Data center efficiency has become an obsession for many organizations. A combination of rising utility requirements, growing capacity needs and increased data center complexity has created an environment in which efficiency has to be a priority in the data center. According to a recent Data Center Knowledge report, achieving the right kind of efficiency in the data center depends on being able to take a user-centric approach to maintaining IT systems.
Implementing a business process management software solution can allow companies to develop a more social operational climate, enabling them to focus on the end-user experience when managing their IT systems.
Looking at the user experience as an efficiency measurement
The news source explained that organizations usually approach data center efficiency by using infrastructure systems as the measuring point. Data center efficiency is decided, in particular, by how well the power and cooling systems work to support ongoing operations. This involves identifying the power usage efficiency of a data center and working to evaluate how much energy is being wasted unnecessarily. While this is an important process, it does not take emerging data center functions into account.
Measuring efficiency based on the infrastructure assumes that the data center's primary purpose is to support hardware. In many cases, the data center is now focused on enabling end users. With technology taking on a critical role in operations, not just a position as a facilitator, the data center is aimed at aligning with business operations, not providing background support.
According to the report, developing an end-user approach to efficiency leads to major gains, especially when considering the technology trends, like cloud computing and mobile device use, that are changing how enterprise employees get the job done.
Considering BPM's role
BPM software uses a combination of integration and process automation to make diverse technology systems work well together. This can play a major role in any data center-related effort. However, it is especially important when working to focus on the end-user experience. One of the greatest challenges workers face is accessing data in a variety of applications, through a diverse range of devices and coming from multiple systems. BPM solutions make the underlying infrastructure more social and enable automatic data sharing in line with process needs. As a result, the technology can play a powerful role in making data centers more efficient from an end-user perspective.
