These are the strategic goals of IT managers in Croatia

The fourth Combis Technology Day was marked by the results of a survey conducted by Combis and IDC on the strategic goals of IT managers for 2016, as well as innovative solutions for business.

Combis conducted a survey among the IT community in Croatia just before the Technology Day. The results showed that the main strategic goals of IT managers in Croatia are reducing IT costs (42 percent) and strengthening the connection between IT and business (41%), followed by improving/redesigning business processes (39%).

A survey conducted by IDC in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) market was also presented. According to it, the top priority for IT managers in the CEE region is implementing changes and executing transformation (38%), followed by strengthening the connection between IT and business (36%), and more efficient use of corporate data (34%).

– There is an increasingly strong connection between business development and IT, which detects processes that contribute to the efficiency and stability of business and introduces increasingly advanced optimization. However, as our results have shown, there is still strong pressure to reduce IT costs. Following these trends, today we present advanced business solutions that enable business development through technology, taking into account costs, especially the speed of IT service implementation, emphasized Domagoj Pehar, the content director of this year’s Combis Technology Day and technical director of the IP communications sector at Combis.

Pehar adds that companies need to think long-term, which is proof that they believe in their business future and should bravely turn towards technology development and creating an environment within the company in such a way that IT becomes one of the significant drivers of innovation in business.

At the continuation of the Combis Technology Day, two case studies of disaster recovery implementation were presented using leading solutions for enterprise virtualization and data replication between multiple data centers. Advanced solutions were also presented in terms of security – participants could hear how to prevent threats before, during, and after an attack using Cisco security solutions. In terms of infrastructure, we discussed the advantages of integrated infrastructure and the VersaStack solution developed in collaboration between Cisco and IBM.

A lot of attention was drawn to an innovation from Cisco that enables a robust WAN network for demanding applications without significant investment. This is the concept of Cisco Intelligent WAN (IWAN), which is application-aware, optimally utilizing all available capacities of primary and backup links while considering the business importance of applications. Among the topics presented, a presentation on the Combis Big Data platform – Husky stood out. This advanced data solution provides various capabilities such as heat maps, displays of movement of people in a certain area, for example, tourists, as well as transactions on a daily or monthly basis. Husky provides insights into the behavior patterns of potential customers or users where no one else recognizes them, making it an essential tool for competitive business across a range of economic sectors.