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Managing IT Inflation Without Sacrificing Outcomes
Technology has always changed quickly. What’s different now is how fast costs are rising and how often organizations are caught off guard. Across software subscriptions, infrastructure hardware, and cloud platforms, many IT leaders are seeing budgets hold steady while pricing moves in the opposite direction.
This gap is what many teams are calling IT inflation: sustained cost increases across the technology stack that outpace normal budget growth. The result is familiar: renewal shock, delayed projects, and difficult conversations between IT, finance, and the business.
The goal isn’t to stop spending. It’s to spend smarter and avoid surprises.
Next-Generation Disaster Recovery: Building Cyber Resilience Before the Next Attack
Downtime is no longer hypothetical. Ransomware, supply chain attacks, cloud outages, power failures, and natural disasters can bring even well-funded IT organizations to their knees — and the consequences go far beyond an inconvenient afternoon. Financial losses, regulatory penalties, reputational damage, and in public-sector environments, real risks to public safety.
The uncomfortable truth? Most organizations are not as resilient as they think. In a recent assessment of a large transportation agency, ANM discovered that one-third of their production systems — including critical file servers — had zero data protection in place. Nobody realized it until a formal audit surfaced the gap. That agency would not have survived weeks without those systems.
This post captures the key insights from ANM’s Director of Data Center & Cloud, David Abbott, shared during a recent webinar on next-generation disaster recovery. Whether you are just getting started or looking to mature an existing DR program, the framework below gives you a practical, incremental path forward.
Creating a Safer Learning Environment with Cloud-Based School Security Platforms
Schools today face a growing responsibility: creating environments where students and staff feel safe while keeping campuses open, collaborative, and welcoming. Administrators must balance physical safety, cybersecurity, student privacy, and operational efficiency — all while responding faster to incidents when they occur.
Traditional security approaches built around isolated cameras, on-premises recorders, and disconnected access systems simply cannot keep up. Modern campuses need unified, cloud-managed security platforms that provide real-time visibility, secure access control, and AI-driven alerts so staff can move from reactive response to proactive prevention.
This is where cloud-based physical security platforms are changing how schools protect their communities.
What IT & Security Leaders Need to Know About Quantum Computing Fundamentals
Technology headlines move fast, and it’s not always clear which innovations require action today and which are still on the horizon. Quantum computing sits right at that intersection. While practical quantum systems are still emerging, their long-term impact, especially on cybersecurity, is significant enough that IT leaders should understand what’s coming.
In our recent ANM Pathways webinar, we broke down quantum computing in practical terms: what it is, how it differs from classical computing, where it will have impact, and why security teams should begin preparing now.
Cisco 360: What the New Partner Program Means for Customers and Why It Matters
Cisco has officially launched Cisco 360, a complete overhaul of its iconic partner program, and it’s more than a structural refresh. It’s a strategic shift that aligns how partners are measured, rewarded, and discovered with how customers actually buy, deploy, and operate technology in an AI-driven, hybrid world.
For customers, Cisco 360 signals a move away from transactional relationships and toward partners who can deliver outcomes across the full technology lifecycle — from architecture and deployment to adoption, optimization, and ongoing services.
In this post, we explore what Cisco 360 really means and why it’s important.
SASE: The New Baseline for Modern Enterprise Security
For years, networks were built like fortresses—everything tucked safely inside a data center with a hard perimeter and a single drawbridge. It worked when users and applications lived inside the walls. That world is gone.
Microsoft 365 Pricing & Feature Updates Coming July 1, 2026: What It Means for You
Microsoft has announced a major update to Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plans, effective July 1, 2026. While this includes a price increase for some SKUs, it also delivers significant added value by bundling advanced security and management features that previously required separate add-ons.
AI-Driven Security Operations in an AI-vs-AI World
Today’s threats are evolving faster than ever. Traditional security operations centers (SOCs) and manual processes can no longer keep pace with the sophistication and speed of modern attacks.
This is where AI-driven Security Operations (SecOps) is becoming a practical approach that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to enhance visibility, accelerate response, and reduce complexity.
Microsoft Ignite 2025: Copilot and Agents Power the Next Frontier of Work
Microsoft Ignite 2025 has set the stage for a new era of AI-driven business transformation. This year’s theme centers on Frontier Firm, organizations that embed AI across every layer of their operations to scale faster, deliver more value, and innovate with confidence.
The announcements highlight how Microsoft Copilot, AI agents, and new agentic capabilities are redefining productivity, security, and cloud operations.
Microsoft in 2025: What’s Brewing in Redmond
The pace of Microsoft innovation hasn’t slowed in 2025. If anything, it’s accelerating. From new Copilot capabilities to deeper AI orchestration, Microsoft is clearly positioning itself as more than a productivity software company. It’s building a platform where AI is woven into every workflow, every app, and every role.
Here are some of the biggest Microsoft announcements so far in 2025, and why they matter.
The Future of Wi-Fi: Why Wi-Fi 7 Changes Everything
Wireless connectivity has become the backbone of modern business and daily life. With billions of devices competing for bandwidth and the rise of IoT, legacy Wi-Fi architectures are struggling to keep up.
But Wi-Fi 7 promises to be a game-changer with faster speeds, lower latency, and smarter management powered by AI.
Beyond the Firewall: Why Cybersecurity Platforms Are Gaining Steam
Every IT professional knows, complexity is the enemy of security. During our recent ANM Pathways webinar, held in partnership with Cisco for Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we explored how integrated cybersecurity platforms are reshaping enterprise security, making it more scalable, efficient, and resilient.
Joined by Lou Norman, a seasoned Multi-Domain Architect for Security at Cisco, ANM’s Cybersecurity Director, Robert Ochoa, unpacked the shift from fragmented point solutions to unified platforms, and why this transition is critical for modern organizations.