Jeff Meyer, Director
InfraScience

In the current economic crisis, businesses around the globe are faced with numerous challenges.  Layoffs, budget cuts and return on investment discussions are the talk of the day.  Companies are looking for ways to reduce risks as they navigate issues like the credit crunch and lowered revenue forecasts.  It's tough to maintain a long term vision when the short term calamity forces tactical decisions.  While the issues we face may seem unprecedented in our time, the adjustments we consider should align with business objectives and allow the organization to continue to move forward.

"It feels like we've entered a period of reduced expectations, a time when we may be tempted to temper our optimism and scale back our ambitions," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said recently, in a nod to the recession. "But no matter what happens with the economy or how long this recession lasts, I believe our digital lives will only continue to get richer."  There is opportunity to enhance technology infrastructure; drive costs down, and keep a long term perspective on efficiency and revenue enhancement.   InfraScience delivers solutions to help businesses do these things today.  It is possible to recognize immediate return on investments with a few key modifications to technology infrastructure.

Things to consider:

IT spending forecasts are being lowered every day.  The key to real savings can be recognized with strategic alternatives that can fundamentally change the cost structure of your infrastructure now and in the future.  Smart IT leaders are taking the opportunities presented in this downturn to maximize savings.  InfraScience recommends considering:

·         Virtualization and Virtualization Management - Reducing physical machine count has an obvious impact on energy costs and IT is sometimes the largest consumer of energy in an organization.  Microsoft's introduction of server virtualization technology is compelling because it comes with Server 2008, a product you may already own.  Granted there may be features in competitive virtualization offerings your business can't live without, but consider giving Hyper-V a look.  It may support a subset of your infrastructure just fine and costs 30 to 50% less.  And, with System Center Virtual Machine Manager, you can manage and monitor both VMWare and Microsoft solutions simultaneously.
 
·         Cloud Computing - Microsoft's Software Plus Services approach may allow you to shrink or even eliminate onsite infrastructure.  Keep an eye on advancements in this approach; it will continue to offer more choice for companies looking to cut costs.  More features are likely to be supported in the coming months such as mobile computing support, email and data archival and hosting of audio conferencing, video conferencing and fax services. In the meantime, consider implementation of Microsoft Online Services in a tiered architecture where basic services are supplied to business units who may not require those additional features while other business units are supported via on-premise company systems.

·         Unified Communications - A set of technologies integrated with messaging, collaboration and directory services which offer real-time services to end users and can help your organization improve the bottom line in a big way.  Microsoft's Office Communications Server offers presence, instant messaging, audio conferencing, video conferencing and voice over IP workloads for much less investment than the competition.  The beauty of this proposition is its integration with Microsoft Office Outlook and Exchange Server and the ability to selectively implement features or workloads independently.  This technology will reduce travel costs without sacrificing face to face meeting time, thereby reducing carbon emissions too.  If workforce reduction is in play, unified communications are key to helping remaining employees work as efficiently and productively as possible. Employees have the flexibility to see when others are available; contact them via phone, instant messaging or establishing a conference with desktop sharing no matter where they are.  If your company can afford to continue infrastructure investments in the financial downturn, this may well be the single most powerful strategy for improving market share when things turn around. 

·         Identity Management - The majority of businesses today have multiple business applications and multiple security mechanisms to regulate access.  Role based security and identity management systems can help companies reduce administrative costs dramatically through centralized authentication and access technology.  Digital signatures and rights management are making the written signature a thing of the past.  User provisioning time can be greatly reduced with new products available today that take advantage of that investment you made in Active Directory a few years back. 
 
·         Standardization - The slowdown and subsequent reduction in IT projects and budgets may offer time to reflect on processes in place and consider adjustments.  Review network, server and desktop standards and look for ways to improve consistency across the infrastructure.  It's time to look at your image management methodologies and find opportunities to reduce, reuse and recycle as they say in the environmental industry.  Maybe you're skipping Windows Vista or Office 2007 rollouts this year, but take the time to evaluate deployment methodologies and prepare for down the road.  Inevitably today's infrastructure will be upgraded once finances improve, so take this time to get ready.  If you can reduce the number of images maintained, you'll recognize savings immediately and possibly help your company recover faster.