There's been a dramatic shift in the way organizations are using IT post the
slowdown last year. Most of them have finally found time to take stock of their
existing IT infrastructures, which had become extremely complex and difficult to
manage over the years. The efforts are now on to simplify it. That's why, we're
seeing business processes getting better managed, or the manual ones getting
automated. We're seeing consolidation of multi-locational server rooms
into fewer, centralized server farms in data centers.
However, what concerns me most here is that these might be mere quick-fix
solutions. The moment the market starts looking up again (which we presume it
would now that the new govt. is in place), these solutions will all fall apart,
and organizations will be back to hunting for fresh ones. Instead of doing that,
why not plan your IT infrastructure consolidation in such a way that it serves
as a solid foundation to build on later? Why not optimize, and be ready for the
future at the same time?
One way to do that would be to use open standards. Whether it's processes
your automating, or applications you're deploying, make sure that they will be
able to easily integrate with applications you're likely to deploy in the
future. Interoperability between multiple platforms would be key here. So you
might have deployed an Open Source application that runs on Linux today, bu will
it be able to talk to say, another application on Windows tomorrow?
Anil Chopra, Editor |
Along with open standards, keep scalability in mind as well. Will the same
application that's able to handle 'x' number of transactions today, be able to
handle twice of that in the future? Again, going back to the Open Source
example, many organizations are deploying Open Source software today as a
stop-gap arrangement, to save upfront licensing costs. Instead of doing that,
why not define your requirements clearly and choose something you won't have to
tear down tomorrow because it didn't scale?
Another thing to do is to learn from others mistakes. For instance, most SMBs
are deploying ERP solutions, the same way as large enterprises did a few years
ago. So obviously, they're also likely to fall into the same traps and loopholes
tomorrow. Instead of doing that, why not first evaluate alternate options, like
SaaS and cloud computing based ERP? Due to lower upfront cost, they will give
you a chance to experiment till the time you're comfortable. After that, when
the market picks up, you can deploy the same in house.
Lastly, build your IT infrastructure in such a way today that it doesn't get
bloated tomorrow, causing you to spend millions just to simplify it. Many large
enterprises today are spending heavily on technologies like consolidation and
virtualization to simplify their complex infrastructures. Why can't the others
learn from this, and start with a consolidated infrastructure using the latest
technologies right from the beginning?This would give you a streamlined and
energy-efficient infrastructure right from the beginning. So go for blade server
instead of racks or standalones, start with virtualization from the beginning to
save server space and energy consumption, etc.
This way, your IT infrastructure will be future ready. I invite your comments
on how to make IT infrastructures future ready.