In state-of-the-art data centers—whether operated on-premises or by managed services providers—demand for server support administrators has been steadily declining over the past decade. How many server support staff members does an organization need today? To answer that question, we provide four key benchmarks: server support staff as a percentage of the IT staff, users per server support staff member, physical servers per server support staff member, and OS instances per server support staff member. We provide these metrics for small, midsize, and large organizations. We also assess how industry sector can influence server support staffing metrics. We conclude with recommendations for improving server support productivity. (23 pp, 10 fig.)
[Research Byte]
[Research Byte]