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Calculating the Benefits of Effective Virtualization Management

November 24th, 2009

Times are tough…There’s no denying that despite the recovery predictions of many economists, businesses are still being extremely conservative with their investments. Investments in IT are no exception. This is why nearly every IT vendor that walks through your door will claim to save you money — You just need to buy what they’re selling!!!

Needless to say, this trend has created a boatload of skeptics. Vendors that take a careless approach to “IT cost savings” can find themselves at the receiving end of these skeptics’ barbs.

At EMC, we have a healthy respect for our customers’ skepticism. So, when we decided to put together an EMC Ionix virtualization management cost savings and benefits assessment tool, we knew it would have to produce figures that were realistic as well as “tweakable” for individual scenarios. It would have to quantify the value of being able to virtualize faster, to manage more efficiently, and to reduce risk. It would have to be a useful tool for evaluating your current state of virtualization management — not just an Ionix marketing tool.

So, what’s the right way to look at a cost savings calculator?

Recognize Each Solution is Different: Peer case studies can be a great tool for understanding the potential benefits of a product or technology. However, you need to take into account that each IT situation is unique. When you are reading a case study, ask yourself how closely that customer’s situation mirrors your own. How large is your IT organization? How many servers are you managing? What are your labor costs?
Evaluate Your Current State: Unless you’re a startup, you are
Can Effective Virtualization Management Save You $$$ ?

not starting from ground zero. Most IT organizations have standardized and consolidated some of their tools, have implemented some degree of automation, and have at least attempted to implement some form of IT service management. If you were to grade the maturity of your IT management tool usage, where would would you like to be on the curve?
Don Just Throw Product at the Problem: Despite what the ad implies, simply buying the weight lifting machine will not turn you into Mr. Universe. IT management tools - whether they provide IT operations monitoring, compliance validation, or service management - are all very tightly integrated into your operational processes, policies, and organizational structure. An IT management solution for managing a virtualized infrastructure will only deliver value if you are also willing to adjust your processes to leverage virtualization.
Work With Trusted Advisors: Whether it is your EMC account team, EMC consulting (which btw has an excellent VMware consulting practice), another IT consulting firm, or colleagues at a peer company - learning from experience of an outside advisor can be invaluable as you work to manage the complexities and capabilities of virtualization. Keep in mind, we’re all on this same journey together.
Keep a Scorecard: Don’t just calculate the anticipated savings - track them over time. Often this will require capturing metrics that you don’t capture today. If you are not realizing the savings and benefits you anticipated, ask yourself some hard questions - Have you made the changes to your processes you need to? Have you implemented tools on the timeline you planned to? Ask your vendors these same hard questions (sounds strange coming from a vendor?). You may discover that there are opportunities for some mid-flight corrections.

With all that said, I invite you to try our “EMC Ionix Virtualization Management Cost Savings and Benefits Analysis” calculator to see how management of your virtualized infrastructure compares with your peers and how EMC Ionix can help.

I’d like to hear what you think.

Phil

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