In the past few weeks we’ve shared more exciting cost-saving tactics that I hope are generating discussions within your organization.

Venturing down the IT consolidation path can be a frustrating and bewildering experience, and one that is fraught with risk for public sector leaders. As the saying goes – no one ever got fired for NOT starting an IT project – but plenty of people have gotten dinged for IT projects that have gone awry. Project risk, cost pressures, byzantine contracting rules, and other challenges can make even the most forward looking leader unsure about how to proceed. Here are some items to think about as your organization ventures down the IT consolidation path.

Much of the focus within IT consolidation efforts is on reducing hardware costs by consolidating servers and moving to cloud hosting.  However, there is another often overlooked area, application consolidation, where agencies can generate significant savings.  The term ‘applications’ applies to the broad array of software that support agencies’ activities.  Email, documents, or home grown applications are all examples of applications.  By discovering the comprehensive set of  applications running in the operational environment, and analyzing the applications relativ

Yesterday, I talked about the location of a dev-test environment.  I argued that  there is a good reason for an agency to consider hosting their own virtualized dev-test environment in their data center.  I said:  

I recently discussed the significant benefits and low risk for agencies adopting a shared virtualized development and test (dev-test) environment.  Until now, each project team has been saddled with building and maintaining their own dev-test environment.  Lacking any centralized planning, development teams made sometimes arbitrary selections for the operating environment which resulted in each system operating as an island; with dedicated facilities and staff.

On Cloud: This week, Johnny Barnes, our Public Sector Chief Technology Officer, provided an overview comparing cloud models and offering thoughts about their connection to the mission needs that may drive an organization to move to the cloud.  For many, this framework is clear; using definitions provided by NIST is intended to help federal leaders compare apples to apples.   A few other articles relevant to efforts to improve performance while reducing budgetary needs: ·    Joe Davidson’s article Monday on the SAVE awards

On Consolidation and the Cloud: Last week, Ravi Bansal wrapped up his description of the Five E’s of IT Consolidation with a discussion of exposure and execution.  The exposure post connects COOP efforts to the consolidation approach; CIOs can manage risk to the mission of their o

  Cloud is much in the news and lexicon these days – cloud this, and cloud that, and migrating to the cloud…cloud, cloud, cloud…  So what’s the big deal?  Does the cloud really help end users?  Will cloud help federal agencies meet their mission?  Will cloud really reduce costs?

Last week, Debra Cammer-Hines, our Vice President and Partner responsible for Strategy and Transformation Consulting, testified before Congress to share our recommendations to save funding and improve performance – the same recommendations that have been presented in this blog.  As the White House and Congressional leaders discuss options to address the debt, we’ll continue to share our experience in using modern management, technology and resources to address the de

We focused on using consolidation as a way to take expense out of Federal operations and improve overall management.  I’d like to thank Johnny Barnes, our Chief Technical Officer, for his thoughtful contribution.  He’ll be sharing more in the coming weeks, as we know this topic is near and dear to the plans and operations being driven by many of you.  Look for another post next Monday…