My first Magazine Nutanix Flash Forward | Page 44

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Enterprise Cloud For Dummies, Nutanix Special Edition

Why the 80/20 rule no
longer rules
If you’ve worked in IT for any length of time, you’ve probably
heard of the 80/20 rule. Also known as the Pareto Principle,
the rule states that 80 percent of the IT budget and IT’s efforts
go to keeping the lights on, while only 20 percent is dedicated
to innovation and propelling the business forward. Okay,
if you’re a purist, the original Pareto Principle states that
80 percent of the effect comes from 20 percent of the causes,
but the meaning has been extended to IT operations in the
way I describe.
As CIOs, other IT leaders, and the executive team look for
ways to better address key business problems, the 80 percent
of the budget that goes to sunk costs can look enticing. After
all, if you can improve efficiency just a little, you can change
the ratio to 60/40 or 50/50. Improve efficiency enough, and
you can create an IT organization that spends only 20 percent
on the basics and 80 percent on value added.
This is where IT needs to head. The 80/20 rule is a remnant of
a different time. With business needs changing at a faster pace
than ever before, IT needs to reduce the 80 percent figure and
focus on revenue generating activities.
By deploying enterprise‐cloud‐enabling hyperconverged infrastructure, IT can begin to shift some of that 80 percent toward
other activities. An enterprise cloud infrastructure includes
automation capabilities and user self‐service, which helps
users reduce their reliance on IT and frees up IT staff to focus
on the business. Further, with a revamped economic model
that enables just‐in‐time infrastructure and easy scaling, that
80 percent of the IT budget can get even lower.

Why bimodal IT is a short-term fix
A common school of thought says that IT departments need
to fully embrace bimodal IT, discussed in Chapter 1. Under
a bimodal support paradigm, you’d have people supporting
legacy environment and a separate group of people supporting modern apps.

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