Server 2008 Adoption rates or convincting finance to spend money on IT?

pwjohnston

I’m writing a proposal trying to convince my company to move from 2003 Standard to 2008 Standard both using Active Directory. I don't usually do this so I’m having a hard time finding 2008 adoption rates that would reflect small business (under 250 employees). Does anyone have any helpful links you could point me in the right direction to do some reading/research with some hard numbers?

You know also, if you're a windows shop it seems like upgrading to 2008 is pretty much common sense by now. Maybe this would also be a helpful place to discuss thoughts on convincing the company to spend money on IT? Thoughts?

RobertKaucher

Would you mind publishing this (with any proprietary info removed, of course) when you are done?

We are still on server 2000 for AD, though most of our servers are 2003. With the current business climate I would be very hard pressed to convince the bosses that we need to upgrade right now, but I think if things improve the summer is going to be essential. Our PDC/File/Print server is getting quite old and only has a few 100 MB on the system drive.

I imagine you have seen these:
4sysops - Windows Server 2008 adoption is better than Vista’s?
It's not Vista: Windows Server 2008 gets the nod from IT
http://gulfnews.com/business/technology/microsoft-expects-steep-adoption-for-server-2008-1.93653

I would suggest contacting your reseller. I bet they can get some infor from MS directly.

GAngel

pwjohnston wrote: »

I’m writing a proposal trying to convince my company to move from 2003 Standard to 2008 Standard both using Active Directory. I don't usually do this so I’m having a hard time finding 2008 adoption rates that would reflect small business (under 250 employees). Does anyone have any helpful links you could point me in the right direction to do some reading/research with some hard numbers?

You know also, if you're a windows shop it seems like upgrading to 2008 is pretty much common sense by now. Maybe this would also be a helpful place to discuss thoughts on convincing the company to spend money on IT? Thoughts?

Speaking purely from a managerial perspective I'd want to know what the cost savings would be, extra security, productvity gains alot more than adoption rates. You 'd have to explain to me the benefits in a non-technical point of view why this is good for the company instead of keeping what we have when times are bad for IT in general. What's the trade-offs, the pro's and the cons, the manpower required, extra support costs for re-training and so on.

If you're going to finance yourself they'll want cost. Cost of maintaining what you have now verses cost of implementing what you'd like. Not estimate's either hard numbers.

Hyper-Me

Its pretty hard to convince the customer that they need to invest money to make ITs job easier.

In reality, Server 2008 is much more reliable and manageable which in the end equals greater uptime for the customer/business.

Things like

Restartable AD
Self-healing NTFS
System managed defragmentation
Component based role installations
much improved Windows Backup
Core installation support
AES 128 and 256 bit encryption for Kerberos
DFS-R replication for AD
AD Recycle Bin (R2 only)

Promote a healthier and more manageable environment. I prefer 2008 to 2003 any day of the week.

pwjohnston

RobertKaucher wrote: »

Would you mind publishing this (with any proprietary info removed, of course) when you are done?

I can, just can't promise it will be worth reading, ha!

GAngel wrote: »

Speaking purely from a managerial perspective I'd want to know what the cost savings would be,

Well, that's going to be in there too. I thought thought with the adoption rates(proof that it can be done) I can use that section as a, look others are doing this too so it's not just some hair brained idea, you know?

One thing though, if you're looking at something like server core. It's clear that you get increased security benefit, less security holes for baddies to exploit, because of the smaller footprint, but how do you quantify cost of something that "could happen?"

Hyper-Me

pwjohnston wrote: »

I can, just can't promise it will be worth reading, ha!



Well, that's going to be in there too. I thought thought with the adoption rates(proof that it can be done) I can use that section as a, look others are doing this too so it's not just some hair brained idea, you know?

One thing though, if you're looking at something like server core. It's clear that you get increased security benefit, less security holes for baddies to exploit, because of the smaller footprint, but how do you quantify cost of something that "could happen?"

Server Core is also good in that you can run Server 2008 on lesser hardware, or run Hyper-V core and run Server Core VMs on "lesser" hardware to really reduce new hardware purchases, etc.

GAngel

pwjohnston wrote: »

I can, just can't promise it will be worth reading, ha!



Well, that's going to be in there too. I thought thought with the adoption rates(proof that it can be done) I can use that section as a, look others are doing this too so it's not just some hair brained idea, you know?

One thing though, if you're looking at something like server core. It's clear that you get increased security benefit, less security holes for baddies to exploit, because of the smaller footprint, but how do you quantify cost of something that "could happen?"

In the shon harris cissp book there is a section that gives you the formula to quantify that.

RobertKaucher

pwjohnston wrote: »

...but how do you quantify cost of something that "could happen?"

Probabilistic risk assessment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I would like to read it. I think I will need to present something similar as to not only why we need the new hardware but we also need a few new licenses of Server OS.

astorrs

"Hi I'm the business (aka IT's client), convince me of how (and if) it's going to make us more money."

It could be through efficiencies, reduced staffing costs/overtime, reduction in third-party software costs, or perhaps improved customer service, or by allowing the business to be more dynamic and adaptable to changes in their industry thereby beating out their competitors, it could even be a public relations thing, etc.

There are zillion possibilities, its up to you to find them and (assuming the RTO makes sense to you and you don't feel like an idiot presenting it ) to sell them to the decision makers.

Oh and I don't care what the mission statement of your company is - as Goldratt might say, the real mission of the company is to make money now and in the future.