2018 Data Center Strategies – Part 1

Questions To Consider For Your 2018 Data Center Strategies – Part 1

Happy New Year! It’s this time of year that has everyone reflecting on the past year, and thinking ahead to plan for the next. Perhaps it’s looking big picture, considering your competitive landscape and how you plan to stay ahead of the pack in this age of transformation, or it’s focusing internal and analyzing your current IT footprint and technology strategies. Regardless of approach, there are a number of questions to consider along the way.

When it comes to your internal infrastructure and data center strategies, this may seem like an overwhelmingly large (and expensive) bite to chew. According to 451 Research’s “Voice of the Enterprise” survey, over 1/3^rd of Enterprise data centers are greater than 10 years old. So that means, for most IT folks, a data center refresh or move may be on the horizon; and often times this is a once-in-a-career type event.

We at T5 Data Centers want to be here for you to make this assessment as easy and transparent as possible. We’ve compiled a list of questions to consider that our customers have found beneficial while evaluating their data center strategy:

Cost:

• What is the cost of maintaining your current environment (power and cooling infrastructure, network upgrades, staffing, etc.)? The cost of complacency is not just about the dollars being spent on maintaining what you currently own and operate, but also the money you may be leaving on the table not advancing your current footprint – not taking advantage of new technologies, mitigating risk of equipment failure, losing customers, cost savings from flexibility options, etc.
• What is the cost of risking 100% uptime? How much would it cost your company if you weren’t proactive and experienced an outage? Have you calculated what each minute of an outage would cost your company?

Construction:

• If you decide to build your own data center or upgrade your existing facility, do you have time to wait for a major construction project to be completed? What challenges would you face if we were to perform upgrades in an active environment?
• Do you have the budget to fund construction and operation of a new data center? Are you confident that you won’t deviate too far from the allocated budget?

Operations:

• How can an experienced 3^rd party data center operator complement your in-house staffing talent?
• Do your internal processes and procedures ensure a successful IT platform that will be “Forever On?” How can improvements in your BMS/EPMS system enhance real-time data and control of your IT assets?

There are many ways to approach your data center strategy. Hopefully Part I of this series provides a little guidance. The first step is to find your trusted partner to guide you through the process. Even if this is only slightly on your radar for 2018, let’s start the conversation and begin exploring what matters most to you and your data center needs.