Just about everything – hardware, software, operating
systems, network devices, productivity software,
policies, etc.
It minimizes overall costs because it simplifies
troubleshooting and support. By keeping hardware
and software as consistent as possible, the number of
different pieces of hardware and software to be
maintained is reduced, training and cross training on
software becomes easier, operating processes can be
similar and the number of operational and maintenance
tools can be reduced.
Standardizing can be
challenging since policies and procedures need to be
created, implemented or changed. The overall culture
and how people work are impacted requiring education and
changing work habits. Introducing new technologies
needs to be considered since maintaining flexibility and
creativity, determining new ways to be efficient and
meeting future goals can be important.
Create a
Supported Hardware Configuration and Software Policy. With hardware,
standardizing the vendor and computer model (Dell
OptiPlex XXXX) can help simplify decision-making,
minimize purchasing and maintenance costs and help with
network infrastructure configuration. You may want to
have two different standards for workstations based on
business need. The same with laptops. But keep in
mind, every piece of hardware has its own installation
and maintenance issues so the fewer different types of
hardware, the lower overall costs.
For software, standardize on the productivity software
to be used. For example, do you really need both
Microsoft Office and Corel Office? Or 3 different
graphic programs. Extend this idea to web browsers and
mail client software.
Create a Hardware Retirement and Replacement Policy. There are different
approaches related to this policy and each organization
needs to determine which approach is right for them.
Two approaches are:
-
A workstation’s anticipated life is between 3 and 5
years; laptops 2 and 3 years. Implement a policy
replacing 1/3 your workstations every year so that
at least 1/3 of the workstations are similar.
-
Purchase all workstations at the same time so that
every workstation is the same make and model.
Manufactures change parts on a regular basis.
Purchasing the same computer model over the course
of a year is positive and will assist with keeping
maintenance cost down, but the chances are the
computer parts such as network cards will be
slightly different. (An excellent example can be
found in Thomas L. Friedman’s, The World
is Flat, Chapter 16: The Dell Theory of Conflict
Prevention.)
Create a Software
Enhancement, Upgrade and Replacement Policy. Simply stated, old or
unsupported software increases cost. Old software may
not be compatible with current software languages or
hardware configurations. If the vendor has dropped
software support, the vendor may not answer questions if
you experience a problem. If they do respond to a
question, the support fee can be hefty.
Each software vendor has
their own policy with regard to applying enhancements
and the ramifications if the enhancement is not
applied. The same is true for major software upgrades
which occur every few years (on average every 4 or 5).
Businesses replace software instead of upgrading for
reasons such as the software is at the end of its normal
lifecycle (between 7 and 10 years from initial release)
or different business functionality is necessary.
Centralize
Purchases. Only items on the
approved item list from approved vendors should be
purchased. This will help with controlling cost as well
as potential compatibility issues. There will be
exceptions but if there is a procedure the ramifications
to overall maintenance cost and changes to the
infrastructure will be known upfront.
Create a Plan. Knowing
what is currently owned and what is needed to support
the business areas, enables you to make intelligent
decisions about standardization policies and procedures;
it requires balancing business and technical needs.
