IT chiefs failing to communicate the benefits of virtualisation

Business managers just don't see what's in it for them

Efforts to virtualise enterprise infrastructure are being undermined by the failure of IT chiefs to communicate the benefits to business colleagues in non-technical terms, according to services firm Capgemini.

For many enterprises, virtualisation has stalled at about the 30 per cent mark, said Martin Snellgrove, global campaign manager for Capgemini’s virtualisation services.

“But unless IT communicates the business benefits of virtualisation, it becomes hard for other departments to see what’s in it for them,” he added.

Those firms that have virtualised higher proportions of their infrastructure typically have IT teams that have conversations around agility and are ready to use virtualisation as the springboard for a transition to cloud services, said Snellgrove.

A recent study of 2,000 mid-sized firms by IBM suggested that half see virtualisation and cloud computing as a priority for IT over the next 12 to 18 months.

“Once managers have identified areas that are ripe for virtualisation, it’s much easier for them to consider moving it out into the cloud,” said Snellgrove.

Capgemini has partnered with server virtualisation vendor VMware to develop a set of services and tools, known as Virtualisation to Business, to encourage the spread of virtualisation within the enterprise.