Our Angles
Straight from the minds of our talented consultants.
Delivering business value from regulatory change
The 3rd iteration of the Payment Services Directive (PSD2) will soon replace the 2nd (PSD2), and while the UK is no longer obliged to pick up the regulation as law from the EU, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will likely move in line with the rest of Europe.
Transformational procurement: Digital transformation’s enabling cousin
When seeking new, complex, business-critical or challenging technology/services … more than just buying something or saving costs, its about delivering what the business needs today and into the future.
This is where Transformational Procurement comes in ….
2024 A year in review - Matt
We hear from Matt Buley on his experience in 2024 and first full year as a consultant at Refractis.
Multi-cloud: A complex strategy with new challenges
Many cloud service providers and strategy-boutiques give the impression that a multi-cloud approach is a simple way for an enterprise to spread risk. As is often the case, we find that in reality, it’s more complicated.
Good foundations - the CMDB challenge
A good configuration management database is a foundational building block for high-quality service management. With many organisations struggling to implement them successfully we ask if there is a different way to crack the CMDB challenge.
Ransomware
Sounding like a poorly-conceived 1980s movie, ransomware is the latest scourge to hit businesses and their IT. It can have a devastating effect on companies and, in some cases, shutter them completely, so what steps can you take to protect yourself?
How low can you go? Part 4
In the final part of his series, Richard draws conclusions on how to get the best value from low code-platforms, how to avoid some common pitfalls, and introduces the Refractis low-code directory.
How low can you go? Part 3
In the third part of this series we look at developing applications using low code and no code solutions and ask whether they can accelerate the work of traditional development teams.
How low can you go? Part 2
In the second part of this series we look at low code data platforms and their ability to supplant spreadsheets as the power user’s productivity tool of choice.
How low can you go? Part 1
Low code platforms promise to bring technology closer to the business, removing the need for costly development projects and empowering end-users. But can low code really deliver on these ambitions?
AI: The only way is ethics
Rapid advances in machine learning technology have broadened both the capability and the ubiquity of AI systems. But how can we be sure that the machines are reaching fair conclusions and what safeguards should be put in place?
The case for VDI in 2021
Moving legacy, data heavy applications to the cloud can cause performance issues and lead to user frustration. Can Virtual Desktop Infrastructure provide a solution by relocating user-compute closer to application data?
Virtualisation in the cloud era
Over the course of little more than two-decades VMware moved from cool tech start-up to corporate mainstream, but what place does it have in a world dominated by cloud?
One year on
As Refractis celebrates its first birthday, we look back over the last 12 months and pick out some of the key trends that have the potential to challenge the way that IT is delivered.
Over-learning lessons
Staying agile is key to remaining competitive. Although, learning lessons from previous mistakes and triumphs can improve performance, it can sometimes lead to calcification of process, thus hampering agility. An operating model tune-up offers an alternative approach.
You can’t manage what you don’t measure
With the full impact of a post-Covid economic chill looming, many corporates are looking to optimise costs through rationalisation and cloud migration programmes. But in our experience, many companies are not measuring all aspects of on-premise IT spend, and as the old adage goes, you can't manage what you don’t measure.
Office 2.0 - post Covid hybrid working
The rapid roll out of effective Covid vaccines is opening up the possibility of a return to offices later this year. The technology that has proven vital in supporting remote working must now evolve to cater for a variety of hybrid working patterns.