Wave after wave of innovation, acquisitions, mergers and de-mergers in the telecommunications industry during the last fifteen years have left service providers with a complex array of systems and technologies that are expensive to run and difficult to manage. As a result, reducing complexity and driving costs down have become key features of most corporate IT business plans.
Nowhere manifests the results of extensive IT change more clearly than the Data Center and therefore, there is no better place to start with an IT cost reduction program than Data Center Consolidation.
Atos Origin has a comprehensive and well-proven four-stage approach to Data Center Consolidation that delivers the following key benefits through leveraging economies of scale:
- Reduces Data Center operating costs
- Improves business effectiveness through the concentration of Data Center operational best practice, creating centers of excellence
- Provides a stable, flexible and well managed Data Center environment that is aligned with the business strategy and ready for future growth and innovation
The resulting Data Centers are leaner, more flexible and easier to run in addition to being, typically, at least 10 percent more cost-effective to operate even before application, server, storage and network consolidation options have been explored. Return on Capital Investment (ROCI) is typically realized within one year.
However, there are a number of issues that can arise that prevent organizations from realizing the full business benefits of Data Center Consolidation. These include:
- A technology-led project that is not fully aligned with the business plans. Without solid and continuous benefits tracking activities taking place throughout a Data Center Consolidation program, it is easy for activities to become overly focused on the complexities of the execution and lose sight of the overall business objectives.
- An absence of the skills and experience required to relocate large numbers of important and sometimes business critical systems.
- Failure to plan properly. Relocating systems is an immensely complex operation so attention to logistical details can mean the success or ruin of the project.
Atos Origin’s four stage program offers a proven and mature approach to Data Center Consolidation that mitigates these risks. Based on our extensive global experience, we have a comprehensive collection of processes, move histories and tools used by our Data Center practitioners, ensuring that every aspect of the project is considered and all issues are addressed.
In our own Data Centers, Atos Origin Managed Operations operates thousands of systems that we have consolidated from numerous client-based locations across Europe and the world. As a systems integrator with strong original equipment manufacturer (OEM) vendor relationships, we ensure objectivity in the choice of systems and technologies employed in the Data Center. This makes certain that the resulting infrastructure meets exactly with your business requirements today and for the future. And through Atos Consulting, we bring skills and extensive experience in the areas of large complex IT program management, process engineering, management consulting and benefits realization.
A wide variety of firms are already taking advantage of the many business benefits that Atos Origin’s unique Consolidation solutions offer. These firms include: Akzo Nobel, Brakes Bros, British Coal, DSM, ICI, KPN, Lucent Technologies, Phillips, Uniq and Virgin Mobile.
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