From the smallest company to the largest enterprise, technology plays a critical role in its financial success. In today's economy, a business's primary differentiator is service. If systems are down, then the customer service levels are down too, ultimately hurting the business, the companies reputation and the bottom line. At the heart of every IT service is always the data centre and it requires investment to keep it running at its best.
It is sometimes difficult to see the difference between costs and investment, especially when everything is working but when you think about data centre investment, it can be compared to owning a car.
When you are driving a car, there doesn't appear to be a need for any investment because everything works but because it is a critical tool that most people use everyday it requires proper investment otherwise it will let you down.
As with a owning a car, data centre investment can be broken down into 3 areas;
Operations
Operational costs for a data centre are the cost of the resources it uses. The biggest operational cost for a data centre is always going to be energy but there are others which are equally important.
Maintenance
Maintenance costs are preventative measures to ensure that things continue to work properly. They include regular maintenance but can also include replacement of major items.
In the data centre, maintenance is critical to its reliability. It ensures that all components are working at their best and any issues are resolved before they can have any serious impact.
Data centres with older infrastructure are generally more expensive to run and maintenance can also include improvements or refurbishments to accommodate changing business needs and technology requirements.
Sometimes, however, there may be issues that cannot be easily fixed and in these cases, It may be more cost effective in the longer term to move to a newer facility.
Emergency repairs
These are the unexpected things and can range from small faults to major failures. They need to planned for to ensure that they do not impact your business.
Investment is a form of insurance to reduce your costs and minimise the impact faults or failures and without it, things will go wrong which can cost the business far more than just the financial hit.
It is sometimes difficult to see the difference between costs and investment, especially when everything is working but when you think about data centre investment, it can be compared to owning a car.
When you are driving a car, there doesn't appear to be a need for any investment because everything works but because it is a critical tool that most people use everyday it requires proper investment otherwise it will let you down.
As with a owning a car, data centre investment can be broken down into 3 areas;
Operations
Operational costs for a data centre are the cost of the resources it uses. The biggest operational cost for a data centre is always going to be energy but there are others which are equally important.
Maintenance
Maintenance costs are preventative measures to ensure that things continue to work properly. They include regular maintenance but can also include replacement of major items.
In the data centre, maintenance is critical to its reliability. It ensures that all components are working at their best and any issues are resolved before they can have any serious impact.
Data centres with older infrastructure are generally more expensive to run and maintenance can also include improvements or refurbishments to accommodate changing business needs and technology requirements.
Sometimes, however, there may be issues that cannot be easily fixed and in these cases, It may be more cost effective in the longer term to move to a newer facility.
Emergency repairs
These are the unexpected things and can range from small faults to major failures. They need to planned for to ensure that they do not impact your business.
Investment is a form of insurance to reduce your costs and minimise the impact faults or failures and without it, things will go wrong which can cost the business far more than just the financial hit.