The devil’s in the details: Organizations that take the time to plan, gather requirements, and understand the business need and co-location market, experience more successful co-location engagements.

• While considering a shared or managed services vendor, thoroughly examine their engagement practices. Since basic services are largely commoditized, vendor selection will often be based on price and service.
• The ability to negotiate a reduced price with vendors is a crucial skill for IT professionals, who are often under pressure to reduce costs. There are a number of strategies that can be used when negotiating for a reduced price on an IT contract.
• Organizations that measure, monitor, and report on infrastructure service level metrics are more successful at managing infrastructure service levels. Make sense of metrics to facilitate better managed data center infrastructure service levels.