Tuesday 20 January 2009

virtual panic

One European financial institution, planning a new virtualization programme this year as they look to shed costs, have been spinning wheels on getting a capacity management process implemented. If compared to others trodden the same path, this lack of up-front diligence will cost them time, handling rollbacks due to failing performance, and money as they overprovision excess capacity. Another similar institution reported 20% of all their virtualization program was subject to rollback, due to performance issues in production.

As performance issues begin to bite, panic mode sets in and organisations are forced into hasty remedial action, often requiring advanced monitoring and diagnostics in these complex environments. I was contacted recently by a tools provider targeting this market space - panic mode is very advantageous for them!

Sizing and capacity planning in any virtualization initiative is key to assuring success. Looking ahead and avoiding performance issues before they become reality is key to efficient IT operations. Aligning technology considerations and IT spend with business requirements is key to safeguarding efficiency, effective asset use and CIOs' jobs. Or, as they said in old English times before IT existed: "a stich in time, saves nine"

Tuesday 6 January 2009

Baby steps

I was reminded today of the 'baby-steps' approach to improvement or transformation exercises. The conversation started with an IT Director listing his 4 key objectives for transformation: adopt risk-based approach to testing, improved capacity planning, cost-reduction, and an improved dialogue between business and technical heads. Swiftly running through these objectives, and considering any fit with our solutions, I was struggling to understand the roadmap to deliver all 4 benefits.

Humbly, I was reminded of the concept of 'baby steps' in implementing any transformation exercise - something I developed last year with another customer. By adopting a phased approach, ramped investment is aligned with successes.

The conversation ended with agreement to focus on key benefits of risk-based testing, and improved alignment. Taking the baby-steps approach makes it easier to find agreement and lead to success.