8/2/2019 Hardware hassles? Time to make it someone elses
headache
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Hardware hassles? Time to make it someone elses headacheClive
Longbottom, Service Director
Quocirca Comment
Hardware hassles? Time to make it
someone elses headache
http://www.quocirca.com 2012 Quocirca Ltd
For most organisations, the lifecycle of IT
equipment is straightforward: buy it, provision it,run it,
deprovision it and dispose of it. Simpleand reasonably
effective.
However, unless its handled carefully, its anapproach that could
be doing organisations a
major disservice. Starting with purchasing, for
example - just how good a deal is your businessgetting?
Assuming your organisation is a mid-sized one or even a large
one buying a few hundred to a
few thousand servers per year, then the costswill be
considerably lower than the list price. But
is the organisation getting the same deal as onethat buys tens
of thousands of servers per year?
Doubtful - and when this is taken across the
whole IT estate - servers, storage, networkingequipment,
desktops, laptops, printers, multi-function devices, maybe even
smartphones and
other devices - the cost differential can be
significant. One option here is to use a managedIT lifecycle
management partner to bringeconomies of scale.
In the running of the equipment, again there areeconomies of
scale from provisioning equipmentbefore delivering to site.
Maintenance, repair andoperation costs can be driven down
through
shared resources and cheaper spares, again
driven by the scale of purchasing.
But its at disposal that you can see the real
savings. Most organisations run their IT
equipment until its relatively useless to thebusiness. The
equipment will have been written
off at the book-value level, and in Europe theWaste Electronic
and Electrical Equipment (WEE)directive means the equipment cannot
just be
dumped, so theres generally a hefty cost
involved in its disposal.
For those with a discrete equipment disposal
process, the costs associated with getting rid of
storage securely can be significant.
Funds from hardware disposal
However, if the disposal is linked with the overall
lifecycle management process, expense can not
only be minimised, but the equipment may havea value that can be
used to offset costs - and
even, in many cases, provide additional funds for
new equipment.
Each item of equipment has some inherentvalue. That value is
affected by various factors -
for example, obviously over time it willprogressively fall. The
launch of a new model will
also push down the value because organisationswont want the old
version, which others will alsobe dropping causing a glut on the
second-hand
market.
A change of technology - for example, thegreater adoption of
100GB Ethernet - can force
down the value of equipment that cannot
support the new standards.
A good managed IT lifecycle managementpartner should be aware of
the timings of these
variables and advise on the optimal inherentvalue of a specific
piece of equipment. Bydeprovisioning it and disposing of it in a
securemanner and then selling it on as a working piece
of equipment, as a bare-bones system or for
parts, the money can go towards replacing itwith new
equipment.
Intelligence on future releases
Managing this set of variables effectively is not
easy. The IT lifecycle management partnerrequires solid ongoing
relationships withtechnology vendors to know whats coming down
the line.
They need good purchasing agreements tosecure the best
acquisition costs. They also must
understand the legal aspects of equipment
disposal and of secure data destruction. They
8/2/2019 Hardware hassles? Time to make it someone elses
headache
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Hardware hassles? Time to make it
someone elses headache
http://www.quocirca.com 2012 Quocirca Ltd
About QuocircaQuocirca is a primary research and analysis
company specialising in the business impact of information
technology
and communications (ITC). With world-wide, native language
reach, Quocirca provides in-depth insights into the
views of buyers and influencers in large, mid-sized and small
organisations. Its analyst team is made up of real-
world practitioners with first-hand experience of ITC delivery
who continuously research and track the industry
and its real usage in the markets.
Through researching perceptions, Quocirca uncovers the real
hurdles to technology adoptionthe personal andpolitical aspects of
an organisations environment and the pressures of the need for
demonstrable business value inany implementation. This capability
to uncover and report back on the end-user perceptions in the
market enables
Quocirca to advise on the realities of technology adoption, not
the promises.
Quocirca research is always pragmatic, business orientated and
conducted in the context of the bigger picture . ITC
has the ability to transform businesses and the processes that
drive them, but often fails to do so. Quocircasmission is to help
organisations improve their success rate in process enablement
through better levels of
understanding and the adoption of the correct technologies at
the correct time.
Quocirca has a pro-active primary research programme, regularly
surveying users, purchasers and resellers of ITC
products and services on emerging, evolving and maturing
technologies. Over time, Quocirca has built a picture of
long term investment trends, providing invaluable information
for the whole of the ITC community.
Quocirca works with global and local providers of ITC products
and services to help them deliver on the promise
that ITC holds for business. Quocircas clients include Oracle,
Microsoft, IBM, O2, T-Mobile, HP, Xerox, EMC,
Symantec and Cisco, along with other large and medium sized
vendors, service providers and more specialist
firms.
Full access to all of Quocircas public output (reports,
articles, presentations, blogs
and videos) can be made athttp://www.quocirca.com
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