Are you taking advantage of the benefits of server virtualization, an IT disaster recovery plan and more?
More than $180 billion – that’s how much end-users are expected to spend on cloud services by 2015 per a recent “Cloud Computing” article in Forbes covering IT spending trends. Additionally, the article predicts that, “the global market for cloud equipment will reach $79.1 billion by 2018.”
In order to compete and meet customer needs with today’s fast-changing technology, it can be easy to surpass your IT budget quickly. But by taking advantage of the benefits of server virtualization, an IT disaster recovery plan, and a few more things, you can reduce your IT costs significantly…
7 Steps to Reduce Your IT Spending Trends
1. Consolidate systems and solutions. By consolidating a myriad of legacy solutions into a more modern, single Web-based platform, you can streamline your business, increase control and efficiency, integrate advertising and content opportunities, and innovate faster – all while reducing costs. And while this may seem like a major project now, it will be well worth the time and effort once your consolidation plan is in place.
2. Enjoy the benefits of server virtualization. “Virtualization has surpassed 50 percent of all server workloads, according to the Gartner Group, which believes it will reach 86 percent in 2016,” and “today’s ‘real data center’ is a combination of different operating systems, databases and servers that must communicate with each other,” according to Tim Laplante’s article on Data Center Post, “Virtualization has Surpassed 50 percent of all Server Workloads.” By maximizing resources with server virtualization, you can increase efficiency while reducing energy costs.
3. Update your infrastructure. Once you upgrade and have the latest technology solutions in place, make it a priority to update all software and hardware regularly to reduce costs, downtime and potential headaches.
4. Simplify with managed services. By using managed services that offer all of the hardware and software components for mission-critical, enterprise applications, the latest applications, and scalability, you can reduce project time and costs by over 80%.
4. Create an IT disaster recovery plan. As we all know, disasters can happen at any time so it’s essential to prepare in advance. Create an IT disaster recovery plan that includes reliable backups, secure, off-site storage and the redundancy necessary to keep your hosted applications online for quick recovery.
5. Analyze your IT costs and resources. If you haven’t reviewed your entire, IT infrastructure, you may be wasting resources and missing out on opportunities to save time, money and effort. And by analyzing your current situation on a regular basis, you can assess risks and make changes before costs and issues escalate into major problems.
6. Leverage technology. It’s essential to use the latest technology whenever possible to improve the customer experience, productivity, efficiency, and more. By monitoring and upgrading your infrastructure regularly and working with IT solutions to consolidate and manage services automatically, you can significantly reduce costs and have a competitive advantage.
7. Time to Save. By consolidating, enjoying the benefits of server virtualization, upgrading, simplifying with managed services, creating an IT disaster recovery plan, analyzing costs regularly, and leveraging technology, you can save time, money and effort.
Related: Is Your National Data Center Ready to Expand with Your Business?
More important, you will be able to relax knowing that you are doing everything possible to reduce IT spending while improving both customer and employee experiences.
What are you going to do today to reduce your IT spending trends?
For additional help to enjoy the benefits of server virtualization, managed services and more, check out these case studies or contact us here.
