FrontRange Solutions, a leader in (IT infrastructure) Business Service management solutions, has warned that end-users choosing to upgrade their own PCs with the latest versions of software, such as Firefox v3, risk putting a major strain on businesses as service desk and IT staff struggle to cope with the consequences of unauthorised software on the network.

Recent figures revealed that over eight million users downloaded the latest version of Firefox in the first 24 hours of its availability, setting a new all-time high in the Guinness Book of Records. FrontRange warns that such rapid adoption of new applications, without a formal organisation-wide approval and implementation plan is likely to lead to increased call volumes to corporate service desks and could put the organisation at a higher risk of system failures or security breaches.

FrontRange recommends organisations take the following three steps to manage the risk of non-approved software on the network:

1. Create a full and dynamic inventory of all software on the network, highlighting new software installations and discrepancies in version numbers

2. Ensure software inventory information is automatically populated into service desks and help desks to minimise response times to problem tickets

3. Manage the installation of new software onto the network with automated deployment tools

Without such measures in place, companies face wasting time and resource managing upgrades and patches for disparate versions of software across the network.

“For many organisations, standardisation remains an ongoing challenge,” said Matt Fisher, Centennial product manager at FrontRange Solutions. “Knowing exactly what is already on the network and then proactively managing the adoption of new versions of software is critical to the safe and efficient performance of the network. Testing and piloting new software prior to an implementation is not only a key step towards ITIL compliance, but also critical in reducing the overall cost, complexity and risk associated with IT operations.”

With its Service Management, Lifecycle, Centennial, Voice and CRM solutions, FrontRange can help organisations achieve widespread IT efficiencies, from full network discovery, through to integrated service desk management and client lifecycle management.