Feeling continually squeezed to keep reducing IT infrastructure cost? The good news is, your competition is probably feeling the same pressure. A global study released by Gartner late in 2011 noted that infrastructure and operations costs account for about 60% of overall IT spending.

If anything, the need to find enterprise-wide, innovative ways to control costs is growing. And it’s exacerbated by vast changes in the technology landscape that are literally transforming the way many companies approach IT services and delivery.

You can’t just tighten your belt.

You have to take stock of your entire situation to determine the most appropriate IT infrastructure cost reduction techniques for your company. Gartner suggests there are several key actions you can undertake, and they recommend you apply them all, if you can. We’ve consolidated their recommendations here into five key points.

1. Re-examine the sources of IT infrastructure cost.

This may seem obvious, but Gartner suggests some specifics:

• Since networks represent a significant share of your expenses, especially telecom services costs, it might be time to review and renegotiate those contracts, to be sure you’re still getting the best market rate.
• If you’re typical, your company actually provides tiered internal support, some of which requires higher-skilled IT staff. Take a look at how you’re delivering support, to ensure you’re using the least-cost tier wherever possible, without sacrificing quality.
• Streamline the way you allocate high-priced labor. Again, if you’re typical, half your IT personnel are devoted to IT infrastructure and operations. You can trim costs while improving service management and quality by implementing best practices defined by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). No doubt you’re already doing that, but is there something you’ve overlooked? Or back-burnered because it didn’t seem like a priority at the time?  

2. Cut power consumption.

Big data centers that aren’t used efficiently run up your electricity usage substantially. You can’t afford that needless waste, so take a closer look at newer energy-efficient approaches to data center design that require less cooling and require less space – a valuable side benefit that can further reduce IT infrastructure cost.

3. Consolidate, integrate and virtualize.

Along with standardization, these three methodologies can not only help reduce IT infrastructure cost, they can re-position your company to take maximum advantage of emerging technology and sourcing options. Fewer, larger data centers can operate more efficiently and effectively.

Virtualization software can significantly improve server usage, which is frequently only a small percentage of capacity. Gartner says virtualization can allow you to get by with just a quarter the number of servers, reducing hardware and power costs by up to 50 percent. Virtualization and adopting storage resource management tools can help address the exponential growth in data volumes, too.

4. Put off IT initiatives that aren’t mission-critical.

If it doesn’t directly support top-priority, near-term business goals, or it doesn’t lower costs or reduce risk in the near term, set it aside for now.

5. Invest in IT asset management tools.

Tracking and analyzing your assets and how you’re using them helps you identify areas that offer additional opportunity to reduce IT infrastructure cost. These tools can help you manage more efficiently in other ways, too.

Today, you can multi-source solutions, outsourcing any or all aspects of IT operations. You can strategically pick and choose exactly the right combination of internal and/or external management sources and devise SLAs directly-tailored to your company’s IT and overall goals. It’s a recipe for quality and flexibility.

What will you do next to reduce IT infrastructure cost?

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