Funding Your Infrastructure

Computerworld - It's notoriously difficult to get funding for infrastructure. Quantifying the benefits of an infrastructure investment as a stand-alone project is nearly impossible, so very few companies fund infrastructure by itself. Even seeking money
for infrastructure upgrades can be a frustrating experience. Many companies upgraded their infrastructure as part of their Y2k efforts and have avoided subsequent investments. As a result, infrastructure upgrades are long overdue in most corporations today. Justifying this fundamental investment is one of IT's key challenges.
Most companies force IT to bury the cost of infrastructure in IT projects. Unfortunately, this approach has inherent difficulties. Buried infrastructure costs can create these common pitfalls:
• Distorted business cases. The first project to require new infrastructure typically pays most of the cost, while subsequent projects get an unfair free ride. This makes cost evaluations and comparisons among projects difficult and inaccurate.
• "You first" syndrome. Because the first project pays most of the infrastructure cost, every department wants its project to be second in line at the funding trough, creating a counterproductive competition. One client was facing a major network investment. Knowing this, sales and finance dithered for a year, each inviting the other to start the next project (and therefore bear the cost). While they were focused on internal politics, a competitor stole significant market share.
• Piecemeal infrastructure. Companies that fund infrastructure one piece at a time rarely have an overall design, resulting in an inconsistent implementation. This is similar to putting fiber-optic cable in your house's new addition without upgrading any existing parts of your home network. Moreover, although implementing infrastructure in stages may be sufficient for the first few applications, it may not scale or be cost-effective.
• Inaccurate accounting. When infrastructure costs are spread across multiple projects and organizations, it becomes difficult to accurately assess the total cost of your infrastructure or to model future expenditures.
Infrastructure should be funded explicitly. Cisco's CEO, John Chambers, believes that a rich infrastructure will result in increased corporate productivity and is simply the cost of doing business. Cisco funds its infrastructure at the corporate level; business cases have to justify only direct project costs. Every company should adopt this best practice.
Unfortunately, few CIOs have the luxury of working with an executive team that gives infrastructure projects a high priority. If your company is reluctant to allocate sufficient funding, explain the detrimental effects of buried infrastructure costs. Be prepared to describe in business terms how a robust infrastructure will better serve corporate business objectives.
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