Changing your remote access provider can be compared to buying a new family car. You need to make sure that the new vehicle is to the whole family’s liking. But you also need to choose something that caters to all your needs, present and future. And it must have the right aftersales service. Not to mention that the price must be one that you can afford.
What does all this car buying talk have to do with switching to a new remote access solution, though? As you’ll see below, quite a few things.
Remote access used to be something that the IT department used. Not anymore; this type of software is now an integral part of most organizations’ daily life. Choosing the wrong solution for your needs can have dire consequences.
Who Makes the Decision?
Quite a few stakeholders can be involved in the decision of changing solutions. Their number and position in the organization depend, in most cases, on the company’s size. Of course, it’s also influenced by the complexity of the use case.
The classic case is the one in which only helpdesk uses the solution. Therefore, the helpdesk manager decides what they want and, provided the budget is available, they buy it.
If end users are utilizing the solution to access company resources, they may have an input. Or the IT department could make the decision for them, based on suitability, security, price etc.
In larger organizations, where the use of the solution is very wide-ranging, the decision will generally lie with the heads of the IT department.
If security is the main factor and confidential information will be accessed using the solution, the cybersecurity department will need to sign it off as well.
Last but not least, the finance department must be mentioned. No matter how much all the other departments support switching to a certain solution, it won’t happen if it’s over the available budget.
Change Resistance
Even if there is a proposal to switch to a new product, and said product ticks all the boxes, there still might be change resistance. This can have multiple causes, such as:
- Product familiarity – “it’s not great, but we’ve been using it for a long time, and we’re used to it”.
- Total cost of ownership – a secure, feature-filled solution will cost more to use than something free, but seriously lacking in many aspects.
- Change appetite – the department might be reluctant to learning new things.
What Gets in the Way of Switching to a New Solution?
However, let’s say that there is a real desire to transition to a new remote access solution from all the important stakeholders. Change resistance has also been mostly overcome, as everyone is on-board. The solution also ticks most of the boxes.
In this case, what stops a company from a remote access switch? Here are some possible reasons:
- Deployment roadmap – deploying a solution to 15 machines is not the same as deploying to 2000. If the solution’s deployment isn’t simple and the company needs it to scale up with it in the future, they might have an issue.
- Realism of switching time – work with your available vendors and get their feedback on a time they’ve worked with a similar sized company. Find out how it took for them to start seeing the benefits of changing solution and see if that suits your needs.
- Development roadmap – the company knows that its needs will grow in the future and requires certain features at that point. Will the new solution have them by that point, or will they have to switch again?
- Feedback loop – teething issues are to be expected when switching to a new solution. How good is the relationship with the remote access provider? Is feedback considered and actioned immediately?
All these dilemmas need solutions before you commit to a new solution.
What Should the Right Remote Access Solution Have?
But what should that remote access solution have to convince you to jump all the hoops we discussed above? What are the must-haves and nice-to haves for a modern, secure remote access solution?
That’s something we’ll discuss in the second part of this article, so make sure you keep an eye on the RealVNC blog to be to first to read it.
