In a world where capital expenditures continue to climb through the roof, it’s essential for decision-makers to look closely at indicators (such as return on investment) and how quickly expenditures are depreciating over the life span of assets.

Technology is often one column on the budget spreadsheet that takes up a large percentage of capital expense. Hardware needed to adequately support a business’s IT infrastructure is an especially large part of that budget. What increasingly causes alarm is how quickly hardware evolves and how rapid the depreciation cycle is for items that eat up such a large portion of the budget.

This begs the question…How do I maximize the ROI in hardware to support my business needs?

The first idea is leasing and/or hosting your server environment on hardware provided by a third party. This, combined with virtualization, can work in tandem to eliminate the strain on capital budgets and allow your business to mitigate the risk associated with the maintenance and support of computer hardware.

Some of the most notable reasons to consider server hosting and virtualization are:
•Minimize Downtime – Vendor-guaranteed replacement parts
•Cost Effective – Low monthly payments that are easily budgeted
•Improved IT Environment – Vendor handles the necessary power, cooling and security
•Mitigate Risk – Vendor provides a service level agreement that protects your assets

A savvy business mind should see the inherent value in outsourcing this aspect of capital exenditures. This business model has proven to be successful in areas such as business copiers and multifunction printers. These both fall into the same bucket of item depreciation as it pertains to the capital expense being made to acquire the resource.

Computer hardware has always carried an adverse relationship in terms of liability versus return. Now we are finally seeing the emergence of a solution that makes total sense. Mitigate your risks, maximize your return on investment and protect your most valuable non-human assets…your data and the workflow automation that runs your business.

This solution continues to evolve and is finally at a point within its maturation cycle that the cost is attractive and the risk is minimal. Considering risk versus reward, server hosting and virtualization is a solid solution that warrants sufficient business attention, especially when trying to sharpen the sword and streamline operations.

What are your thoughts on server hosting and virtualization to maximize IT resources?