Back in the black
October 2002
Lackluster revenues? All is not lost. Four hot IT trends are helping enterprises breathe new life into the bottom line, proving that a penny saved truly is a penny earned.
In the days of dot-com yore, companies raced to market new products and services, hoping "first-mover" status would secure their leadership as the Internet evolved. But the aggressive pursuit of market ownership and the abundance of "irrational exuberance" led many companies to de-emphasize key financial metrics, such as total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI). And when the economy sputtered, these companies were left with the nasty combination of high IT costs and flat revenues.
Today, enterprises are going back to basics to achieve higher profits. They understand that aligning IT investments with corporate strategy produces measurable business value. In the current economic climate, they also realize that it is easier to increase profits by controlling expenses than by increasing revenues.
In this premiere issue of Dell Insight , we discuss four hot trends that have helped companies simplify IT operations. The benefits are substantial—from vast reductions in management costs to increased IT productivity. Moreover, these strategies look at technology investments through a business lens, emphasizing initiatives that pay for themselves, create a competitive advantage, and strengthen profits for the enterprise.
Standardization helps save money and boost efficiency
Waning are the days when enterprise computing development occurred in secret meetings behind closed doors. True, technology companies will always scheme to beat the competition in price and time to market, but many now work from the same set of notes. Open code books and standards-based technologies are dethroning proprietary systems, and enterprises are more than happy to hop on the standards bandwagon.
The reason is simple: Smaller budgets can support only smaller expenditures. Standards-based products—with their look-alike rosters of features and functions and the promise of interoperability—force vendors to differentiate products according to cost. This competition drives down prices and helps customers meet their IT needs with budget to spare.
In this issue of Dell Insight , we examine standardization up close—how this hot IT trend helps save money and boost efficiency in the enterprise data center.
Modularity maximizes flexibility
Combine standardization with modularity—our second hot IT trend—and you have created a potent recipe for cost-efficient flexibility.
With its building-block approach to enterprise computing, modular architecture allows customization of the data center because IT shops can purchase technology for exactly the functions they must support. Using server blades and modular blades, enterprises can swap out individual processors or memory or complete, ultra-slim servers at a moment's notice—raising scalability and availability to entirely new levels.
In this issue of Dell Insight , we discuss the merits of modularity with Mark Melenovsky of IDC, an analysis and research firm. Melenovsky explains how this hot IT trend can help enterprises maximize flexibility and minimize costs in the data center.
Remote management streamlines IT operations
So many systems, so little time. Distributed enterprises with multiple data centers in dispersed locations have a lot to lament these days. Budgets and staffs are smaller, but the demand for profitability looms larger than ever. As enterprises compel their IT personnel to accomplish more with fewer resources, remote management—our third hot IT trend—shines like a beacon.
Remote management tools allow IT staff to manage many parts of a data center through a single Web-based console. Installations, deployments, upgrades, and system monitoring can happen in a fraction of the time once required. Better yet, IT staff can execute these tasks from virtually anywhere in the world without compromising speed and security.
In this issue of Dell Insight , we shine a spotlight on remote management and why it is an important remedy to the budget concerns that ail today's enterprise IT shops.
Server consolidation cuts costs in the data center
If you haven't heard the buzz about server consolidation—our fourth hot IT trend—you soon will. Server consolidation allows enterprises to slim down by cutting the IT clutter that plagues decentralized data centers. Enterprises weighed down by a high quantity of servers are realizing that such excess requires too much management, too much physical space, and not enough return.
Yet server consolidation isn't for everyone, and enterprises that have not researched with due diligence could dish out big dollars for a solution they never needed in the first place.
In this issue of Dell Insight , we sharpen the focus on server consolidation—what it is, who benefits most, and how it delivers.
