POST #3 of 3As we begin our final Post, let’s first review what we discussed in our previous two Posts. In Post #1 (HOW DID WE GET HERE? ), we discussed some of the history of how we have arrived at the present point in time. We did so in order to point out that where we are today was the result of intelligent decisions in the past, as well as taking advantage of the best there was to offer at that time. In a lot of cases, IT executives are still using older legacy platforms, and we wanted to point that out to set the stage so we could discuss how to move forward. Post #2 (WHERE ARE YOU TRYING TO GET TO AND WHY?) talked about your business, and what you’re trying to accomplish in IT to be able to help your business. We pointed out that IT doesn’t exist as a fun science experiment; it exists to provide greater value to your business than you might get otherwise. Which brings us to our third and final Post. In this Post, we will talk about what the smart guys are doing to move things in IT forward, and with it, their businesses. We’re talking about the Hybrid Cloud. WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO MOVE FORWARD?To start, regardless of which way forward you choose, you should perform a solid financial evaluation of the options before you do anything. This includes taking a look at all of the costs that are associated with IT, as well as the expected benefits you think will come from your new IT infrastructure. Without an honest evaluation of the total cost of ownership (TCO) you’ll never know what your Return on Investment (ROI) is. When suggesting that an TCO/ROI review be performed, we’ve often gotten pushback from IT organizations. Why is that? Sometimes we hear that evaluations always come back with the answer that favors the manufacturer performing the evaluation (fair comment) or that the organization does their own (probably not). Instead, we think it’s because the organization would be absolutely shocked at the total cost of their IT operations, when you consider hardware, software, support/maintenance, real estate, power, cooling, salaries, benefits, and other costs. Kind of like, “what the boss doesn’t know won’t hurt me”. Regardless, it’s important to be able to evaluate any investment completely, so do the TCO/ROI study. We can help.
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POST #2 of 3This is the second of three Posts. The first Post (HOW DID WE GET HERE?) discussed how we got to where we are today, sharing a little bit about the history of IT and culminating with the point that IT is all about the applications. We’re going to move things a little further ahead with this post and discuss what it is that you’re trying to accomplish with your own IT organization. The short answer is that IT is about helping the business be more successful, however your particular organization defines success. WHERE ARE YOU TRYING TO GET TO AND WHY?If your organization is like most, you have an IT infrastructure that has been put together over many years. Some of your infrastructure is older, and some of it is newer. Your IT team is probably split between those who know how to operate the older infrastructure and those who are more comfortable with the newer parts of the infrastructure. This is not a commentary on the age of your team, but rather the familiarity and comfort each individual has. You probably have products from many different manufacturers. For this discussion, let’s just talk about the data center (like servers, storage, networking, etc.) and not end point devices (like PCs, printers, and the like). For servers, you’re running Dell, HPE, IBM, Sun/Oracle, Cisco, and a few others. For storage, you’re running Dell/EMC, NetApp, HPE, HDS, and a few others. Networking is most likely Cisco, with some running Juniper, Extreme, HPE, and others. As we look at this list of vendors, our observation is that it’s a lot of different vendors…vendors who have their own ways of doing things, their own software/firmware, their own product lifecycles, purchase terms, etc. Because you’ve bought from so many different vendors, it’s your job to keep them all working together properly. Which is not easy. On top of the hardware vendors, you also have software vendors, and of course, various resellers that you work with. All of these different vendors have their own goals and objectives, and we can share with you their big one…to get you to continue to buy more and more of their stuff.
Post #1 of 3OVERALL INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES – This is the first in a series of three (3) related Posts we’ve written to discuss the current state of Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure, where it’s headed, and how you can put yourself in the best position moving forward. The first Post discusses how we arrived at this point in time with regards IT infrastructure. The second Post will discuss where you may be trying to take your IT infrastructure in the future and why. The third and final Post will speak candidly about the Hybrid Cloud, and how you can get there as quickly and as easily as possible. These Posts are written in a candid, no holds barred approach; some might say blunt. We’ve been in IT infrastructure for a long time, understand it well from a historical perspective, vendor’s perspective, and a business perspective, and we’re intent on sharing observations about how we see IT organizations make decisions; good and bad, with suggestions for improvement. Let us introduce ourselves. I’m Tim Joyce, and I run a VAR called Roundstone Solutions. I’m based in Northern CA and have run several national resellers, worked for two large manufacturers, a large national IT leasing company, and owned several companies in the IT infrastructure space. He’s Joe Joyce, my identical twin, who runs Roundstone Solutions in the East, out of the NY/NJ area. Joe has been in IT for most of his career, in sales and management roles for several VARs, a large IT leasing company, and his own company. Full disclosure…we’ve worked on the sales side of IT infrastructure for manufacturers, VARs, and IT leasing companies our entire careers. We know what vendors have been telling IT executives to get them to purchase their products, and we know how vendors look to develop a sense of trust and belonging with their customers. None of this is bad, until this sense of trust and belonging to a vendor prevents IT executives from moving their company forward to a newer and better platform. Let’s get started…
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AuthorTim Joyce, Founder, Roundstone Solutions Archives
September 2024
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