The constantly changing technology landscape is impacting processes and IT staffing resources within organizations. Here are a few tips to reduce IT spending.

1. Do More Without Increasing Headcount. The mandate to do “more with less” is a bit ironic, as organizations are simultaneously asking for wider deployment of IT resources, yet without increasing headcount. As more arms within the enterprise recognize the value of—and require access to—data warehouses, BI, CRM, ERP, SCM, and other high-value solutions, they aren’t recalibrating their overhead expectations... sometimes asking IT to even decrease headcount. Consider partnering with value adding specialists from contractors to full-service IT managed services to keep productivity high and better focusing in-house resources

• How Bluewolf Can Help. With Bluewolf Beyond, Bluewolf’s managed service for remote DBA, Oracle DBA, operating system and cloud application management, your organization gets the benefit of additional IT professionals, without the overhead of an FTE. In addition to substantial savings, you are gaining extraordinary expertise and 24x7 coverage for a fixed monthly fee.

2. Server Consolidation. IT resources can spread across an organization, especially when business groups or branch offices purchase applications that are delivered on dedicated hardware.  One way to reduce the cost of maintaining and managing servers and related equipment is to analyze what is deployed, and how it is used—from both an application and platform standpoint. Server consolidation and centralization of maintenance and administration can significantly reduce IT costs, while helping to ensure that all assets are properly maintained, updated, backed up, and secured.

• How Bluewolf Can Help. Part of the Bluewolf Beyond engagement process is to take inventory of your existing application and platform resources. The purpose of the inventory is to help you identify redundant and obsolete applications and servers that can be retired, and to identify how to optimally consolidate remaining applications and data stores onto existing resources.

3. Reduce Energy Costs. Energy costs represent a significant part of overall OPEX within your data center. The power consumed by servers, storage devices, fans, air conditioning have helped drive the move toward server consolidation and virtualization. Organizations are trying to reduce the number of servers they need to power up, and are using energy efficiency and non-forced air cooling options in guiding purchasing decisions.

• How Bluewolf Can Help. When Bluewolf Beyond remotely manages your onsite servers, we begin by working with you to identify redundant and unused databases and other resources to help reduce the number of servers managed. Bluewolf Beyond will advise on capital expenditures and provide the expertise to deploy and manage virtualized resources. Energy savings are enjoyed by moving and consolidating applications and databases, enabling you to retire or repurpose the equipment that was used to support the resources within your own operations..

4. Take Advantage of Cloud Computing. Cloud computing generates sky-high promises about reducing capital expenditures and operational expenses, and many of the promises are actually true. But you need to know exactly how cloud-based resources are deployed, managed, and integrated with the rest of your IT infrastructure. IT needs to be involved in managing access and ensuring that corporate privacy and security policies can be enforced across the cloud-based resources, and at integration points to the enterprise.

• How Bluewolf Can Help. Bluewolf Beyond is for more than just traditional environments of Oracle, SQL, MySQL, and even Linux and Windows. Since the explosion of Cloud apps like Salesforce.com, Amazon Web Services and Database.com, Bluewolf is delivering advanced management for any of your virtualized environments in the Cloud. Just because your environment in now in the Cloud, doesn't mean that it doesn't require the same business-critical, 24x7 availability as a traditional database environment. This service fully supports your Cloud-base environment with 24x7 database administration and support, data integration, data quality and security. Your dedicated primary and oncall DBAs are an extension of your staff, providing around-the-clock availability and reducing the risk of single point-of-failure.

Is your IT organization looking for better ways to do more with less? Learn how Sales Cloud consulting and Service Cloud implementation improves sales effectiveness and service effectiveness.