Combating Slowdown with IT

OPEX is now the difference between success and failure in a business. However
the watchword is cost control. CAPEX can be forecasted and watched, but OPEX
issues are more difficult to point out and can get out of control more quickly
if not watched daily. The most crucial OPEX costs for most are employee-related:
salaries, benefits, travel, bonuses. Almost everything from the space and power
needs of equipment, cooling requirements, integration of disparate systems, to
provisioning and billing for services, support of legacy and next-gen services
and others fall under OPEX.

Everyone is looking at cutting operational cost and the first signs of cost
cutting are brutal, massive layoffs. However, doing this generally has a
negative impact, as it reduces employee loyalty. The focus should instead be on
optimizing all OPEX heads so that there's no major impact on IT operational
performance.

One needs to deeply scrutinize all loose ends in network operations to reduce
the extra flab, and do some belt tightening, i.e. less travel, reducing
communication cost, reducing power cost, reducing maintenance cost, unified
helpdesk, optimizing redundancies and manpower. All these should be implemented
without degrading the quality of service and maintaining 100% up-time. A balance
could be achieved between the required level of services and take care in case
of device and/or network failure to reduce redundancies.

By employing suitable datacenter processes, substantial power saving can be
achieved and by automating the monitoring processes, additional resources could
be optimized. This can be done by server virtualization, use of energy-smart
servers/blade servers, improve air flow management by removing hot as well as
too cold spots and by installing KVM switches to avoid multiple monitors. One
should take up regular energy audits and constant energy saving drives: by
proper power saving practices, operating cost can come down by 40-70%. One
important aspect could be to take up servers' consolidation and figure out if
some redundant servers could be switched off or more importantly if some could
share load off peak while others could be switched off.

How much you can save with VoIP?

Much has been said about how switching from a traditional telephone exchange to
VoIP can save organizations lots of money. It is true that businesses can save
on long distance charges and even mobile phone subscriptions. Businesses can
also save up on setting up separate networks for telephony. The difference in
infrastructure requirements of VoIP systems can make it easy for offices or
staff to transfer—or even travel across the globe—without even having to change
numbers.

However, there is no simple answer to whether switching to VoIP would entail
cost savings. The answer is maybe.

For one, the size of a business would dictate how easy it is to determine
whether VoIP would help the bottom-line. Smaller companies would usually need
more basic services, and the cost savings would be in terms of long distance
calls. However, the cost advantages may not necessarily be great, since long
distance costs these days are increasingly dwindling, and purchasing VoIP
hardware also entails a huge upfront cost.

K B Singh, CIO, BSES JV Reliance

More complex and larger organizations, meanwhile, might be better able to
harness the rich features that VoIP offers, and hence the cost savings are more
identifiable. While upfront costs may be greater for bigger businesses, this
would most likely be negligible in comparison to total costs to the company (and
perhaps even telecommunication costs).

Bigger organizations might be able to save more on infrastructure, compared
to maintaining a traditional telephone system. Since computers are already
connected using an IP network, installing VoIP equipment on them would require
minimal added cost. Bigger organizations may also be able to utilize other IP
services like videoconferencing, which can help save on travel costs.

The greater cost savings would come in terms of the productivity boost that
comes with rich IP-based applications that VoIP usually brings in. Compared to
traditional telephony systems, VoIP can integrate data and voice applications,
such as instant messaging and presence management. VoIP systems can also support
sending of voicemail and faxes to the company's email system, thus saving on
equipment costs, and the time needed to route physical fax printouts.

However, having to train managers, personnel and IT staff on the maintenance
and use of VoIP systems might also entail additional costs to a business. For a
small company, this can be negligible, but for a larger organization, this can
be considered a large scale—and hence more costly—activity. Businesses should
weigh the cost of lost productivity attributed to training each manager and
staff, against the benefits of users being able to adequately use the system.

Again, there is no sure answer to whether switching to VoIP can entail cost
savings. Businesses should evaluate this adequately, taking into consideration
not only the money aspects of it (buying equipment, setting up infrastructure),
but also in terms of productivity and manpower.