How to achieve a storage networking ROI

Storage Networking World - For the last two years, we've seen a continuously bleak financial picture. IT budgets remain flat with little hope for growth. According to a Morgan Stanley survey of CIOs in December 2002, 76% of respondents believed that 2003 would be a year of cost containment, reduction or stability after several years of reduction. Only 24% believed that the year would bring increased IT investment.
Given the current geopolitical realities, last year's predictions may err on the optimistic side. Economic recovery is nowhere in sight.
In this climate of economic instability, most corporations proclaim ROI to be king. The CFO's message is clear: "Every dollar spent on new investment must return at least a dollar in new revenue or cost reduction - fast." This directive may sound clear, but how to go about achieving it is a bit of a mystery.
This situation is especially true when it comes to storage. According to the Meta Group, storage capacity continues to grow at around 90% annually. Supporting this growth requires constant purchases of new storage equipment. Storage also carries a high management cost, exceeding the acquisition cost by a factor of three, according to Gartner Group.
Why the high cost? Storage must be protected as the value of data continues to increase, especially when regulations for data retention come into play. For instance, companies that add large amounts of storage in response to price drops are also setting themselves up to incur the expense of backing up that storage. In the context of today's staff and budget reductions, the storage paradox is obvious: What can be done to improve storage networking ROI, maximize benefits and minimize investment?
CIOs need a comprehensive plan to address the high cost of managing distributed storage or storage will remain an invisible budget buster. To improve ROI, executives can implement changes across people, processes and technology. While all of these help drive efficiencies, the biggest bang for the buck in terms of scalability and leverage comes from technology-centric storage consolidation initiatives.
Before proceeding with any new consolidated storage plan (NAS or SAN), though, IT teams must know what data is present and what its characteristics are. Storage resource management (SRM) tools are the best source of this information.

People
In terms of people, creating a dedicated storage team delivers many advantages. Today, system administrators barely have time to administer servers let alone tend to storage networks. This neglect can lead to storage outages and under-utilization. A dedicated team can develop storage-specific best practices and focus on activities