RETIRED CONTENT
Please note that the content on this page is retired. This content is not maintained and may contain information or links that are out of date.Organizations that lack an affordable storage expansion strategy may face the following challenges:
- Due to the magnitude of the current data growth explosion, storage is often a financial drain on the organization.
- IT managers or CIOs are under constant pressure to realize efficiencies in infrastructure costs.
- The approach of simply purchasing more raw storage capacity is not an affordable option in the long term.
This research will help you:
- Make smarter investment decisions. Businesses cannot afford to simply buy more capacity as needed. A runaway IT storage budget can be avoided by complementing capacity increases with best practice storage optimization approaches. Realize direct cost savings.
- Ensure business continuity. Provisioning storage is a core infrastructure responsibility; without adequate storage, fundamental businesses processes would fail immediately.
- Increase accuracy of capacity planning. Underestimating and overestimating storage requirements are both expensive forecasting mistakes.
- Minimize data growth and drive efficient storage utilization.
Book Your Workshop
Onsite Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn’t enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our Project Workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a road map in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Understand the Data Growth Challenge
The Purpose
- Develop an understanding of the factors driving data growth.
- Define your organization’s storage affordability gap.
Key Benefits Achieved
This step will enable you to:
- Understand the status quo state of data growth and storage in order to make smarter decisions moving forward.
Activities: | Outputs: | |
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1.1 | Understand your data growth challenge |
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1.2 | Create the client specific storage affordability gap visual |
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Module 2: Conduct the Evolution of Storage Assessment
The Purpose
After completing this module, you will have:
- Documented key information about the existing storage environment.
- An understanding of the relative impact of current and future data growth drivers.
- An understanding of the when, where, and magnitude of any required storage expansion.
Key Benefits Achieved
This step will enable you to:
- Plan: Accommodate the timing and magnitude of required storage capacity expansion. Ensure business continuity and decrease risks.
- Optimize Storage Structures: Quantify the impact of potential changes to the structure of current and future storage environments.
- Avoid Wasteful Investment: Make smarter purchasing decisions as a result of increased clarity about what the organization needs.
Activities: | Outputs: | |
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2.1 | Identify data growth drivers and determine growth requirements |
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2.2 | Analyze growth impact across drivers and understand sensitivities |
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2.3 | Identify storage structures and determine their relative growth burden |
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2.4 | Analyze overall capacity expansion requirements and bottlenecks |
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2.5 | Determine timing of required storage expansion for each structure and optimize data distribution to delay and minimize expenditures |
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Module 3: Identify Storage Processes and Priorities
The Purpose
After completing this module, you will have:
- Identified and documented existing storage optimization processes in use by your organization.
- Identified and documented both financial and non-financial goals, preferences, and constraints that will impact the applicability of storage solutions.
Key Benefits Achieved
These activities will enable you to:
- Ensure storage optimization solutions selected in the subsequent scorecard fit with your organization’s requirements.
- Ensure storage expansion solutions selected in the subsequent scorecard fit with your organization’s requirements.
- Provide a solid rationale to stakeholders for decisions made in the storage growth plan.
Activities: | Outputs: | |
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3.1 | Document existing storage optimization approaches in use at your organization |
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3.2 | Identify overarching business goals and priorities impacting storage decisions |
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3.3 | Identify financial resources, constraints, and preferences impacting storage decisions |
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3.4 | Aggregate and prioritize both business and financial goals to assist in solution selection |
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Module 4: Assess and Select Storage Optimization Solutions
The Purpose
After completing this module, you will have:
- A scored hierarchy of storage optimization solutions.
- A shortlist of proposed storage optimization solutions.
- An estimation of the effect size of proposed solutions.
Key Benefits Achieved
This step will enable you to:
- Select solutions according to fit with your organization’s storage goals.
- Quantify value of proposed solutions to justify decision making.
Activities: | Outputs: | |
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4.1 | Harness the Storage Optimization Options Scorecard to compare approaches |
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4.2 | Progress through optimization profiles in the storyboard |
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4.3 | Discuss profiles with Analyst, clarify the extent of implementation if already in use, and assign a score for each business goal |
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4.4 | Determine the shortlist of top approaches based on scores |
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4.5 | Discuss the quantitative effects of implementing these solutions |
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Module 5: Assess and Select Storage Expansion Approaches
The Purpose
After completing this module, you will have:
- A scored hierarchy of storage expansion options.
- A shortlist of proposed storage expansion options.
- An estimation of the effect size of proposed solutions.
Key Benefits Achieved
These activities will enable you to:
- Select expansion approaches according to fit with your organization’s storage goals.
- Quantify value of proposed solutions to justify decision making.
Activities: | Outputs: | |
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5.1 | Harness the Storage Expansion Options Scorecard to compare approaches |
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5.2 | Progress through expansion profiles in the storyboard |
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5.3 | Discuss profiles with Analyst, clarify the extent of implementation if already in use, and assign a score for each business goal |
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5.4 | Determine the shortlist of top approaches based on scores |
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5.5 | Discuss the quantitative effects of implementing these solutions |
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Module 6: Create the Storage Growth Plan
The Purpose
After completing this module, you will have:
- The Storage Growth Plan Executive Summary Document. This plan details all recommended solutions to accomplish affordable storage growth.
- Summary of supporting analysis and financials from throughout this project.
- Detailed implementation considerations and project roadmap.
- Detailed project costing and ROI calculation.
Key Benefits Achieved
These activities will enable you to:
- Consider all execution factors around how your organization will achieve affordable storage growth.
- Persuasively communicate the benefits of implementing this Storage Growth Plan to key stakeholders.
- Quantify the overall value of completing this project and all associated sub-projects.
Activities: | Outputs: | |
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6.1 | Understand and quantify the net benefits of completing this project |
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6.2 | Identify key stakeholders involved in the approvals and implementation process |
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6.3 | Map out key implementation steps and timing |
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6.4 | Establish initiative ownership and accountability of roles |
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6.5 | Prioritize and mitigate risks in implementation activities |
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6.6 | Use the Executive Summary Template to brief and guide key stakeholders |
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