Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 24 | Page 84

///////////////////////////////////// FINAL WORD Five difficult IT habits to break As IT is proving a constant challenge for business leaders who attempt to operate efficiently, they must be aware of unhelpful IT industry habits to avoid turning their IT departments into a disaster. Alan Conboy, Office of the CTO at Scale Computing, offers some words of advice to prevent bad habits occurring. I T departments want to reap the most benefits from their IT infrastructures – there is no question about it. Having spent a lot of time and money building them, it is only natural for their return on investment to be top of mind. However, many IT departments make it very difficult for themselves to be satisfied with the quality of the infrastructure they buy. This is due to bad habits that the industry as a whole has developed over the years when it comes to spending. Below are five terrifying IT habits that will play mischief with your data centre budget. 1. An inability to let go One of the key differentiating factors between IT and many other industries is that IT technology and hardware should not, and often will not, last forever. Investments such as houses, cars and even fashion warrant the mindset of ‘don’t fix something that isn’t broken’. The IT industry on the other hand, doesn’t, as it is constantly changing and developing, so much so that equipment and software can become a liability faster than many IT departments can plan for. Businesses should treat technology solutions as though they aren’t going to last forever – as perishable goods with a ‘use by’ date that may be sooner than expected. 84 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com