Everyone — businesses and individuals alike — are extra protective over their wallets these days. Between bank collapses, recession fears and other alarming events, it’s no surprise that people want to keep their money close. In fact, many industry resources are telling us that capital challenges and margin pressures are a leading force of change in business strategy. Still, in a fast-moving world of business evolution, the outflow of money becomes just as important as the inflow — and that puts enterprises in an interesting position. Balancing expenditure on worthy causes that offer better agility, reliability or connectivity with conservative budgeting measures is now paramount, and that means that organizations need a comprehensive understanding of what solutions can give them the greatest impact while keeping costs reasonable.
Fortunately, innovations in connectivity and technology frameworks are now enabling businesses to hone their strategy and grow uninhibited with both more powerful capabilities and more advantageous cost efficiencies. Here’s a look at how that can be accomplished.
Optimizing IT Spend
Trimming the fat off of business operations, especially in the realm of IT, can be risky business. Everything feels like a must-have, and much of it is. Rich connectivity and the most secure measures for mission-critical technology equipment can’t be sacrificed, as they’re the foundations of trusted continuity. So, organizations are left with only one option: Find a way to bring down budget strains without sacrificing.
Cloud computing has become a great option for enterprises looking to shave down costs, because these software-based platforms avert traditional hardware costs both in the short term and long term. Maintenance and upgrade costs disappear in the face of cloud-based applications that can supplement operations with new generations without the need to replace hardware with every upgrade. The scalability of the cloud is also a friend to budgets, and if used wisely, the cloud’s elasticity can help businesses expand their capacity and capability without having to splash out on temporary bursts of need. Granted, navigating the cloud and aligning it with individual needs so that it can be truly cost effective can be a bottleneck for true savings (hence why some businesses end up choosing cloud repatriation). What’s needed here is a true cloud partner that can help organizations right-size their clouds and remain comprehensively connected to any and all strategic cloud enablers and platforms from one core location. At 1623, we’re proud to say that our cloud ecosystem was built with all that in mind — you can learn more about that ecosystem here.
Still, perhaps one of the most strategic options for both cost efficiency and connectivity is peering. (For those who aren’t too familiar with this kind of interconnection, you can learn the basics in this blog from our on-site internet exchange, OmahaIX.) By directly connecting to other networks to expand the reach of connectivity and build quicker, more reliable pathways, enterprises can remove traditional IP transit costs from their budget straight away. Not to mention, in an era when latency-sensitive applications like 5G, AR and VR or IoT are clearly underscoring the ‘time is money’ philosophy, peering’s unique ability to avoid unnecessary transit time and network hops makes it an invaluable budgetary resource. When you break it down peering offers a plethora of money-saving opportunities without sacrificing robust connectivity — and that’s the exact mix that everyone is after.
Of course, there are many different ways to build cost efficiency into digital transformations, but making the biggest impact with one simple switch is a dream come true from a simplicity perspective and a budget perspective. As cloud and connectivity experts, 1623 Farnam has built its data center and IX to offer the greatest strategic advantage to customers, all backed by expert insight.
To learn more about how a peering port can transform your bottom line, read our recent OmahaIX blog.