Whether you are an executive, an insurance carrier, a call center representative or a technology service provider, managing and controlling costs for a data center is just part of the job at a financial services provider. Sometimes the data center was there before you took over the reins and started planning for its growth and maintenance. Perhaps company growth—a positive result in a difficult economy—has prompted plans to add, expand or replace an existing data center.
Remember the Bottom Line
Because businesses run on the bottom line, a frank review of the financial prospectus for housing a new processing center is critical. A business case is the most common approach and if done well will effectively communicate how the company will benefit from the new services the center will provide during its useful life.
Three primary areas of interest to businesses that are occasionally overlooked (but should always be included in a review of technology) are the following: construction of the facility, depreciation of the facility and of the information technology assets, and operations and support staff requirements. These core elements should be analyzed to provide visibility and a value statement to executives so that each becomes supportive rather than reductive over the prospects of funding such a project.
Who Should Build Your Data Center
Where many businesses trip up when evaluating data center solutions is in creating a design and then executing its construction through a contractor overseen by a team of company IT professionals. A turn-key data center that is constructed by a data center construction team that specializes in delivering facilities from inception through project completion reduces the costs of the three primary areas above while guaranteeing delivery of the facility—a big peace of mind if the center's resources are in high demand.
Another aspect of the turn-key approach is the consideration of power and green initiatives. Unless a design architect or contractor is well educated and experienced in the construction of these centers, many opportunities to create power systems sized to the correct capacity and ones that keep energy costs low can be quickly lost or require expensive upgrades later on. Inefficient systems in the facility that are not modeled together to achieve green standards of emission will quickly fail the test. One of the areas that often trips up inexperienced designers is idle periods that over-emit carbon.
Experienced professionals are available who specialize in the design, construction management and operation of data centers. These professionals can be found around the world, and partnering with them can save a business a lot of time and money.
Jessica writes about a wide variety of topics. She especially enjoys writing about data. You can learn more about data centers at http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com