JUSTIFYING THE VDI BUSINESS CASE - creative-itc.com...3 JUSTIFYING THE VDI BUSINESS CASE | CREATIVE ITC VDI technology has come on in leaps and bounds over the last 12 to 18 months

This no-nonsense guide examines the pros and cons of investing in virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). Drawing on real-world experience and business outcomes from leading practitioners in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) space, it discusses essential first steps before building the business case.

JUSTIFYING THE VDI BUSINESS CASEHOW TO ENSURE THE NUMBERS STACK UP

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CREATIVE ITC | JUSTIFYING THE VDI BUSINESS CASE 2

DOES YOUR VDI PROJECT HAVE LEGS?Compiling a business case takes time. It involves meetings, workshops and discussions to gather information and validate assumptions. Diverting you and your team away from day jobs. So, before making that commitment you’ll need to be sure a VDI project is worth considering in the first place.

JUSTIFYING THE VDI BUSINESS CASE | CREATIVE ITC3

VDI technology has come on in leaps and bounds over the last 12 to 18 months. Underlying networking, compute and storage components are much more reliable and higher performing. That means the return on investment (ROI) is no longer capped to a nominal subset of users with basic IT needs. The platform can be extended to business functions like power users working with big data or graphics-heavy applications.

Put simply, does it have legs? In our experience, the answer to that question is almost certainly ‘yes’ if you:

Have a need for flexible working

Last looked at upgrading traditional desktop or on-premise VDI over a year ago

Need to review your disaster recovery strategy

Need a more efficient way to share drawings and collaborate with partners

Beware of companies offering VDI solutions that will solely save money. The reality is they probably won’t. Before and after IT infrastructure costs usually remain flat or rise slightly. So, while it’s right to do a cost comparison, a business case based purely on cost savings will attract a big red flag and is unlikely to fly.

THE BIG MYTH



PRODUCING A SOLID BUSINESS CASE

FIGURE 1. TARGETING VDI BENEFITS

Greater mobility

Richer collaboration

Increased productivity

Better decision-making

Improved version control resulting in less rework

Remove expensive PCs and laptops

Smaller storage footprint

Better disaster recovery

Less provisioning, patching and helpdesk traffic

More space for innovation and new projects

Faster time-to-market

Stronger balance sheet

Remove CapEx for next 3-5 years

More agile IT platforms for growth

WORKFORCE GAINS CFO/BUSINESS GAINSIT GAINS

Pretty much without exception, Creative clients who have overcome the hurdles of financial approval and seen the best results from their VDI investment have justified and built support on the basis they can unlock significantly greater value for around the same outlay.

Available to small, medium and large AEC companies, VDI is now consumed as a managed service, paying a set amount per user, per month. It’s designed as a secure private cloud, running on-premise or as a hosted solution. Figure 1 shows some of the hard and soft benefits to focus on:

WHAT DO THE NUMBERS LOOK LIKE? That depends on your requirements and the deployment model you choose – on-premise or cloud. Figure 2 shows how the financials can vary between both approaches when modelled across 100 users.



3 x 46 user VSAN Dell machine

Out of hours overtime to perform patching

Out of hours staffing standby costs

Rack Space

Power Costs

2 x SysAdmins

100 x Grid Licensing

100 x Horizon View Enterprise

££443322KK

££9933KK

££7766KK

££550000KK

££2255KK

££5500KK

££112255KK

££5500KKALL FIGURES BASED ON 100 USERS

OVER 5 YEARS

TTOOTTAALL CCOOSSTT FFOORR 110000 UUSSEERRSS::

OOVVEERR 55 YYEEAARRSS

PER USER PER MONTH

PAY

FIGURE 2. FINANCIAL ANALYSIS MODELS: ON-PREMISE VERSUS HOSTED VDI

HOW DOES VDI BENEFIT DIFFERENT SIZE COMPANIES?


YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR 4 YEAR 5 TOTAL

SOLUTION COSTS

Implementation & Ongoing VDI Service £2,881,000 £2,242,000 £2,149,000 £2,149,000 £2,149,000

Total Costs £2,881,000 £2,242,000 £2,149,000 £2,149,000 £2,149,000 £11,570,000

SOLUTION SAVINGS

Ongoing Efficiency Savings* £860,000 £2,581,000 £3,442,000 £3,442,000 £3,828,000 £14,153,000

Recurring ICT Savings £213,000 £665,000 £961,000 £1,146,000 £1,146,000 £4,131,000

Total Savings £1,073,000 £3,246,000 £4,403,000 £4,588,000 £4,974,000 £18,284,000

CASH FLOWS

Net Cash Flow -£1,808,000 £1,004,000 £2,254,000 £2,439,000 £2,825,000 £6,714,000

Cumulative Net Cash Flow -£804,000 £1,450,000 £3,889,000 £6,714,000

Payback Period 2.5 years


LARGE CLIENT, EXAMPLE 1VDIPOD HOSTED IN CREATIVE’S DATA CENTRE

* Includes 20% productivity gain for 392 power and 408 regular users

SCOPE800 users over five years

ROI£6,714,000 (37%)

PAYBACK PERIOD2.5 years


SMALL CLIENT, EXAMPLE 2VDIPOD HOSTED IN CREATIVE’S DATA CENTRE

SCOPE50 users over five years

ROI£333,956 (46%)

PAYBACK PERIODImmediate


VDI COST SAVINGS

50 USERS 800 USERS

£417,445 £6,714,000

5 YEARS 5 YEARS

46% 37%

IMMEDIATE 2.5 YEARS

COMPANY SIZE

PERIOD

SOLUTION SAVINGS

ROI

PAYBACK PERIOD

HOW CREATIVE CAN HELP

CREATIVE-ITC.COM

We can arrange immediate access to our VDIPOD to benchmark performance and help you deploy a proof of concept to validate improvements within your environment. So, you can strengthen your business case with meaningful numbers.

To arrange a free, no-strings consultation or a trial of VDIPOD, please contact

[email protected]

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JUSTIFYING THE VDI BUSINESS CASE - creative-itc.com...3 JUSTIFYING THE VDI BUSINESS CASE | CREATIVE ITC VDI technology has come on in leaps and bounds over the last 12 to 18 months