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Windows Rules the Data Center
Our most recent IT technology trends survey shows that Windows leads in the average percentage of data center workload processing. This Research Byte is an executive summary of our full report, Data Center Operating System Trends and Economic Characteristics, which provides data on average OS workload by organization size and industry sector, and analyzes the economic characteristics of three of them: Windows, Unix, and Linux. It also makes a number of important recommendations and predictions regarding data center OS adoption trends and strategies for optimizing OS ROI and TCO.
November, 2006
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Staffing for Project Management and the PMO
Much of the work within IT is project-based. Therefore, the project manager position is one of the most important jobs within the IT organization, and to be most effective it must be adequately staffed and organized. This Research Byte is a brief overview of our report on this subject, IT Project Management Staffing Ratios and PMO Adoption Rates.
October, 2006
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IT Change Management Still Lacking in Many Organizations
Most problems in the data center are caused by changes that are introduced into the production environment. Change management, therefore, is arguably the most critical requirement for a successful IT organization. This article investigates the effectiveness of IT change management practices and considers the impact of staffing levels on the overall quality of this process. We also examine the issues that may arise by failing to adequately develop and staff an IT change management function. (5 pp., 3 figs.)
October, 2006
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Problem Management: Major Payback for the Data Center
Twenty percent of data center personnel time is devoted to incident management and problem management, as those terms are defined by the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). This article provides statistics for percent of data center staff time spent on these activities by platform (mainframe, Windows, UNIX, and Linux). The conclusion: organizations can enjoy significant cost savings by devoting more effort toward problem management, which will reduce the occurance of incidents in the production environment.
September, 2006
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Are We Winning the Battle Against Spam?
This article is a summary of our full report, The Relative Effectiveness of Spam-Blocking Solutions, which provides the results of our survey of over 100 IT managers, email/security professionals, and end-users. The study found that perceptions of progress against spam differ between these groups. Furthermore, experiences differ according to the choice of four types of anti-spam products: third-party spam-blocking services, server-based anti-spam software, client-based spam-filters, and antispam appliances. The survey also explored the reasons that executive management approve spam-fighting technology.
September, 2006
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Spending and Staffing for Networks: Executive Summary
Network spending and staffing ratios show consistent relationships with organizational size. Therefore, IT executives should properly consider the size of their organization when benchmarking their network spending and staffing levels. This Research Byte is an executive summary of our full report, which provides benchmarks for network infrastructure spending as a percentage of the total IT operational budget, network support staffing levels as a percentage of the total IT headcount, and network staff productivity in terms of number of users and desktops supported per network staff member.
August, 2006
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Outside Recruiters Judged Most Effective Overall
A recent Computer Economics survey of nearly 200 IT executives finds that outside recruiting firms are the most effective method for filling open positions in today's IT job market. The study analyzed nine IT recruiting methods in terms of popularity, overall effectiveness, and ability to generate the most new hires.
August, 2006
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Growth of IT Outsourcing: No End in Sight
This article provides an executive summary of our recently published report on IT outsourcing statistics and trends. According to the report, IT outsourcing has become pervasive in North American companies. Furthermore, there are no signs of a slowdown in the use of outside service providers, with plans to outsource IT functions increasing in every one of the eight major outsourcing categories and 10 industries studied.
August, 2006
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Strong ROI Drives Blackberry/Treo Adoption
The use of handheld wireless devices, such as the BlackBerry from Research in Motion and the Treo from Palm, continues to grow at a brisk pace in all industry sectors. This article is a summary of our full report that examines the factors driving the popularity of these devices, their current rate of adoption, and the ROI and TCO experiences of companies that have deployed them.
August, 2006
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The Business Case for Software as a Service
Software as a service (SaaS), sometimes referred to as "software on-demand," is growing in popularity as an alternative to the in-house deployment of business applications under a traditional packaged software license. Research by Computer Economics shows that the ROI/TCO characteristics of SaaS are strong, leading to increased adoption rates.
August, 2006
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Most Windows and UNIX Servers Are Underutilized
Because of the declining costs of computer hardware, many organizations simply add more servers for each new application or service to be provided. This leads to proliferation of servers that are largely underutilized. On prime shift, nearly 80% of production UNIX servers are less than 20% utilized. Even worse: over 90% of Windows servers utilize less than 20% of their capacity.
July, 2006
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AFCOM’s Fall Data Center World Conference
Our partner AFCOM is hosting their fall Data Center World Conference in Orlando, Florida on September 10-13, 2006. Read more about this worthwhile event for data center managers and IT professionals.
July, 2006
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IT Budgets as Percent of Revenue at Highest Level Since 1997
Median corporate IT spending in 2006 across all industry sectors in the U.S. and Canada is 2% of revenue, according to the 17th annual Computer Economics IT Spending and Staffing Study. The most recent three year trend for this metric is provided, along with a link to the full report and executive summary.
July, 2006
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Help Desk Staffing Ratios: Executive Summary
This Research Byte is a summary of our full report, which provides benchmarks for the typical number of users and desktops per help desk staff member (including first level tech support). In the full report, staffing ratios are provided at the median, 25th percentile, and 75th percentile for small size, mid-size, and large organizations. There is also a breakdown of these statistics for nine industry sectors: banking & finance, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, wholesale distribution, retail, utilities/energy, business services, and government.
June, 2006
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Storage Management Disciplines are Declining
Although the cost of disk storage has been dropping, the demand for storage is ever increasing. Therefore, good storage management is still an important discipline for data center managers. However, benchmarks collected over the past decade show that storage management practices have gotten worse across the board: in mainframe data centers as well as in UNIX and Windows server environments. (3 pp., 3 figs.)
June, 2006
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