Due to the growing business needs of IT services, the physical space is present in many datacenter services. On the other hand, many organizations strive to consolidate data centers to save money, streamline operations, and improve energy efficiency.
There are several leaders in consolidation projects. In some cases, the organization increased through mergers and acquisitions and inherited more data centers that replicated services. In addition, many organizations have effectively reduced their IT footprint by adopting virtualization and the adoption of hyper-related infrastructure solutions. These technologies allow the elimination of unnecessarily used assets and replace the remainder of residual forms.
Rationalizing these services facilitates consolidation. This was a priority in federal government at federal data center consolidation initiatives. The federal agencies sought to eliminate waste and to implement the shared service model to reduce the cost of data operations.
Similar efforts are being made at state level. According to the NASCIO, 42 percent of the states completed data consolidation projects in 2016, only 14 percent in 2007. In addition, 47 percent of the states are currently working on consolidation projects and 11 percent are in the design phase.
These data come from a newly released report: "Reducing State Data Centers: A Booklet for Consolidating Enterprise Data Centers". The report notes that consolidation will enable data infrastructure to be centralized, making it more flexible to maintain and enhance security. Consolidation provides the opportunity to introduce standards, better integrate systems and applications, support older systems, and increase business continuity.
Of course there are challenges as well. Resistance to change is always a huge obstacle – which only arises when technical problems arise or consolidation does not meet business needs. In some cases, costs are higher than expected and regulatory requirements are not met.
In order to minimize the risk, the NASCIO game book recommends that organizations should undertake a consolidation initiative in step 9:
Perform the needs analysis. IT needs to meet with business stakeholders in order to discuss their current needs and the expected growth.
• Stay connected with stakeholders throughout the project. Stakeholders feel that they are part of the process and help reduce the resistance to change.
• Design carefully, but be flexible. The project plan must define the effects and provide sufficient flexibility to accommodate unforeseen problems.
• Documenting existing devices. Accurate documentation helps to identify unnecessary or unnecessary resources, reuse opportunities, and potential resource shortages
• Cost analysis. By understanding current costs, your organization can better calculate your savings from consolidation.
• Implement standards wherever possible. Standards such as ITMS and ITIL help increase efficiency and security and further reduce costs.
• They expect the best, but they are preparing for the worst. Maintain continuous communication with stakeholders to address expectations.
• Buy it. If all stakeholders are on board in the project, then it is more likely that they will have a long-term benefit.
• Report successes. Show your organization how much money has been spent and how much greater efficiency and security
While public sector agencies are leading the consolidation of data centers, sectoral sector organizations can benefit from their rationalization and operations.
Source by Marcus Doran