june 13

Building a storage strategy road map
Jim Damoulakis, GlassHouse CTO, writes about using an internal service provider model as a vision for management.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=
viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=19&articleId=9001132

Here’s a challenge facing many IT decision makers:

The storage organization has a full slate of projects planned or underway. When considered individually, each makes sense and is justifiable, but when examined as a whole, they lack integration and cohesiveness. Essentially an overall vision and supporting strategy is lacking.

One project may address a single facet of a larger issue, a second another component, but the entirety of the problem and its impact on related areas is not fully considered. The focus typically is on technology solutions that address a specific tactical need. A critical point in the overall maturation process of a storage organization is the realization that this piecemeal approach cannot solve its major problems – double digit growth, cost constraints, and data protection challenges.

Many organizations have embraced the concept of an internal service provider model as a long-term vision for managing their storage infrastructure. The foundation of this model depends upon establishing a well-defined catalog of storage services driven by business requirements that are delivered through a set of consistent, repeatable processes. A series of checks and balances is built into this approach to manage the three pillars of user satisfaction, risk, and cost. These, in turn, depend upon key performance indicators defined by a focused set of metrics.

Unfortunately, the existing problems can’t wait while we develop such a strategy and go about retooling and reengineering our processes and services. We need to continue to offer current services and somehow find time to develop, test, document, and train for our new approach. Beyond being time consuming, this is a substantial organizational and cultural challenge.

To begin this undertaking, it is necessary to create a roadmap – a plan for evolving to the future state. The roadmap identifies transformational steps relating to various aspects of the future model. Each step can represent one or more projects that must be prioritized and positioned based on business value, cost, impact on related projects, and level of effort. Those existing projects must also be measured by the same yardstick. Some, by necessity, will continue while other may be reconsidered, merged with similar projects, or reprioritized.

The key to a successful transition process demands that each project demonstrate an incremental benefit so that the overall value of the transition is actually realized along the way and not just at the end of the process.

Jim Damoulakis is chief technology officer of GlassHouse Technologies Inc., a leading provider of independent storage services. He can be reached at jimd@glasshouse.com