Three Ways to Reprioritize Your IT Infrastructure Investments in 2010

CIO —

I've had the opportunity to visit several infrastructure and operations industry events already this year. Each targeted the same basic message: a return to innovation. But I have to wonder, are we really ready for innovation? The last 18 months have been marked by a consistent and constant effort to demonstrate return on investment (ROI). Why, as we now enter 2010, is there a sudden emphasis on innovation? The answer is what I refer to as "new shiny object syndrome."

As an infrastructure and operations professional, you're used to focusing on new, innovative uses of technology to support the business. However, the last 18 months have been anything but innovative. This period was characterized by project budget freezes and 20 percent cuts to your operational budget. In fact, infrastructure spend suffered the deepest budget cuts in 2009, with a 16.3 percent reduction from 2008 levels.

But all of that changes in 2010. Why? Because infrastructure will see the strongest IT budget growth. Our latest data shows that infrastructure spend will grow 9.2 percent in 2010, which is the largest overall growth and well above the 6.6 percent average of other IT products and services. As a result, infrastructure spend is not only receiving the most emphasis in 2010, but shows the healthiest year-over-year delta at 25.5 percent.

Therein lies the dilemma. That's right, I said dilemma. It goes back to the shiny new object syndrome. As today's VPs of I&O see a return in their budgets they need to prioritize efforts and resist the temptation to go after shiny new infrastructure initiatives, like cloud computing.

The most important effort is to make sure the operations side of your house remains in order. Most infrastructure & operations departments are pretty good at focusing on operational efficiency by implementing frameworks like ITIL and deploying millions of dollars in IT service management tools from vendors like HP (HPQ), IBM (IBM), and BMC. But that's not enough. Instead we recommend that you focus on three basic steps:

Step 1: Put the "O" back in "I&O" with IT process automation.

IT process automation is needed to take I&O to the next level of efficiency. Process automation isnt about reducing labor; it's about diverting resources so that staff that spends 75% of its time fighting fires can spend more time focused on business operations. We refer to this trend as IT Industrialization.Why this is a big deal in 2010: Industrialization is fueled by three trends culminate in 2010: 1) the maturation of IT operations frameworks like ITIL and Six Sigma; 2) the increased use of more sophisticated IT process automation tools; and 3) an appetite for organizational change.

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