CCSS Cuts the IT Operations Fat with New ‘Cheat Sheet’

April 3, 2012 Alex Woodie

IBM i shops are notoriously lean when it comes to the efficiency of their operations. And while the Great Recession forced many of us to find new and creative ways to further slash costs to the bone, a new “cheat sheet” from CCSS shows there’s still some fat to be trimmed when it comes to systems management.

“Quite often it can feel as though all the fat has already been trimmed and there is simply no excess or flexibility with which IT managers can make further changes,” CCSS president and CEO Ray Wright says in a press release. “It requires a fresh examination of how time and money is being spent across the system and honest appraisal of whether the underlying approach to systems management has been built on a model that supports ongoing efficiency.”

If an organization’s model doesn’t make room for ongoing improvements to efficiency in the area of systems management, then CCSS says it has the beginning of the answer in the form of its cheat sheet, “(How to) Do More With Less,” which it unveiled last week.

The cheat sheet defines six steps that organizations can take to help them start down the road to productivity improvement. Automating repetitive tasks is a big part of the equation, as is instituting system-wide visibility and anticipating future requirements. In the end, the cheat sheet can help organizations eliminate unnecessary spending and improve its systems management.