Customers come first
Shareholders come in a close second
The corporate vision rules supreme in strategic and spending decisions
Internal IT customers matter - they help justify IT expenditure and can be allies if treated properly. Business initiatives are typically spearheaded, co-managed or co-implemented by internal IT customers.
Lease hardware and destructive format any returned hardware - it should be part of your return process to protect sensitive company information.
Buy and upgrade software - get site licenses where applicable - it's a much better value. Software and hardware should be kept somewhat autonomous.
Upgrade software for a good reason, not just because it's the latest. The pain must be worth the gain. Test thoroughly with all business applications and operating systems before deployment.
Evaluate new technologies not just based on conventional ROI, but for functional capabilities that may give your company a competitive advantage for some specified period of time. Create a 'proof of concept' before going large scale.
15% Rule - A one -time fifteen percent investment in infrastructure best practice design additions will pay dividends in uptime, peace of mind, and reduced cost of ownership.
80/20 rule - Infrastructure implementations are largely a planning effort. Procurement and physical implementations should only take place after a thorough planning and contingency exercise has been completed and all participants are in agreement.
Maintain a corporate intranet including a comprehensive inside/outside contact list, emergency information and other systems documentation.
Host both internet and intranet offsite - it keeps the internal mission-critical and contact information and web presences available even during local disasters, sustained electrical outages or internal system failures.
Don't host your offsite services in the same seismic area or too close to your main site as it may defeat the purpose of co-location. It's about not keeping too many eggs in the same basket.
Have solid anti-virus and anti-hacking strategies by having the proper software and systems, and limiting "holes" in your firewall to absolute minimums. A check from an outside intrusive testing company may also point out a few shortcomings.
Commit to longest comfortable term software and hardware support contracts. This will yield the greatest possible discounts. For leases, make hardware support contracts co-terminate with lease term.
Never commit to longer than a 2-year contract with any telecom carrier as it may lock you into to higher than market rates.
Be at least two deep in all areas of mission-critical expertise, including outside expertise. Otherwise, if one person is unavailable and a business-critical system fails, you may be left holding the ball.
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