Competitive Advantage in the Modern Enterprise

Tech companies around the world are wrestling with some very knotty issues these days.

Take, for example, outsourcing. Its ability to reduce certain types of expense and process overhead have made it a virtual business imperative. At the same time, its very appeal has driven up demand, which in turn decreases supply and increases prices. India is now wrestling with wage inflation due to its very attractiveness as a source of skilled IT talent. But even if its possibilities aren’t quite as limitless as many people once hoped, outsourcing still figures into the business strategies of most global tech companies.

Virtualization presents another version of the outsourcing conundrum, which is ultimately about how the modern enterprise can adapt to changes that are too complicated to be dealt with easily and too important to be ignored. We’re all aware of the benefits and the many real-world applications of virtualization technology. The question is, who will implement the stuff?

More businesses are taking a realistic look at virtualization and concluding that it is something best addressed gradually, by people in the know, who can set reasonable time frames and expectations for a virtualization implementation. It can’t immediately be all things to all people. A new report by Enterprise Management Associates urges caution:

“The report advises enterprises that addressing technical issues early can be the difference between success and failure for virtualization deployments. The research highlights many specific issues including VM sprawl, hardware compatibility and software support - and recommends ways to deal with them, like deploying capacity planning, configuration management and cost accounting procedures. (PR Newswire via Virtual Strategy Magazine)

In short order, businesses may be dragged kicking and screaming into virtualization and outsourcing. But they’ll always have a choice about whether to do these things thoughtfully, and which vendors and technologies to work with. How they choose could mean the difference between keeping up with the pack and getting ahead of it.