Today's employees are heavily dependent on technology for their everyday work. We're using more technology, have access to more data, and are collaborating and evolving work in so many different ways. Not to mention the fact we want to have the same on-demand and easy-access experience with our business technology that we have when hailing a rideshare or ordering food with our smartphones.All of these changes make it pretty hard for IT professionals to manage it all. They're turning to various combinations of on-premise and cloud solutions to manage all of the high availability and high-performance data centers needed to power the complex technology their business and employees demand.

And just like their fellow colleagues, they want to have a similar easy, on-demand experience with the tools they use to manage their data and infrastructure. Tools that scale easily, integrate automation and AI functionality, and allow them to maintain smooth operation for their business. Here are 5 things to look for in a data center management solution.

What to look for in a management solution:

1. Different deployment options:  Depending on your situation, you may want a self-hosted, an on-premise, or even public cloud deployment. Regardless of your needs, your ideal tools should allow for whatever you need.

2. Integration with other applications in your tool stack: There are many solutions available to you, so if you already have a preference for an application suite, consider adding that vendor's management solution to your tech stack. It'll make integration overall easier to do, since you're already set up with that vendor's requirements.

E.g. if you've already got a few other Atlassian products, adding in Data Center is easier to do, since you can integrate it with your existing backend Atlassian data stores, APIs, and more.

3. Add users easily: How many users do you have accessing your applications every day? You'll want to choose a tool that makes it easy to add users, but one that can also handle the increased usage by your user base.

4. Good performance at higher usage rates: Another consideration is how good the management tool performs when it's under high usage. This is especially important with large user bases that are spread out around the world. Make sure to look at the loads at various times throughout the day to ensure your choice works for you. After all, your morning is somebody else's afternoon or evening, right?

5. Manage highly complex data center configurations: Most businesses use multiple data instances to handle all of the information we need to work, so your new data center management tool must be able to handle multiple instances and nodes. Not only will the tool need to be able to handle multiple instances and nodes, but it will also need to mature with your business and handle the more complex requirements of future data usage.

Today's IT professionals need robust and easily scalable tools that can handle the complex demands of the data centers their businesses demand. It can be hard to determine which option would work best for your situation since each business is unique and their tech stacks have specific requirements the management tool must keep in mind.

To help you make a more informed decision, we've got an upcoming webinar on December 11, 2018, to help you determine whether you need to move to Atlassian Data Center, how to make that decision, and what to consider in your migration plan. Sign up today to hear Atlassian's Solutions Engineer Ben King  and Data Center expert Greg Warner explain the ins and outs of it all.

We look forward to seeing you there!