Welcome back. Last month we learned about CNC, Configurable Network Computing, and what it means to JD Edwards and your organization. With the ever increasing advancement in technology what do these changes mean to an organization's ongoing cost of maintaining and managing their solutions? What additional requirements "of staying current and competitive" are brought to an organization and what do they mean to its TCO, otherwise known as Total Cost of Ownership.
As defined by Gartner, one of the world's leading technology research organizations, a firm's TCO is the comprehensive assessment of the information technology and other costs across the entire enterprise over time. What types of costs should be included when evaluating a solutions "total cost"? What "other costs" exists that we may be overlooking? What many fail to realize is that an organizations TCO is not only comprised of those "hard costs", such as hardware and software acquisitions, room build outs and the like, but also those "soft costs", such as their management and support, communications costs, end-user expenses like training or hiring of additional staff and the opportunity cost of downtime and other productivity losses. Gartner also suggests that some other costs to consider would be network and server hardware and software, user PC hardware and software, all installation work, purchasing research, warranty and licensing costs as well as their compliance, migration costs, electricity and insurance.
So what is an organization to do to remain competitive in today's landscape while still remaining "on the cutting edge" of ever changing technology? How does an organization minimize their TCO while at the same time get their best of breed and cutting edge solutions? How does an organization balance the wants and needs of each functional group while concentrating on the overall strategic goal within a reasonable budget and timeline?
Surprisingly,various alternatives exist but many naturally boil down to a single question; what is the ultimate goal and direction of the business and can they accept the solution(s) that are required? Where does the enterprise want to focus? What is the appropriate "mix" of internal solutions versus external solutions? What is that total cost to get me there.
GSI staffs the people and resources to analyze, answer and support those types of questions and solutions that are being asked within the organization. GSI addresses that discussion in next month's issue. Until then, realize thathidden costs exist for every investment an organization considers. GSIilluminateswhich paths to followto prevent unexpected financial surprises.