Cost Containment

27. May, 2009 0 Comments

The fragile economy has driven a heightened need for IT departments to control capital outlays and operational expenditures and to provide cost transparency to the consumers of IT services. This cost containment and transparency are best pursued with two things: first a clear understanding of the baseline component unit costs and the associated “current state” run rate projected over time, and second an overarching return on investment (ROI) vision of improvements that could be undertaken in the environment.

Improvements fall into several “buckets”, not necessarily in order of priority or ease of implementation:

1. Improved process efficiencies, in reference to upstream demand planning
2. Improved process efficiencies, in reference to downstream utilization of provisioned resources
3. Re-tiering of storage
4. Re-architecture or re-design of data protection policies
5. Modernization of backup infrastructure, including use of deduplication to minimize or eliminate reliance on physical tape
6. Virtualization and consolidation of physical server resources
7. Reduced operating costs through data center consolidation

The relative ROI values for these endeavors can vary dramatically depending on the size of the client environment and the maturity of the client organization within the context of ITSM best practices and the service provider model.

The organizations that are less mature are more likely to have larger process inefficiencies, too much storage on expensive tiers, exceedingly complex environments, and few if any documented service levels that define IT value to the business. The more mature organizations typically have tighter alignment between business drivers and IT policies, including data protection and archiving, as well as defined service levels and appropriately engineered and standardized infrastructure to support those service levels.

It is vital to the health of your business to make optimal use of the IT assets you already have or are planning to buy. Understanding how your processes and supporting infrastructure may drive improved return on IT investments is the first step.

-Robert Latimer, GlassHouse Senior Consultant