Hardware hassles?

Time to make it someone elses headache

Clive Longbottom, Service Director

Quocirca Comment
For most organisations, the lifecycle of IT equipment is straightforward: buy it, provision it, run it, deprovision it and dispose of it. Simple and reasonably effective. However, unless its handled carefully, its an approach that could be doing organisations a major disservice. Starting with purchasing, for example - just how good a deal is your business getting? Assuming your organisation is a mid-sized one or even a large one buying a few hundred to a few thousand servers per year, then the costs will be considerably lower than the list price. But is the organisation getting the same deal as one that buys tens of thousands of servers per year? Doubtful - and when this is taken across the whole IT estate - servers, storage, networking equipment, desktops, laptops, printers, multifunction devices, maybe even smartphones and other devices - the cost differential can be significant. One option here is to use a managed IT lifecycle management partner to bring economies of scale. In the running of the equipment, again there are economies of scale from provisioning equipment before delivering to site. Maintenance, repair and operation costs can be driven down through shared resources and cheaper spares, again driven by the scale of purchasing. But its at disposal that you can see the real savings. Most organisations run their IT equipment until its relatively useless to the business. The equipment will have been written off at the book-value level, and in Europe the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEE) directive means the equipment cannot just be dumped, so theres generally a hefty cost involved in its disposal. For those with a discrete equipment disposal process, the costs associated with getting rid of storage securely can be significant. Funds from hardware disposal However, if the disposal is linked with the overall lifecycle management process, expense can not only be minimised, but the equipment may have a value that can be used to offset costs - and even, in many cases, provide additional funds for new equipment. Each item of equipment has some inherent value. That value is affected by various factors for example, obviously over time it will progressively fall. The launch of a new model will also push down the value because organisations wont want the old version, which others will also be dropping causing a glut on the second-hand market. A change of technology - for example, the greater adoption of 100GB Ethernet - can force down the value of equipment that cannot support the new standards. A good managed IT lifecycle management partner should be aware of the timings of these variables and advise on the optimal inherent value of a specific piece of equipment. By deprovisioning it and disposing of it in a secure manner and then selling it on as a working piece of equipment, as a bare-bones system or for parts, the money can go towards replacing it with new equipment. Intelligence on future releases Managing this set of variables effectively is not easy. The IT lifecycle management partner requires solid ongoing relationships with technology vendors to know whats coming down the line. They need good purchasing agreements to secure the best acquisition costs. They also must understand the legal aspects of equipment disposal and of secure data destruction. They

Hardware hassles? Time to make it someone elses headache

http://www.quocirca.com

2012 Quocirca Ltd

also require solid technical skills in provisioning and running equipment. Choosing the right IT lifecycle management partner can ensure the organisation always has the optimal IT platform through the replacement of equipment at the right time with the best overall cost equation in place. Having an optimal IT platform available means the organisation should not be constrained by IT - and allows it to compete more effectively.

Lifecycle management should not be regarded as a nice optional extra. For those organisations that see IT as core to their business, it should be a necessity. You can download Quocircas free lifecycle management report on the various stages of an IT maturity model and what is involved in putting in place a full management approach. This article first appeared http://www.techrepublic.com on

Hardware hassles? Time to make it someone elses headache

http://www.quocirca.com

2012 Quocirca Ltd

About Quocirca
Quocirca is a primary research and analysis company specialising in the business impact of information technology and communications (ITC). With world-wide, native language reach, Quocirca provides in-depth insights into the views of buyers and influencers in large, mid-sized and small organisations. Its analyst team is made up of realworld practitioners with first-hand experience of ITC delivery who continuously research and track the industry and its real usage in the markets. Through researching perceptions, Quocirca uncovers the real hurdles to technology adoption the personal and political aspects of an organisations environment and the pressures of the need for demonstrable business value in any implementation. This capability to uncover and report back on the end-user perceptions in the market enables Quocirca to advise on the realities of technology adoption, not the promises. Quocirca research is always pragmatic, business orientated and conducted in the context of the bigger picture. ITC has the ability to transform businesses and the processes that drive them, but often fails to do so. Quocircas mission is to help organisations improve their success rate in process enablement through better levels of understanding and the adoption of the correct technologies at the correct time. Quocirca has a pro-active primary research programme, regularly surveying users, purchasers and resellers of ITC products and services on emerging, evolving and maturing technologies. Over time, Quocirca has built a picture of long term investment trends, providing invaluable information for the whole of the ITC community. Quocirca works with global and local providers of ITC products and services to help them deliver on the promise that ITC holds for business. Quocircas clients include Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, O2, T-Mobile, HP, Xerox, EMC, Symantec and Cisco, along with other large and medium sized vendors, service providers and more specialist firms.

Full access to all of Quocircas public output (reports, articles, presentations, blogs and videos) can be made at http://www.quocirca.com

Hardware hassles? Time to make it someone elses headache

http://www.quocirca.com

2012 Quocirca Ltd