TechSeminar
Seminar on infrastructure optimisation initiative held
StarTech Desk
Microsoft Bang-ladesh held a seminar on Infras-tructure Optimisation Initiative on September 6 in Dhaka. Dwayne Nortmann and John Phillips of Microsoft Asia Pacific delivered the key presentations. According to the presenters, more than 70 percent of a typical IT budget is spent on infrastructure, such as servers, operating systems, storage and networking. Add to this the need to refresh and manage desktop and mobile devices and you have a unique set of challenges for IT infrastructure to face. The Infrastructure Optimisation Model helps customers understand and subsequently improve the state of their IT infrastructure and describes what that means in terms of cost, security risk, and operational agility. IT infrastructure is a strategic asset and the critical foundation upon which software can deliver services and user applications that a business needs in order to operate effectively and succeed. For many organizations growth and rapid developments in new technologies have resulted in data center and desktop infrastructures that are overly complex, inflexible, and difficult to manage with built-in costs that are not only high, but somewhat fixed regardless of changing business requirements. Most organisations recognize the importance of an optimised and cost efficient IT infrastructure and have tried to rationalise their infrastructure and increase their operational efficiency through initiatives such as data center consolidation, desktop standardisation, implementing IT operational best practices, etc. Such initiatives undertaken by IT departments in isolation are not sufficient on their own to deliver the desired and long lasting improvements demanded by the business. In order to achieve a sustained improvement in their IT infrastructure, organisations must take a longer term strategic view of IT infrastructure maturity and link these capability and maturity improvements to their business needs and overall business strategy. The Infrastructure Optimisation Model helps customers realize dramatic cost savings for their IT infrastructure by moving from an unmanaged environment towards a dynamic environment. Security improves from highly vulnerable in a Basic infrastructure to dynamically proactive in a more mature infrastructure. IT infrastructure management changes from highly manual and reactive to highly automated and proactive. Microsoft and partners can provide the technologies, processes, and procedures to help customers move through the infrastructure optimisation journey. Processes move from fragmented or nonexistent to optimised and repeatable. A customer's ability to use technology to improve their business agility and deliver business value increases as they move from the Basic state up the continuum toward a Dynamic state, empowering information workers, managers, and supporting new business opportunities. By working with Microsoft and using this model as a framework, an enterprise can quickly understand the strategic value and business benefits to the organisation in moving from a "basic" level of maturity (where the IT infrastructure is generally considered a cost center) towards a more "dynamic" use, where the business value of the IT infrastructure is clearly understood and the IT infrastructure is viewed as a strategic business asset and business enabler. IT Decision makers from banks, telecom companies, manufacturing, UN, multinationals, local corporate were present at the seminar along with the local Microsoft partners and Microsoft Bangladesh executives.
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