IT Manager's Handbook: Getting Your New Job Done (44 page)

However, seeing all the criteria and the items listed right next to each other can be of tremendous value when trying to determine how important the issue is for you, which vendor to use, and which equipment to buy. It also helps to ensure that you are using consistent criteria for evaluating all the vendors. Some buyers then share that matrix with the winning vendor.

With larger purchases, an evaluation matrix can help document (perhaps to your boss or to Finance) why a particular item was purchased instead of a competing item.

Set Up a Matrix

There is a relatively standard set of metrics you can use to evaluate most technology products. Typical evaluation matrices include:

•
Functionality

•
Price

•
Performance

•
Vendor viability

•
Training required

•
Vendor services

•
Scalability

•
Support and service

•
Interoperability

•
Product's position in the market

Functionality

The most obvious question is: “Does this product do exactly what you need it to do?” These days, you need to ask that question of a vendor several times. Yes, the data sheet on the network switch claims it can handle speeds of up to X, but is that in the vendor's perfectly controlled test environment? Is that performance available “out of the box” or is it only available with some upgrades to the base model? How fast can it handle real-world traffic, that is, your data center backbone?

If it's something for your end-user community, they may be the key players in determining if the product does what it needs to do, does it well, is easy to use, etc.

Price

Although important, this generally shouldn't be your only criterion. Rank other criteria for each purchasing decision. This is good information to have on hand when someone from Accounting asks why you purchased brand X over Y, or used vendor Z.

As discussed earlier in the chapter in the section
“The Difference between Capital Expenditures and Operating Expense Items”
on
page 167
, there are two components when evaluating the cost of a technology product:

•
Capital Investment

•
Operating Expenses and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Capital Investment

This is the short-term, up-front cost of an item. It includes the hardware and/or software and all the associated components to make it do what you need it to do. For software, in addition to volume discounts, you want to consider how the product is licensed (see the section
“Licensing Models and Types”
in
Chapter 5, Software, Operating Systems, and Enterprise Applications
, on
page 146
).

Operating Expenses and TCO

In addition to the up-front capital investment, think of the costs for ongoing support and maintenance, implementation, training, prerequisite hardware and software, conversion/migration, and so on. TCO has become a much more popular method of evaluating products in the IT world. Competing platforms vendors, for example, try to justify higher initial prices by claiming their TCO is lower when compared over a several year period.

There are products where TCO isn't relevant. If you are buying a server rack, there isn't going to be much maintenance, training, and so on required. But most other products you buy in IT
do
require some TCO evaluation.

TCO analysis is a large and complex field, filled with vendors, consulting companies, and competing theories. Depending on the size of your purchase, you may want to create your own TCO analysis sheet. Include costs for capital investment, maintenance, support, training, consumables and supplies, installation, and any other either company- or product-specific costs. See the section
“TCO and Asset Management: What Are They?”
in
Chapter 7, Getting Started with the Technical Environment
on
page 196
for further discussion of TCO.

Vendor Viability

Is this vendor one that is likely to be around for a while? Are they at risk of going under because they're a fledgling start-up or are they ripe for acquisition or merger? Depending on the type of purchase you're considering, this may be a key issue.

Training Required

Will your staff need to be trained on this new product? Or is it something they can pick up on their own? If training is required then this cost has to be considered. Is training readily available or is it offered only twice a year and only in one location? Can the training be done at your site or via the Web?

Vendor's Services

Do you need, or will you want, professional services from the vendor to customize the product or help with its installation or integration into your environment? This could be an important factor to help ensure success, but it could also be a considerable cost. Use of a vendor's professional services can raise the cost of an implementation considerably, but also can help ensure success.

However, the vendor may be so eager to make the sale that he is willing to offer assistance, or training, at no charge. Similarly, will the vendor provide you with an opportunity to evaluate the product at no charge?

Performance

Hardware performance is often easily quantifiable. In addition to processor speed, a variety of other issues can impact performance: type and amount of memory, how the device is configured, number of processors, bus speed, amount of level-2 cache, among others. Performance benchmark standards are common. Also, if a vendor starts touting the performance of his equipment using standards other than those used in the industry, take it as a sign that his equipment may not perform as well. If everyone knows throughput is the standard and you start hearing about duration, be wary. Ask about the machine's throughput and be ready for a quasi-explanation about why that standard may not be correct.

Scalability

Will the product
scale
to meet the size of your environment? When considering an enterprisewide application (e.g., e-mail), your test bed will probably be quite small. However, the results may be very different when the product is deployed throughout your organization. Does the vendor know of another company your size using this product?

Support and Service

These can be critical components of an IT purchase. Products are getting more complex and their maintenance requirements are getting larger. Treat the item and the service options or contract as equally important elements in the buying decision. One may appear to cost more than the other, and be more important in the short term, but over time, the value of each can even out.

Also consider serviceability. Are parts easy to get? Does one vendor have long hold times on their support line? (This can be easy to verify with a call from your office.) Will you be able to find staff or training that can help maintain this item? Are technicians and parts available 24/7? How is the quality of their tech support?

Interoperability

Does the product
integrate well
into your environment or will it require specialized interfaces? Does the product adhere to industry standards or is it based on proprietary technology?

Product's Position in the Market

Is this a mature product? Are others using it? Is it considered a proven solution or is it more leading or cutting edge? Neither one is better than the other, since its importance and worth depends on circumstances, needs, and tolerance for risk. You may be interested in a brand-new solution or technology as a way of being innovative, differentiating yourself from the competition. However, if reliability and stability are top priorities, a more seasoned and proven product will be the better choice.

6.6 Managing the Money during Difficult Times

After years of incredible growth and economic expansion, 2008 and 2009 saw the greatest downturn in the economy since the Great Depression. With layoffs and cutbacks, and with a global reach, virtually no person, no company, and no country was spared its impact. It is also safe to say that your organization will again suffer difficult times in the future—cyclical swings, new competition, deteriorating revenues, increased costs, and so on. As manager of the IT department, you will be called upon during tough times to be involved in making sure that the company gets through it in one piece. During the difficult times, you should be looking at three areas:

•
Managing costs

•
Looking for opportunities to leverage IT for increased business value

•
Demonstrating leadership

As is usually the case, flexibility will be key. Management will not take kindly to resistance to change during tough times. This will be a time when your leadership and your ability to maintain calm and motivate your staff will count and be noticed.

Managing Costs

Since IT probably has one of the largest budgets in the organization, it's no surprise that management will look there for significant cost-savings opportunity. There are tough choices to be made; in some cases you may have to incur smaller short-term costs as temporary work-arounds while you delay larger projects.

Usually, one of the first places considered for cost savings is labor. Can employees be cut? Although terminating anyone's employment is a difficult thing to do, it is always a stark economic possibility. (See the section
“Layoffs and Terminations”
in
Chapter 2
on
Managing Your IT Team
on
page 55
.)

Look carefully at your team. Are there any weak performers who aren't carrying their weight? Are there people assigned to projects that will be canceled or postponed? If other areas of the company are cutting staff, that may be justification to reduce your support staff. Also, as discussed later in this chapter, outsourcing may be a cost savings. Related costs such as contractors, seminars, and training are easy costs to cut before having to look at trimming the staff.

Consider staff-related expenses. Can you use videoconferencing solutions (or other technology offerings) to reduce the cost of travel? Is telecommuting an option to help reduce office costs?

What about IT's current and upcoming projects? What can be delayed or canceled? Do you really need to do that ERP upgrade this year—can't it wait? What about your technology refresh plans? If you currently refresh your workstations every three years, can you push it out to four years? Is there any waste going on? Are you replacing monitors every time you buy a new workstation, for example? Can't they continue to use their old monitors? Perhaps that SAN upgrade can be delayed another year. Examine any project that was going to put in a new system or application. If you've done without that application up until now, perhaps you can do without it a little longer.

What processes does IT have that are labor-intensive and can be automated? This can include workstation imaging, software distribution, and patching. Can you use remote-control software for user support instead of visiting users' desks? This may not impact costs directly, but it will make your team more efficient and productive, and no one will fault you for doing that in tough times.

Call in your suppliers and explain the situation—they are mostly likely in the same situation themselves. Tell them that you'd rather not have to look for other, less expensive suppliers, but that is what you'll have to do if they can't give you better pricing. Since they don't want you to look into other suppliers, much less switch to one, there's a good chance that they will do something to keep you. This is especially true of telecom and cell-service providers. You can also consider alternatives to standard technologies, such as sending phone calls over the Internet (VoIP) to reduce traditional phone charges.

Immediately cut some of the niceties, such as team lunches and noncritical travel. These may not amount to much in terms of your overall budget, but they help send a signal to the team about how serious things are. Expenses related to training and consultants may also be initial targets when costs have to be trimmed.

Leverage IT for Increased Business Value

IT should always be looking to align itself with the business, but that is especially important during difficult times. IT has a dual role here in that technology can help reduce costs, as well as support business development activities.

There are some quick hits for IT to help reduce costs to the business. When the business cuts back on travel, IT can deliver relatively inexpensive solutions to help mitigate the impact. This can include videoconferencing (from vendors such as Polycom and Tandberg), Web-based conferencing (with solutions such as Skype, webcams, Cisco's WebEx, Adobe's Connect, Citrix's GoToMeeting, Microsoft's Live Meeting), instant messaging, audio-conference call solutions (which you may already have with your existing phone system), remote access solutions, among others.

IT can also help automate procedures that are currently heavily dependent on manual effort and moving paper around. This can include items such as purchase/budget approvals, T&E processing, and online report distribution/viewing. Are there systems that can be put in place to help reduce error and improve quality so that time isn't wasted redoing work?

Work with the different business areas to see how IT can help them. Are the customer service phone systems, websites, and tools as effective as they can be? Are there tools that can help Marketing and Sales mine existing data for increased business opportunities? What tools and technologies are available to help the business areas innovate and differentiate themselves from the competition (as well as reduce costs)? In tough times, the company may be looking to reinvent itself; make sure you are prepared to show how IT can help make that happen.