Businesses are trying to find ways to make the most out of their current budget, and one way to do this is through electronic data processes. The days of filing cabinets or updating company-wide systems may be replaced with data center consolidation, according to an article in Tech Target.
Operating from the cloud or virtual databases is not a new development, but advancements in 2013 have convinced 38 percent of participants to begin consolidation in 2014.
"A lot of the easy targets for cutting costs have harvested the low-hanging fruit and therefore are yielding less cost savings per year," Wayne Kernochan, president of Infostructure Associates LLC, a research firm, told the source. "Thus, IT may be revisiting tried-and-true cost-saving strategies that have lain fallow for a decade, like consolidation."
This move may make systems more condensed, but that leaves room for employees to become more efficient than they once were. Time spent going through years of paperwork and old data can be found within the data center's search engine.
Because information technology has changed so quickly, there are more ways to consolidate data now than ever before. Here are a few examples:
- Virtualization – Once files are digitized and stored in a virtualized server, it is much easier for staff members to share and access these documents. TechTarget's survey found that 55 percent of IT professionals plan on consolidating their data center this way.
- Hosted servers – Considered one of the first ways companies operated, 35 percent of businesses still plan on using this method of consolidation next year.
- Cloud infrastructure​ – Clive Longbottom, at Quocirca, an IT research firm, added that cloud services offer a flexibility that can truly change how businesses operate. This benefit may be why 42 percent of enterprises will roll out such a system.
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