Data Center Operations and Facilities Management

Technical Infrastructure—outlined many ways to improve operations, such as server virtualization and consolidation. Many of these have an effect on the data center. Be sure to manage the data center to take advantage of changes and look for additional cost reduction opportunities. The following are some ways companies have reduced costs in their data center operations and facilities management:

• Consider implementing an automated data center to reduce costs. For example, one company implemented a lights-out data center with monitoring, automating, and reporting, which eliminated five full-time equivalent (FTE) resources.
• Consider consolidating data centers. Running a data center is costly in terms of floor space, power, and FTE resources. Before increasing the number of data centers, complete a careful cost-benefit review to make sure it is necessary.
• Consider using a co-location facility or using other company locations for backup purposes.
• Review the costs and benefits of outsourcing your data center, particularly for small and medium-sized organizations.
• Review the data center footprint, power consumption, fire protection, cooling consumption to determine proper sizing. Monitor the conditions and ensure proper physical security exists.
• Make sure the operations are efficient with proper procedures, documentation, and trained personnel. Automation significantly improves operations with tools such as job scheduling. Analyze jobs on a regular basis to ensure efficiency in processing time and throughput. Report operational issues to the help desk so you can track, manage, and reduce incidents.