It is the duty of the data center managers to identify the areas to cut on the operating budgets and at the same time to ensure that there are no associated risks in the functioning of the data center environments. These measures will not only facilitate max uptime, but also allow companies to enhance efficiency while reducing costs. The 5 strategies highlighted below will help in reducing data center maintenance costs and maintenance expenses without any additional measurable risks.
1. Review Maintenance Recommendations made by the Manufacturer:
This is no secret that most of the manufacturers sell preventive maintenance service contracts. There are plenty of companies that buy a full maintenance service package spending a big chunk of their budgets. And many among them spend this amount because they have no other alternative and cannot afford a devastating system failure.
Since these big service providers are in a position of power as they hold the key to running these IT systems, most of the time they do not compromise when it comes to customization of services and always seek to sell new hardware to the companies using their services. In the present financial times, it is wise to understand the minimum acceptable maintenance scope annually and use third party maintenance companies that will work towards safeguarding your business interest providing customized service at a fraction of the price.
See below areas where you have the opportunity to avail reduction on the maintenance of your IT infrastructure:
- Exclusion of minor preventive maintenance call/site visit
- Discount from a comprehensive maintenance plan for preventive maintenance
- Reduction of service response time
- Rearrangement of periodic maintenance services
2. Try Using Third Party Maintenance Providers:
Although most manufacturers indicate that a company’s data center should be maintained by them or by their authorized representatives this recommendation aims mainly to retain control over their IT infrastructure. According to a recent Gartners report “TPM contracts will offer customers an average of 60 percent savings off OEM support list prices. However, depending on equipment type, location and product density, Gartner have seen that the range of savings with TPM contracts is 50 percent off OEM list up to 95 percent off OEM list.” Since 1983, Evernex has consistently offered customers incomparable savings on support services and has helped companies around the globe to transform how they procure and upgrade multi-vendor, multinational environments. Gartner is putting a spotlight on third-party maintenance and its importance exposing the manufacturers intentions of keeping the customers in the dark.
Below are few reasons why a third party maintenance provider like Evernex is an ideal choice for the maintenance of your data center and IT infrastructure:
- The best field engineers
- Expert in supporting multi-vendor infrastructure without additional expenses
- Customized contracts and support offers
- Better service and coverage
- Huge inventory of IT hardware
3. Capitalize on Monitoring Capabilities and Systematize Maintenance:
The only way to ensure that there is no risk of downtime is by capitalizing on the monitoring capabilities of a data center. Even if your data center is spread across multiple buildings, through proper networking you can aggregate one or more locations.
By capitalizing on your monitoring capabilities you cut a great deal on preventive maintenance costs, eliminate multiple site visits and also reduce UPS maintenance costs.
4. Optimize Efficiency, Stocking and Organization:
There are several low-cost strategies that make your data center more energy efficient without sacrificing reliability and they include the following:
- Allowing power-management features for server systems
- Linking servers
- Switching off dead/ unused servers
- Merging storage
- Locking the cold air of the data center by filling the holes on the data center floor
- Proper management of HVAC
- Finding the right spot to increase UPS efficiency
5. Outsource data center maintenance:
It is noted that the most contributing factor towards data center catastrophes is human error, and this is why it is highly advisable for companies to choose a global third party maintenance company that can present a number of benefits for today’s budget-conscious data center, including:
- Reduce expenses
- Eliminate time wasted in trainings
- Optimum utilization of resources within the company
- Create a single point of contact for all maintenance related queries
- Stop brain drain
