Ten years ago it was all about data collection and working to get good performance from infrastructure components. Toward the end of the last decade the emphasis changed for the better, with IT management tools providing more of a service point of view rather than looking at things from a strictly technical infrastructure point of view.

So what’s next? Jeane-Pierre Garbani at Forrester Research recently wrote about “The Next Decade,” summarizing the progress we are making in the IT management software industry.

Business management looks at IT from a value perspective. They want to know, what business benefits am I getting for my IT dollar? Is my IT organization providing me with the ideal value-to-cost ratio? IT organizations are going to have to focus more on that value-to-cost ratio, says Garbani. I think he is right.

IT management and IT management tools vendors need to focus on optimizing that value-to-cost ratio, helping to ensure that business benefits are realized at the lowest overall cost. As Garbani says, IT management vendors need to position their tools “in the global context of the ‘IT Enterprise’ and show how they will contribute to internal IT optimization.”

What are your thoughts? Click the comments link below.

It seems like you can’t watch a TV program,  open up a newspaper or crack the cover of a magazine without finding information on ‘how to survive the recession.’

The main ‘theme’ I’ve noticed is to cut back on what people often think of as ‘must have’ items. It does make you think.  I have to ask myself how often will I use the latest tool that I had to purchase or maybe it’s the new book someone told me about that I am considering buying.  It all adds up.

I’d like to know how many businesses act the same way with their IT infrastructure. With the recent economy, I’m guessing  a lot of new purchases are not happening.  For me, I know it isn’t happening in my home.

This leads me to ask what are you doing as an IT professional, systems administrator or data center manager, to get more bang for your buck? How are you coping with having to do more with less?

TeamQuest recently produced a brief whiteboard series about doing more with less. Check it out here.

You can also listen to this interview with an analyst about aligning IT and business.

And now after writing this, I guess you can say that even bloggers are providing information and asking for ‘survival tips.’   Feel free to share your insight with us via the TeamQuest Blog.