The Data Center Consolidation Project

Data center consolidation projects are not out of fashion yet. NYC and the feds move to consolidate their sprawling infrastructure to gain financial and energy efficiencies. ...

NYC Data Center Consolidation via InformationWeek: "current IT infrastructure of New York City is fragmented, with more than 50 unique data centers serving nearly 48 city agencies, many located in prime commercial real estate space. " NYC IT plans overhaul of data infrastructure: "The consolidation will lower the City’s cost of operations by up to $100 million over five years, reduce energy consumption and emissions, strengthen security, and improve overall IT service quality for agencies."

Federal Data Center Consolidation via Data Center Knowledge: Agencies are challenged to ... "prepare an inventory of the IT assets by April 30 and develop a preliminary data center consolidation plan by June 30. " by Federal CIO.

Make Business Case for Strategics

Load up your project portfolio with operational efficiency projects that deliver tangible returns. Always add a few strategic investments that speak directly to enabling important business strategies, where IT can support innovative business models or a differentiated position in the marketplace. Prove to the CFO that you understand the business. ...

... "If an IT project is neither simple nor fast, it may still get funding if you can show how it supports the enterprise’s top strategic goals. Use financial measures to make your case. " ...

Via SMART ENTERPRISE: Convince the CFO

Innovation Projects

While we are confronting the strongest headwinds since the Great Depression, leave room in your shrinking project portfolio for innovation and growth investments. It is understandable that operational efficiency and financial stability will move to the forefront and the portfolio balance will shift. There are innovation and project investment lessons to be learned from similar times. ...

... "Neoprene, which DuPont publicly announced in November 1931 and introduced commercially in 1937, became one of the 20th century’s major innovations. By 1939, every automobile and airplane manufactured in the United States had neoprene components. " ...

Via McKinsey Quarterly: Innovating during the Great Depression

Packaging ReThink

Packaging redesign increases energy efficiency, operational efficiency and asset utilization with some degradation in customer usability. Stores offer change management to customers in order to ease the transition. Expect more of these changes as the new reality of energy and fuel costs drives industry actions. ...

... "The company estimates this kind of shipping has cut labor by half and water use by 60 to 70 percent. More gallons fit on a truck and in Sam's Club coolers, and no empty crates need to be picked up, reducing trips to each Sam's Club store to two a week, from five - a big fuel savings. " ...

Via NYTimes: Green Milk Jug

The Innovation Investment

Innovation is not free. Research projects need funding. And, it costs money for the salaries of innovation evangelists. Fresh from PDMA event, Jeffrey offers insights on the diminishing returns of operational efficiency and the need to innovate in order to grow. ...

... "Without defining an objective and consistently reinforcing the efforts of a group of people who support and enable an innovation process, most firms simply won't generate a lot of new ideas. " ...

Via Innovate on Purpose: Cheap Innovation

Operational Efficiency at Citigroup

Citigroup plans to eliminate thousands of positions in effort to streamline operations. Its list of information technology actions can have a significant impact. They seem late to the party with leveraging these efficient IT enablers - regionalized data centers, virtualization to increase capacity utilization, and a standard enterprise architecture. ...

... "Continue to rationalize operational spending on technology. Simplification and standardization of Citi's information technology platform will be critical to increase efficiency and drive lower costs as well as decrease time to market. Examples of this are: consolidation of data centers; improved capacity utilization of technical assets and optimizing global voice and data networks; standardizing how the company develops, deploys and runs applications; and maximizing value by limiting the number of software vendors to operate at scale. " ...

Via Citigroup: Citi Announces Actions to Streamline Organization, Reduce Expense Growth and Drive Future Expansion