Five Simple Ways to Save Money over the Long Term

These are only a few ways to save your department money over the long term. I will elaborate on each topic in other posts.

Develop a Plan to Migrate from Windows to Open Source Software
It’s unrealistic to think you will shed your Microsoft addiction overnight, or even over a year, but developing a plan to move a good portion of your infrastructure to Open Source, will save a noticeable amount. The caveat is finding staff familiar with Windows to UNIX migration and administration.

Be Energy Conscious
Consider power usage and efficiency when weighing hardware purchases. Look for high efficiency power supplies when deciding on workstations. While environmentally friendly hardware may be a bit more expensive initially, it will pay off over time. Ensure your datacenter is properly insulated so that the conditioned air remains cool and where it belongs. Consult a specialist in Green IT solutions if needed, they can do the math and quantify your expected savings. Try Google's PowerMeter software.

Server Virtualization
Virtualization may be the most effective way to save money. Bare-metal servers rarely sustain >%50 CPU usage, leaving the other half unused. Using a Type 1 hypervisor, you can split the hardware up into smaller pieces so that the server can be utilized more efficiently. I recommend Citrix XenServer or VMWare’s ESX.

Knowledge Bases
Creating a central knowledge base with easy to access and easy to understand instructions to help users resolve common issues will help reduce dependency on your support staff, allowing you to allocate them elsewhere.

Desktop Virtualization
The average life span of a desktop is 3 to 5 years. Beyond that and things start breaking – and everyone in IT knows you should replace before it breaks, not when. Creating a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) will offer your users a real desktop, a virtual machine on a server in your datacenter. A thin client is used to access it. Thin Clients’ life span is 5-7 years depending on the model and are significantly less expensive than their big brothers.