… ).

Joseph Pine and James Gilmore theorised about us, as modern consumers, and woke us up to the reality that we seek something more from economic transactions; that a purchase is no longer just a simple exchange of money for a product or service. We are ever more demanding, and we increasingly seek memorable experiences. That’s why the authors argue that every sale to a customer should be treated as a standalone event.

But when does a service make the transition and can be considered an experience? When it is highly customised. As Joseph Pine said, „There’s an antidote to commoditisation; and it’s called customisation“. When we design an offer that is completely appropriate and perfectly customised for a particular customer, we move beyond service to a value-added experience – and, in fact, we are willing to pay a much higher price to enjoy this.

One of the typical examples of this ‘fourth dimension of economic supply’ is Starbucks. When we go to Starbucks, we don’t say we’re going to have a cup of coffee – because we’re not. What we really look forward to is the experience; the decor, the aroma, the barista coffee shop, the special Halloween or Christmas editions, meeting up with friends and because we’re always treated as a unique, special customer. We even get called by our name. At Starbucks, a simple commodity – coffee – becomes a true premium experience. And that’s the secret. Look at other similar examples such as Uber, Spotify or Airbnb.

Currently, the possibilities of offering differentiating experiences to consumers are endless, with all the technology that we have available and the amount of data that we can collect, and mobile applications will have to be a strong bet if companies want to really retain their customers. For example, what a consumer with small children wants is a notification that milk or nappies are on offer today, right as they walk through the doors of the supermarket, even if these items were not on their shopping list – experience!

3 trends for 2020

1. Operational data vs. experience data

„Data is the new oil”, right? Right. However, is the data collected today what a brand most needs to be able to give its customers the best experience?

In the experimental economy what really counts is emotion, feelings and values. And data collection is often focused on operational data without taking into account these more human aspects. Therefore, as mentioned in the talk Customer Directions: Five-Star Experience Economy, regarding the IDC Directions 2019, companies should focus on 5 fundamental principles:

  • Personalisation (get to know your customer and talk to them to in order to understand their lifestyle, consumption habits, etc.);
  • Trust (sending the message to customers that the brand will never fail them);
  • Empathy (respecting every customer and their emotions);
  • Delivery; and
  • Engagement (ability to relate to consumers).

With the customer at the heart of companies‘ concerns and with systems prepared to gather this kind of insight – with powerful CMS, for example – it will become easier to use what they know about us to our advantage.

2. Personalisation, personalisation, personalisation

The personalisation of interactions must be assured throughout all communications. It is not enough for us to receive different emails from our friends, taking into account our consumption habits: we also want to receive customised newsletters, push notifications at the right time, messages containing personalised discounts… Basically, consumers want brands to anticipate their needs and be able to answer their questions as these needs unfold.

3. Distribution of the omni-channel experience

If I put a product in my basket on a website, I hope the same product will appear on my mobile application. The experience must be common to the various channels of a brand, and this omniscience begins on digital platforms and ends on the devices supporting our daily lives, which are now increasingly intelligent; watches, cars, televisions and even washing machines (75% of the data generated today already comes from edge devices).

Conclusion

We live in a fully digital age, and the way we perceive the world, how we relate, how we consume services or products has changed completely. Brands have to focus more and more on the experience they offer their consumers if they want to capture our attention in the increasingly competitive virtual universe.

Pine and Gilmore predicted that companies would have to focus their business on the experiences they offer their consumers, and that it’s that memory of these experiences that becomes their product – the companies/brands that have the ability to create and offer this angle find their competitive advantage in this model.

Ana LamelasExperience Economy: 3 trends for 2020
read more

A new strategic market: we’ve arrived in Sweden!

Xpand IT is a Portuguese company supported by Portuguese investment, and it is extraordinary how quickly we have expanded within Portugal. At the end of 2018, the company realised a growth of 45% and a revenue of around 15 million euros, which led Xpand IT to be distinguished in the Financial Times’ Ranking of 2019 (FT1000: Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies). Xpand IT was one of just three Portuguese technology companies to be featured in this ranking.

However, Xpand IT always seeks to grow further. We want to share our expertise with all four corners of the world and deliver a little bit of our culture to all our customers. It is true that Xpand IT’s international involvement has been increasing substantially, with 46.5% of our revenue coming from international customers at the end of last year.

This growth has been supported by two main focal points: exploring strategic markets such as Germany and the United Kingdom (where we now have a branch and an office), and strong leverage of the product we register. Xray and Xporter, both associated with Atlassian ecosystems, are used by more than 5 thousand customers in more than 90 countries! And new products are expected this year, in both artificial intelligence (Digital Xperience) and business intelligence.

This year, Xpand IT’s internationalisation strategy is to invest in new strategic markets in Europe: namely the Nordic countries. Sweden will be the first country focused on, but the goal is to expand our initiatives to the rest of them: Norway, Denmark and Finland.

There are already various commercial initiatives in this market, and we can count on support from partners such as Microsoft, Hitachi Vantara and Cloudera, all already well-established in countries like Sweden. Moreover, cultural barriers and different time zones do not represent a significant impact, which make this strategy an attractive investment prospect for 2019.

In the words of Paulo Lopes, CEO & Senior Partner at Xpand IT: “We are extremely proud of the growth the company has experienced in recent years and expect this success to keep on going. Xpand IT has been undergoing its internationalisation process for a few years now. However, we are presently entering a 2nd phase, where we will actively invest in new markets where we know that our technological expertise paired with a unique team and unique culture can definitely make a difference. We believe that Sweden makes the right starting point for investment in the Nordic market. Soon we will be able to give you even more good news about this project!…”

Ana LamelasA new strategic market: we’ve arrived in Sweden!
read more

Zwoox – Simplify your Data Ingestion

Zwoox is a data ingestion tool, developed by Xpand IT, that facilitates data imports and structuring into a Hadoop cluster.

This tool is highly scalable, thanks to its complete integration with Cloudera Enterprise Data Hub, and takes full advantage of several different Hadoop technologies, such as Spark, Hbase and Kafka. Zwoox eliminates the need to encode data pipelines ‘by hand’, regardless of the data source.

One of Zwoox’s biggest advantages is its capability to accelerate data ingestions, offering numerous options for data import and allowing real-time RDBMS DML replications for Hadoop data structures.

Despite the number of different tools that allow data import for Hadoop clusters, only Zwoox is capable of executing the import in an accessible, efficient and highly scalable manner, maintaining data in HDFS (with Hive tables) or Kudu.

Some of the possibilities offered by Zwoox:

  • Automation and partitioning in HDFS;
  • Translation of data types;
  • Full or delta upload;
  • Audit charts (with full history) without impacting on performance;
  • Derivation of new columns with pre-defined functions or “pluggable” code;
  • Operational integration with Cloudera Manager.

This tool is available on Cloudera Solutions Center and will be available soon on Xpand IT’s website. Meanwhile, you can access our informative document. If you’d like to learn more about Zwoox or data ingestion, please contact us.

Ana LamelasZwoox – Simplify your Data Ingestion
read more

Biometric technology for recognition

Nowadays it is more essential than ever to ensure that users feel safe when using a service, a mobile app and when registering on a website. The user’s priority is to know that their data is properly protected. And consequently biometric technology for recognition plays an increasingly crucial role as one of the safest and most efficient ways to authenticate user access to mobile devices, personal email accounts and even online bank accounts.

Biometrics has become one of the fastest, safest and most efficient ways to provide protection to individuals, not only because it is a requirement of authentication for each person as a citizen of a country – considering that fingerprints are some of the data collected and stored for legal purposes and documents – but also because it is the most casual (and reliable) way to protect our cellphones. The advantages of using biometric technology for recognition are efficiency, precision, convenience and scalability.

In IT, biometrics is primarily found connected to identity verification by using a person’s physical or behavioral features – fingerprints, facial recognition, voice recognition and even retina/iris recognition. We are referring to technologies that measure and analyze features of the human body as a way to allow or deny access.

But how does this identification work in the backend? Software that recognises specific points of presented data as starting points. These starting points are then processed and transported to a database which, in turn, uses an algorithm that converts information into a numeric value. It is this value that is compared to a user’s registered biometric entry, the scanner detected and the user’s authentication approved or denied, depending on whether there is a match or not.

The process of recognition can be carried out in two ways: comparing one value to others or comparing one value to another. The process of recognition of one value to others happens when the sample of a user is submitted to a system and compared to samples of other individuals; while the process of authentication of one value to another works with only one user, comparing the provided data to previously submitted data – as with our mobile devices.

There are countless biometric readings, these being some of the most common:

  1. Fingerprinting (one of the most used, economical biometric technologies for recognition, since it has a significant degree of accuracy. In this type of verification, various points of a finger are analysed, such as endings and unique arches). Examples: apps from Médis, MBWay or Revolut;
  2. Facial recognition using a facial image of the user, composed of various identification points on the face, with the ability to define the distance between the eyes and the nose, for example, and the bone structure and lines of each feature of the face. This reading has some percentage of failure, depending on whether the user has a beard or sunglasses. Examples: Apple’s Face ID;
  3. Voice recognition (recognition is carried out from an analysis of the vocal patterns of an individual, adding a combination of physical and behavioral factors). However, it is not of the most reliable method of recognition). Examples: Siri, from Apple, or Alexa, from Amazon;
  4. Retina/iris recognition (being the least used, retina/iris recognition works by storing lines and geometric patterns – in the case of the iris – and with the blood vessels in the eyes – in the case of the retina. Reliability is very high, but so are the costs, which makes this method of recognition less often used). Read this article on identity recognition in the banking industry;
  5. Writing style (behavioural biometrics based on writing style) (lastly, a way to authenticate a user through their writing – for example, a signature – since the pressure on the paper, the speed of the writing and the movements in the air are very difficult to copy. This is one of the oldest authentication tools, used mainly in the banking industry). Read the article on Read API, Microsoft Azure.
Ana LamelasBiometric technology for recognition
read more

5 Business Intelligence books you have to read

At Xpand IT, we believe that business intelligence goes way beyond reports and dashboards. We are expert providers of BI solutions, developing projects with the ever-present goal of adding value to any business. Many companies have already placed their bets on data analysis software, recognising the huge potential that such insights represent to progress. However, there is still a small percentage of companies unable to recognise the proper value of internal data analyses and which, therefore, choose not to provide them to their clients. And so, we’ve picked 5 great business intelligence books for you to read, to help you discover more about adopting a complete BI strategy suited to your own situation. In this digital era, we’ve chosen physical formats to help you understand modern BI strategies that you can implement, going way beyond the standard pattern.

As stated by John Owen: “Data is what you need to do analytics. Information is what you need to do business.”

1. Business Intelligence Guidebook: From Data Integration to Analytics

1st Edition, November 2014

This is one of the more comprehensive books about business intelligence and data integration, touching on simple topics as well as vastly more complex architecture. The author guarantees that after reading this book you will be able to develop a BI project, launch it, manage it, and deliver it on time and to a budget. You will also be able to implement a complete strategy for your company – supported by the tools he introduces.

If you’re looking for a reliable source of information, capable of explaining the best practices, the best approaches, and presenting a complete overview of the entire life cycle of a BI project, adaptable for companies of any size, don’t look any further: this is the right book for you.

2. Data Strategy: How to Profit from a World of Big Data, Analytics and the Internet of Things

Bernard Marr – 1st Edition, April 2017

The author starts from the premise that less than 0.5% of all generated data is currently being analysed and used, building a compelling narrative to convince company leaders to invest in business intelligence strategies, focusing on the benefits for business growth.

Complemented with case studies and real examples, this book explains how to translate the data generated by companies into insights to support the strategic decision-making process. This aims to improve companies’ business practices and performance, with a vital combination of Big Data, Analytics and Internet of Things.

3. Agile Data Warehouse Design: Collaborative Dimensional Modeling, from Whiteboard to Star Schema

Lawrence Corr and Jim Stagnitto – 1st Edition, November 2011

This is a book for professionals looking to implement data warehousing and business intelligence requirements, turning them into dimensional models, with the help of BEAM (Business Event Analysis & Modeling) – an agile methodology for dimensional models that aims to improve communication between data warehouse designers, BI stakeholders and their development teams.

If you want to implement this methodology in your company or if you’re just curious about this approach, we strongly recommend you to explore this book, which includes, amongst other topics, subjects such as data modelling, visual modelling and data stories, using the 7 Ws (who, what, when, how many, why and how).

4. Successful Business Intelligence: Unlock the Value of BI & Big Data

Cindi Howson – 2nd Edition, November 2013

This is not the most recent edition, but the wealth of information it contains still makes it one of the best must-have business intelligence books you can read. The author, Research Vice President at Gartner and BI analyst, has conducted a study with the objective of identifying analytics strategies implemented by some of the biggest players in the market.

This book provides much more than just theory. It is a valuable manual that tells stories and lays out successful BI approaches, explaining why the strategies implemented cannot be the same for every company. Additionally, the book includes tips on how to achieve an adequate alignment between a company’s BI strategy and its commercial objectives.

5. Business Intelligence – Da Informação ao Conhecimento

Maribel Yasmina Santos and Isabel Ramos – 3rd Edition, September 2017

This is the only Portuguese book on our list, and it’s very comprehensive, explaining the basic concepts of data analysis and demonstrating how BI technologies can be implemented – from the data warehouse storage process to the analysis of the data (online analytical processing and data mining), outlining how the resulting knowledge can be used by companies to support decision-making.

An essential book, whether you’re a professional searching for a complementary source of information or you’re simply looking for reasons to implement a business intelligence strategy in your company

If you would like to know more about some of the topics mentioned above, or if you want to implement your own BI strategy, get in touch with us today!

Ana Lamelas5 Business Intelligence books you have to read
read more

ITIL: sound practices to improve your IT service management

ITIL is an acronym for Information Technology Infrastructure Library, a set of good practices designed to facilitate a significant improvement to the operation and management of all the IT services within a company. When implemented by an organisation, this set of practices becomes an unequivocally beneficial asset, as it comes with several advantages, such as the improvement of risk management, the strengthening of client relationships, an increase in productivity and reduced costs.

Developed in 1980 by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) – a British government agency – it is the primary framework for sound IT Service Management (ITSM). It began with more than 30 books comprising numerous sources of information, and describing good practices to follow in relation to IT services. Currently, ITIL runs to 5 books covering its various processes and functions (and a total of 26 processes that can be adopted by companies).

In 2005 the framework was finally formally recognised and given the ISO/IEC 20000 Service Management seal of approval for compliance with desired standards, and for being truly aligned with Information Technology best practice.

ITIL went through various revisions and there are now 4 different versions, with the most recent being released at the start of 2019. This updated version maintains a strong focus on automating processes in order to maximise professional time and the business integration of IT departments, in order to improve communication between teams and technical and non-technical staff. Version 4 features new ways to tackle the challenges of modern technology and its main goal is to become ever more agile and cooperative.

Reading current books on the subject simply won’t give you enough background to effectively implement ITIL for your company, however. You need to engage professionals dedicated specifically to the field, and guarantee adequate training and certifications for both the company and these professionals. Current certification, in accordance with the 4th version of ITIL, is divided into two levels: ITIL Foundation and ITIL Master – each one with its own unique examinations and programme content. There are two options under the ITIL Foundation module: ITIL Managing Professional (which certifies an ITIL specialist), and the ITIL Strategic Leaders certification (encompassing both ITIL Strategist and ITIL Leader certificates). After completing foundation accreditation, you can then leap into master level – the highest certification available in ITIL 4. You can review the full scheme using the table below:

ITIL

ITIL is divided into five major areas – Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operations and Continual Service Improvement – and each area has individual processes. Although this framework provides 26 processes in total, companies are not obligated to adopt them in their entirety. It is up to the IT professionals and ultimately the CTO to define appropriate procedures to integrate into teams. Below you can find some examples of the most commonly used processes:

ITIL
Ana LamelasITIL: sound practices to improve your IT service management
read more

8 reasons why you should choose Atlassian solutions on data center version

A data center is an environment that allows to aggregate the necessary infrastructure to assure all systems of an organization keep functioning the right way, or, in this case, to deploy products and/or apps. Data centers are designed to ensure the traffic, processing and store of great amounts of data. Atlassian was specifically designed to work as one more option for your customers who can choose to deploy the products they use on the cloud, server or data center, such as Jira Software, Confluence or Jira Service Desk. Its five fundamentals are: high availability, scalability, performance, safety and, of course, cost.

If you use Atlassian tools, using them on the data center option is now a possibility. But is this the best solution for your company? Find out the 8 reasons why you should choose Atlassian on data center version and which is the best moment to upgrade.

Which are the advantages of Atlassian on data center?

  1. Scalability: Atlassian on data center was specifically designed to grow according to the needs of the companies. You can add nodes to your cluster, without ever needing to worry about performance losses or downtimes (when you plan upgrades, for example, you can activate the read-only feature, which will allow your customers to keep viewing the pages and searching while maintenance works on the background).
  2. High availability: the storage of all information in active clusters allows teams to access to be constantly and without being interrupted, therefore minimizing flaws that may exist on the company’s applications.
  3. SAML 2.0: Atlassian on data center uses this protocol in order to ensure compliance and simplify the login experience. This way, Atlassian ensures that the authentication system is safe (through specific tokens).
  4. Choosing an infrastructure: in the data center model, you can choose to implement the applications on-premise or in IaaS providers, such as Azure or Amazon Web Services.
  5. Disaster Recovery: Atlassian ensures that your business can keep functioning without any problems, with a complete Disaster Recovery strategy, whether the system interruption was total or partial.
  6. Verified ecosystem: all applications developed in data center environment are verified on their turnaround times, scales and databases supports.
  7. Performance warranty: as your organization grows, the need to maintain the quality of the work developed and performance also grow. Atlassian on data center can eliminate everything that sets your team back (for example, through project archiving, which allows you to find the information you are truly looking for).
  8. Control: you can have full control over the compliance, safety and regulation needs.

When should you upgrade?

Atlassian on data center grants you access to the same functionalities, applications and products than the server. Moreover, both options provide almost full control over your data and infrastructure. However, in comparison, the data center has a few advantages – when your company reaches a new growth level – because, for example, the server runs on only one node and the data center runs on multiple nodes.

The data center was precisely designed to accompany the customers of the server model when they grow and their organization reaches maturity. Therefore, when should you upgrade to data center? Have in mind the following variables:

Number of users: how many users access your apps on a daily basis? According to Atlassian, “apps like Jira Software, Confluence or Bitbucket need more stability when they reach 500 or 1000 users. In the care of Jira Service Desk the upgrades usually take place when 50 users are reached”.

Performance: with the growth of your company, its performance also needs to grow proportionally. To ensure that the performance of your systems is maintained, you should assess if the number of users allows to maintain the same quality.

Downtime: assessing the downtime costs for your company is essential. If you think the costs are high and you cannot work with them, maybe your solution may involve assessing your data center model.

Management: do you think you spend too much time managing requests and taking care of issues that should be simple? The data center provides Administrators a possibility to simplify countless tasks, such as take and grant access or manage requests to change passwords.

In case you need to assess which is the best option for your company, do not hesitate and contact us.

Ana Lamelas8 reasons why you should choose Atlassian solutions on data center version
read more