An on-site switch plays a critical role in a network: that of connecting your users to the rest of the IT infrastructure. Don’t think of that jack in the wall or under the cubicle as a simple Ethernet port. As part of effective switch management, you need to think of it as the mission-critical gateway to IT services that it is.

Bring your own device (BYOD) policies are more important than ever since smartphones became pervasive. I’d argue that even if you don’t want to allow personal user devices to access corporate data or applications, you still need a BYOD policy if only to acknowledge the fact that users are already bringing their personal devices into your place of business.