Compose a 750 words assignment on hardware and software standardisation. Needs to be plagiarism free!

Compose a 750 words assignment on hardware and software standardisation. Needs to be plagiarism free! From a recent survey done by Symantec involving 500 global companies, it was observed that nearly 50% of those companies "still struggle to manage complex infrastructure built on different hardware and software from different vendors". (Courtney) Upgrading and troubleshooting can be much easier with a standardised set of hardware. Configuring and installing patch upgrades to software also becomes simpler, easing the burden on network administrators. In a heterogeneous environment (i.e. one with many different hardware and software platforms) different expertise will be required for configuration and administration, thus increasing the complexity of administration.

Cost reductions are possible due to bulk purchasing. Hardware can be purchased at discounts when buying in multiple units. Software licensing costs can be reduced by applying for volume licensing. Instead of getting per-seat licenses, companies can negotiate for flat licensing schemes which do not depend on the number of seats. (Schweitzer)

End user training becomes much simpler with a standard set of software. The support staff finds it easy to troubleshoot queries from end users resulting in minimum disruption for work. Moving within divisions and branches will be without the pain of learning a new set of applications every time an employee changes location.