Resources
IT Evolution is pleased to provide these white papers, case studies, and service descriptions to help you learn more about key IT challenges and the ways in which IT Evolution addresses them. All materials are free. The white papers, which dive into details about their respective topics, require registration or member sign-in through the Login sidebar on the left side of this page.
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White Papers (Registration Required)
- Avoiding the IT Product Selection Quagmire
- How to Maximize the Business Value of Your IT Operations
- IT Portfolio and Project Management
- Reducing the Rising Costs of IT
- Strategic Sourcing and Vendor Management
Service Descriptions
- Service Description - Avoiding the Pitfalls of Product Selection
- Service Description - Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Project Support
- Service Description - Infrastructure Services
- Service Description - Project Management Services
- Service Description - Supporting Changing Business Operations
- Service Description - Vendor Management
Executive Technology Summaries (Registration Required)
- Executive Technology Summary - Colocation
- Executive Technology Summary - Data Replication
- Executive Technology Summary - SMB Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
- Executive Technology Summary - Storage Area Networks (SAN)
- Executive Technology Summary - Virtualization
Project Management Documents (Registration Required)
Approach Documents (Registration Required)
- Approach - Business Continuity Planning
- Approach - Business Software and ERP Product Selection
- Approach - Data Center Migration Engagement
- Approach - IT Asset Management Assessment
Work Samples (Registration Required)
Approach - Business Continuity Planning
IT Evolution utilizes a two-phased approach to design and implement an ongoing Business Continuity program. The approach focuses on the discovery of requirements and the strategy and tactics necessary to develop, implement and maintain the recovery plan.
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Approach - Business Software and ERP Product Selection
An ERP ("Enterprise Resource Planning") system can bring significant benefits to your organization. The integrated nature of the system reduces double entry of data, improves visibility of information throughout your organization and can speed up key processes. ERP systems pose a significant challenge to implement though, especially in mid-size organizations which are not able to dedicate full time resources unlike the large multi-nationals.
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Approach - Data Center Migration Engagement
The IT Evolution approach to Data Center Migration Engagement creates a standardized model for relocating an existing Data Center to a new company owned or colocated facility. Our relocation strategy focuses on the long range planning and stakeholder communications necessary to reduce risk and complexity of these events, and the tactical operational detail required to execute the physical move successfully.
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Approach - IT Asset Management Assessment
This outline provides the structure for a high level review of the Asset Management function. The IT Evolution approach incorporates a review of current assets and the tools, processes, policies, metrics, and service levels comprising the existing Asset Management solution.
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Avoiding the IT Product Selection Quagmire
Big failures can result from the best intentions. The IT product selection process is a good example. Some of the biggest mistakes in the growth of a company‟s technology infrastructure occur during the selection of a product or solution through a competitive bidding process. This paper analyzes the potential pitfalls facing product selection efforts in small- and mid-size companies, and provides specific recommendations for overcoming these risks and succeeding in the selection and implementation of a technology solution.
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Business Continuity Plan
A BC/DR playbook is a living gameplan that is developed for the business in order to have a planned and organized process for recovering from all possible incidents which have been defined to interfere with ongoing business operations. It is very much like an insurance policy only to be executed in the event of certain defined incidents that would mitigate the risks associated with being unable to perform daily operations.
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Data Center Risk Analysis
Data Center Risk Analysis Natural Disaster Location and Impact Guidelines
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Executive Technology Summary - Colocation
A colocation site is a type of data center where multiple customers locate network, server and storage gear and interconnect to a variety of telecommunications and other network service provider(s) reducing cost and complexity while increasing resiliency when compared to a customer-owned data center. Increasingly, organizations are recognizing the benefits of colocating their mission-critical equipment. Colocation is popular because of the time and cost savings a company can realize as a result of using a shared data center infrastructure
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Executive Technology Summary - Data Replication
Data replication is a backup in real time that duplicates all data and selected application images stored on the Production Storage Area Network (SAN) to a remote SAN at the Disaster Recovery site. The availability of a high speed data line between the Production and Disaster Recovery sites ensures that all changes and transactions are synchronized between the two storage devices. This process guarantees that the Disaster Recovery site will be current should a business continuity event trigger a failover to the Disaster Recovery site and infrastructure.
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Executive Technology Summary - SMB Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Ensuring that key systems and applications driving your business are protected against outages is just as critical in the SMB space, if not more so, than for large enterprises. The Underwriting Guide for Insurers by A.M. Best found that only 6 percent of mid-sized companies that suffer catastrophic data loss survive – 43 percent never reopen, and 51 percent close within two years of the disaster. Developing, maintaining, and testing technology and business strategies designed to avoid or minimize the impact of business process interruptions are a key component of SMB IT and Business strategy.
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Executive Technology Summary - Storage Area Networks (SAN)
A storage area network (SAN) attaches shared high performance disks to servers in such a way that the storage appears as directly attached to the server while actually contained in the shared SAN infrastructure. Storage is allocated to applications on an as-needed basis, dramatically increasing the rate of utilization by eliminating large amounts of unused disk space. The SAN model also enables storage space to be added dynamically, based on demand, without interruption to operations. All SAN components can be implemented with redundancy, eliminating numerous single points of failure inherent in the older model of tethering storage devices directly to the server they support. SAN configurations offer numerous operational advantages over siloed (direct server connect) storage models, including improved reliability, performance, and manageability.
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Executive Technology Summary - Virtualization
A virtual infrastructure facilitates the full utilization of the physical resources of multiple servers across the infrastructure as a single unit, breaking the “one to one” relationship between applications and hardware. The virtual hosting model enables sharing the resources of a single physical computer across multiple virtual servers for maximum efficiency and reliability.
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How to Maximize the Business Value of Your IT Operations
During the coming years, both large and medium-sized companies will find themselves managing and depending on more IT vendors, technologies and business models. As a result, IT roles and processes must become more formalized and bolstered with improved tools and methodologies. The key to success will hinge on the ability to effectively build and manage project teams in the traditional sense and continually ensure that IT projects are aligned with business objectives.
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IT Portfolio and Project Management
With companies focusing on internal efficiency and better business/technology alignment, IT governance has become critical for enterprises of virtually every size. An important aspect of overall IT Governance is managing the overall portfolio of projects the organization undertakes yet, most companies do not have a good grasp of either their project portfolio or their IT assets. Many organizations have historically used basic project management tools and spreadsheets to manage all of their IT projects. However, as information technology becomes further integrated into the business processes of the corporation, it is inefficient to manage a portfolio of projects in this way.
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Project Evaluation Survey
One of the best ways to learn about the effectiveness of the management of a project is to evaluate the project through a survey of team members and stakeholders. A written survey helps guide reflection, spark recollection, and focus on key points of execution that require the most vigilance in maintaining project excellence. Surveys collected over a number of projects provide valuable historical insight into the effectiveness of particular methods, and help guide decisions about adapting your PM methods to your organization's unique circumstances.
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Project Management Effectiveness Survey
This survey helps PMO development teams, portfolio managers, IT managers, and others discover their organization's relative maturity in a number of key project management practices.
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Reducing the Rising Costs of IT
Today’s business agenda demands both cost cutting and revenue growth – often at the same time. For many companies, future initiatives call for holding the line on IT spending while rolling out new technologies or technology-enabled services. To achieve this goal, IT departments need to squeeze greater efficiencies from existing operations while shifting limited resources to the company’s highest priorities.
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Service Description - Avoiding the Pitfalls of Product Selection
One of the most important, long-term business decisions a company makes is the selection of a business software solution to address the needs of a key company function. This is commonly done by issuing a Request for Proposal through a competitive bidding process. Although the Request For Proposal (RFP) concept is a well-known best practice, many organizations lack the experience or the tools to execute a complete solution selection process effectively.
Service Description - Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Project Support
The decision to implement an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, either as a replacement for an existing system or as a new capability, is tough to make, and can be tougher to implement. It is important in the initial stage of an ERP project to identify and anticipate the high risk areas of the project and then manage them more closely to ensure the benefits are captured and the risks mitigated.
Service Description - Infrastructure Services
This brochure provides a description of the specific services offered by the IT Evolution Infrastructure Practice.
Service Description - Project Management Services
Mastering the process for consistently getting IT projects done on-time, within budget, and within expectations is what will set you apart as an effective business executive given the long tradition of failed IT projects. Our value, based on our experience and sensitivity to people and organizations, is in identifying and anticipating the high-risk areas of a project and then managing them more closely to mitigate the risk. Here is a summary of our project management services.
Service Description - Supporting Changing Business Operations
The most challenging times for a company often occur during a major business change, such as a merger or acquisition, relocation, rapid growth or shrinkage, expansion into international markets, a new line of business, or a major outsourcing initiative. For most companies, handling significant change rarely goes as smoothly as planned, and the evidence appears in ballooning costs, frequent delays, workforce stress, and disruptions in relationships with customers and partners.
Service Description - Vendor Management
Today, few companies are able to work with a single technology vendor. Typically, because IT systems have become complex and specialized, IT departments are often engaged in a puzzle-like series of relationships with external vendor offerings. Vendor management has therefore become a critical component of smooth and cost-effective business operations. Companies cannot afford down time, lost productivity, and increased costs due to poor vendor performance. Here is a description of how IT Evolution addresses the challenges of vendor management for our clients.
Strategic Sourcing and Vendor Management
This white paper describes the growing challenge of managing the proliferation of new and existing IT software, hardware and infrastructure applications common among both large and mid-sized companies across virtually every industry. It also outlines various strategies utilized to source and manage multiple vendor relationships based on financial, technological and business considerations. The goal is to not only control costs but to achieve and sustain superior services levels for all applicable areas of the company. The paper also details the steps to consider when preparing your IT department for this strategy.
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