|
Cover Story
Lease vs. Own - Current Data Center Issues
By: Peter Tippen, Partner of Rackhouse Group, LLC
Businesses have considered leasing compared to ownership of real estate facilities forever. On the surface the question seems to be easily answered by quantitative analysis, but in practice it is not that simple and there are numerous examples of real estate users that prefer to lease facilities while their direct competition chooses to own. The question in the data center facility (“DC” or “DC Facility”)1 world is even more complicated due to numerous additional variables, the unique nature of each DC Facility, large capital requirements and level of special DC features. Read More...
Feature Article
Look Behind the Curtain - Documentation Management: The Great and Powerful Oz of IT Asset Management
By: Jenny Schuchert, Independent Consultant
Documentation Management is ubiquitous – everything we do in IT asset management involves data and documenting that data. Ironically, that fact makes it easy to focus on the process being executed and to neglect document management as a discipline of its own. This lack of attention can lead to some of the biggest snafus that we can produce as asset managers. Imagine:
- An audit by a software vendor where you neglected to lengthen the normal retention policy of the corporation for crucial upgrade documents
- The EPA wants to know why a computer originally purchased by your company is in a landfill and you can’t prove you sold it to someone else
- A flood wipes out a regional office and you have no copies of their software contracts and no discovery runs to help with reconstructing desktop configurations
- Your company is acquired and you are unaware of the “transfer of ownership” contract T&Cs and whether it is in any of the software contracts
Read More...
Don’t Forget Documentation! – QSP: Defining the Documentation Criteria Requirements
By: Barbara Rembiesa, President of IAITAM
Documentation Management, the most neglected of all the Key Process Areas, but perhaps the most important when it comes to an audit, is the focus of this month’s Quick Success Project (QSP) article. Software and hardware vendors and governing bodies across the globe all contribute to the terms and conditions that consumer organizations must adhere to with respect to documentation retention and necessary forms and purchase artifacts to archive. Read More...
What’s Your Time to Value? - How to Justify Implementation of an ITAM Initiative
By: Craig Rozelle, Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of Five9 Technologies
As an IT professional, you understand the technical needs, level of effort, and business requirements to successfully implement an IT Asset Management initiative. However, in order to move that initiative forward, you most likely need to prepare a compelling business case including a return on investment analysis supporting your recommendation. This is frequently the most difficult part of the project. Identifying the direct costs associated with the project can be a straight-forward exercise, but how do you build a compelling story of where the cost savings, productivity gains, efficiencies, revenue contributions, and other qualitative and quantitative benefits will come from? Many of the savings that are easy to identify tend to be “soft” in nature, and will be dismissed as such by senior management. You need a practical approach to justify the initiative, developed in a short timeframe to immediately build credibility, consensus, and commitment. Read More...
Column
Insights into Oracle & Microsoft Licensing & Procurement Practices
By: Scott Rosenberg, CEO & Founder of Miro Consulting, Inc
ITAK welcomes back Scott Rosenberg for another edition of the column: Oracle & Microsoft Q&A. In this recurring column, Scott will answer any questions on Oracle and Microsoft licensing and procurement practices.
A Procurement Manager at a large healthcare company asks: How effective is Oracle’s ULA? Read More...
|
