It is widely accepted that aging IT is one of the biggest threats to modern businesses. Today’s agent-based security software, while originally developed as a technological advancement, comes at great cost to IT departments and, over time, leaves security systems in a vulnerable state. Fortunately, agentless, cloud-based software solutions are available to help IT managers foster greater enterprise security as well as flexibility and ease of use in IT infrastructure.
Agent-based concerns
Agent-based software systems can pose significant security and management concerns for organizations, mostly due to the way agent-based software must be deployed onto all user endpoints of the IT infrastructure. The following are just a few of the major issues that come from using agent software:
- Inventory – Whenever the agent software becomes disabled on a machine, the machine will no longer show up in your equipment inventory. This is a major issue for tracking hardware and software equipment that is lost, stolen or destroyed.
- Complexity – Installing agent-based software across all user endpoints is a time-consuming task, requiring additional attention and resources when it’s time to update software. Maintaining the server and all endpoints is an even bigger issue for large enterprise systems. Scanning agent software on all devices also drastically slows down the speed of the IT network. On-premises hosts are needed to manage this type of infrastructure.
- Reliability – Agent software reliability is another major concern for organizations that rely heavily on this type of software system. Whenever there is an agent software failure, the entire software system has to be restarted manually. Also, most agent software systems do not support SSL, and for the systems that do, the configuration is often complex and lengthy.
Agentless solutions
Cloud-based, agentless software solutions help modernize enterprise security and management concerns in several ways. The key benefit in using agentless solutions is that they offer the same features of agent-based software but at a lower price and in a more time-efficient manner. Agentless software also stores data more securely off premises at a vendor’s distributed data center. Only a web-browser and a dissolvable client are needed for IT managers to take nearly instant remote control of end-user devices from anywhere. There is also no longer a need for an on-premises host since this system is managed from the cloud.
IT departments are free to focus on other projects, given that time-constricting tasks associated with agent-based models are no longer necessary. Patching from within the network using cloud-based solutions is another helpful tool used for increasing security and making IT management more efficient. Packages go directly from the cloud to the network, eliminating WAN traffic by using a virtual representative that only has to be deployed once inside the enterprise system’s firewall. The virtual representative maintains secure connections between the network and the cloud for an ideal level of security and ease in the IT infrastructure.
Cloud-based IT solutions are moving the world forward one new innovation at a time. By switching to an agentless software model, enterprise security and management systems can increase the efficiency and impact of businesses abroad.
Ashley Leonard is the president and CEO of Verismic Software, a global industry leader providing cloud-based IT management technology. With over 25 years of experience in enterprise software, sales and operational leadership, Leonard founded Verismic in 2012, establishing it as the leading provider of IT endpoint management solutions delivered from the cloud. Verismic’s latest offering, Cloud Management Suite, is an agentless, cloud-based IT management software solution that is revolutionizing the way IT professionals engage in endpoint management.