The Hub Commentary_

Consolidation can have short term gains and costs with longer term gains when approached as Arthur describes in his post.  Its all about balancing operating and growing the business and business service management practices.

Many approach consolidation much like new technology, virtualization, for the short term cost saving to remove hardware and software licenses from the equation.  However, when done right it with investments and spending upfront, there are greater gains in the longer term.  Arthur mentions SIRVA and how they spent to consolidate and gain and ends with a reduction in staff by a third.

Who really removes people?  It is possible and generally is why IT does not turn inward to automate and drive efficiencies in their own organization as they do when applying technology for automating other parts of the organization.  As was noted in today’s earlier news commentary, the roles in IT start to shift as service managers and analysts applying technology to the business – not “bulb monitors” watching the commodity operate.

These are interesting times and it will be interesting to keep this years Fortune 500 edition and compare it to 2012 and 2013 and see who takes over each industry and is leading with the use of technology.

Michele

___________________

It isn’t often that the phrase “do more with less” is literally true, but that is exactly what’s happening with the latest round of data center consolidation.   (Read Full Article…)