Jonathan Koomey gave this presentation at the Data Center Dynamics Conference in Seattle, WA on Sept. 4, 2014. It describes what executives need to do to modernize their IT operations, and describes an upcoming (Nov 10 to Dec 12, 2014) online class titled Data Center Essentials for Executives, see http://goo.gl/K4kJG2

1. Speak dollars not gadgets: How
to get upper management to pay
attention
Jonathan Koomey, Ph.D.
Research Fellow, Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and
Finance, Stanford University
http://www.koomey.com
Presented at DCD Converged
Seattle, WA
September 4, 2014
Copyright
Jonathan
G.
Koomey
2014
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2. What do executives need to
know about information
technology (IT)?
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G.
Koomey
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3. Modern businesses can’t succeed
without IT
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Brynjolfsson, Erik, and Andrew McAffee. 2014. The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and
Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. [http://
amzn.to/1gYHEGk]
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G.
Koomey
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4. However…
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Koomey
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5. IT is almost invariably
fragmented and divorced from
business performance
Only management can fix that
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Jonathan
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Koomey
2014
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6. Almost all enterprise data centers
are paragons of inefficiency, but
management doesn’t know it (and
those who do know can’t fix it)
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G.
Koomey
2014
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7. Inefficient IT increases costs,
decreases revenues, AND
reduces the rate of innovation
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Koomey
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8. What can management do?
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Koomey
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9. I. One boss, one team, one
budget!
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Koomey
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10. II. Tie IT performance to
business performance
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Koomey
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11. How?
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Koomey
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12. Metrics!
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Koomey
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13. Creating the right metrics is not
as easy as it sounds
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Koomey
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14. Metrics drive organizational change
• Focus on the whole system
– reducing total costs per computation
– increasing total value from computation
• “Show back” the consequences of choices
to every employee, then “charge back” if
needed
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for
management include both costs AND
benefits
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Koomey
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15. DSE http://dse.ebay.com
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Koomey
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16. Can you assess IT costs and
benefits at the project level?
Most companies can’t!
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Koomey
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17. III. Use IT to transform IT
• Standardized IT deployments
• Move from “sit down restaurant” to “buffet
style” IT
• Move many users to internal or external cloud
• Software should matter more, hardware less
• Measure, experiment, learn, and replicate
• Use computer modeling to anticipate effects
of changes in existing facilities
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G.
Koomey
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18. Conclusions
• What management can do
– I. One boss, one team, one budget
– II. Drive institutional change using metrics that
tie IT performance to business performance
– III. Use IT to transform IT
• Summary: Make IT serve the business!
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G.
Koomey
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19. IT should NOT be treated as a cost
center, it should be a cost reducing
profit center that also improves
corporate and customer
environmental performance
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G.
Koomey
2014
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20. For more details on the upcoming (Nov 10 to
Dec 12, 2014) online class titled Data Center
Essentials for Executives, see
http://goo.gl/K4kJG2
Also see my 2014 article titled Bringing
Enterprise Computing into the 21st Century: A
Management and Sustainability Challenge
http://goo.gl/WYFBjb
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Jonathan
G.
Koomey
2014
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21. A case study of a company that has been successful at tying
its IT performance to business performance
Schuetz, Nicole, Anna Kovaleva, and Jonathan Koomey. 2013.
eBay: A Case Study of Organizational Change Underlying
Technical Infrastructure Optimization. Stanford, CA: Steyer-Taylor
Center for Energy Policy and Finance, Stanford University.
September 26. [http://www.mediafire.com/view/8ema554a2ho9ifj/
Stanford_eBay_Case_Study-_FINAL-130926.pdf]
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Jonathan
G.
Koomey
2014
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