Cost Containment

From InformationWeek Apptio, the firm that says it wants to be the 'workday for technology business management', is pushing into Europe with its software that helps CIOs manage IT operations and monitor costs of IT services, and has just secured extra investment to help it get it there. Apptio offers cloud-based software ... read more..

From Computerworld UK Enterprises are running on average at least five instances of SAP and should be using the introduction of HANA as a catalyst to consolidate into one global platform and save billions of dollars, according to the latest research from HCL Technologies. HCL interviewed 225 CIOs at enterprises that achieve ... read more..

From Computing.co.uk Organisations need to check their bills closely and look out for hidden charges when deploying their applications in the cloud and to check, especially, whether their cloud services include or exclude network services before they sign up. That is the warning of Bernhard Hammerlindl, channels director in global cloud ... read more..

From ComputerWeekly.com Long-term IT cost reduction requires more than just server consolidation and cuts to software licences. Programmes to reduce the cost of running IT have not led to major reduction costs unless headcount has also been slashed, according to Gartner. Driven by the tough economic climate, many IT leaders have been tasked ... read more..

From ComputerWeekly.com Businesses are wasting more than 10% of their software budgets on products that are never used. An IDC study, commissioned by licence management firm Flexera, shows that over half of enterprises say 11% or more of their application spend is associated with applications that are underused (shelfware). According to the survey, ... read more..

The Mint Hotel, Manchester, 6 July 2011Pressures remain on IT budgets and will do so for the foreseeable future it is time for organisations to think more strategically about the role and impact of technology to deliver true business transformation with improvements to the bottom line the current steady ... read more..

21 June 2011 Download the presentations The CxO experience David Evans former CFO of a major retailer and Global CIO of Aon Group Richard Nichols former Group CTO at Legal General Assurance ... read more..

VDI - case study For Keystone, securing the continuity of our business and key applications is essential. Having survived the 2005 Buncefield oil depot fire (our headquarters were next door), we wanted to enhance our disaster recovery strategy and so looked at how our ICT infrastructure could improve business continuity, ... read more..

Is there a market for another enterprise search product? US/German company Q-Sensei is starting to actively promote its enterprise search platform. This product, like many others, is aiming to give organizations a single combined interface for all of their information and social media feeds. However, in Q-Sensei's case, it aims ... read more..

software asset managementIn todays technology-led business environment, reducing IT costs can be an easy win for enterprises in their drive for overall business savings. Jill Powell, global manager for content at Flexera Software, explores the business benefits of effective asset management. Economic growth in 2011 in the UK is likely ... read more..

One of the few remaining ways to realising cost efficiencies Software Asset Management (SAM) is the most efficient way for organisations to gain control of their software estate from both a licence compliance and financial perspective. The most effective SAM licence management and optimization strategy will enable organisations to achieve ... read more..

30 November 2010 Download the presentations: Results and implications of the NCC survey, Understanding Today's Issues. Ian Jones, Head of Content, NCC. Simplify your IT before somebody else does ... read more..

Server monitoring and power management vendor 1E has announced version 2.0 of its NightWatchman product, enhancing its support for the management of virtual servers. Independent research in 2009 suggested that 15% of servers in data centers were not doing any useful work, and were costing $25 billion per year. Organizations ... read more..

The UK government has recently made pronouncements on reductions of the civil service, with options extending to a 40% cut. These have resulted in discussion around the potential of change to redundancy terms, and also the restriction of strike action which could hamper government plans. However, we believe that the ... read more..

Numara Software, a provider of service management and asset management solutions, is about to release the findings of its study into the state of IT funding in the UK, Germany, and France, and the consequences of the lack of IT investment during the last few years. The results of this ... read more..

30 June 2010 Download the slides from this event Introduction (420 KB pdf) IBM Power Systems (4 MB pdf) VMware - Virtualisation Strategy (1.4 MB pdf) IBM System X: 5th Generation Enterprise X-Architecture: ... read more..

business driven IT investmentSeeking out the investments that support business challengesIn the depths of recession many businesses took traditional, reactive cost-cutting measures such as pay freezes and reductions in departmental budgets to get through the toughest parts of the economic winter. However, as we begin to see the green shoots ... read more..

Information lifecycle management IT budgets are shrinking even as the reliance on data and application availability grows. IT managers must spend carefully to keep from negatively impacting the bottom line and one area where IT departments can realise significant savings is storage. Adrian Groeneveld of Pillar Data Systems provides a ... read more..

shared services case studyIntroductionThe challenges of working with multiple databases within any organisation are well documented. In the sensitive and data rich environment of the NHS, handling, managing and accessing multiple databases is a regular activity that drives the business forward. However, as databases organically grow and the demands placed ... read more..

So long as business applications are user-friendly and do the job, users shouldnt need to care about the bits and bytes. Whether youre at the helm of your company or are a time-pressed employee trying to get your job done, the last thing you want is to be slowed down ... read more..

There is little doubt that despite the apparent signs of recovery throughout the UK, for most in IT the future will be challenging. 2009 has been a very challenging year The general theme from our discussions with NCC members is that they remain under huge pressure to change; delivering more ... read more..

(Article taken from Management Guidelines 330 Budgeting in a Recovering Economy) It will have escaped nobodys notice that this has been a tough year. Consequently, anyone who is in the process of or about to start the forthcoming years budget planning round may be considering the prospect with some trepidation. ... read more..

Keith Mitchell of Replify Ltd looks at how optimisation can create the platform for greater efficiency and productivityInfrastructures in businessTodays technology can affect businesses in many different ways. Deployed properly it can propel a company to greater productivity and profitability with far fewer resources than were required just a few ... read more..

why it pays to rationalise your BI infrastructure Your IT budget is razor thin, your staff is maxed out, and management has ordered another round of cuts. Meanwhile, three departments are clamouring for specialised applications to compete effectively against the market leader thats eating your lunch. Somehow youre expected to ... read more..

A decade into a new millennium, much of our IT infrastructure is fit for digital landfill and we are continuing to pour money into it at an alarming rate. The current approach to IT is to custom-build systems and incrementally change them as required. As the degree of change ... read more..

ECM has the power to transform employee productivity, drive down costs and reduce the carbon footprint for any organisation. But many organisations have yet to achieve maximum value from the investment. From clearly defining corporate expectations up front, to ensuring user buy-in, only the right approach can ensure that organisations ... read more..

To be successful, todays business needs to strike a balance between cost-efficiencies, keeping a productive workforce motivated and ensuring that they are mindful of corporate and legislative compliance. However, the way that organisations interact, work and do business has taken on a collaborative nature which has to fit in with ... read more..

With falling technology costs, human resources increasingly comprise the largest component of IT expenditure. As IT governance is concerned with achieving value for IT expenditure, it must focus on these human resources, as well as on the technological and financial resources. The constantly changing IT world presents particular challenges for ... read more..

Desktop virtualization should do more than just move desktop management to the datacenter its real goal is to put productive applications in the hands of end users. Citrix Desktop Delivery dynamically assembles high-performance desktops complete with personalized applications and settings for every logon of every user, from a compact, efficient, ... read more..

This issue covers two important IT trends which have garnered significant attention recently, namely virtualization and cloud computing. IT trends - Cost reduction through virtualization and cloud computing ... read more..