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To: Tunica Albuginea who wrote (12694)	8/13/1999 2:18:00 PM
From: Tunica Albuginea	Respond to of 18016

Hagar ( PART 2 )The Networking Dilemma: How to Identify and Successfully Manage the Costs and Complexities of Communications nwfusion.com Jane Bradshaw Digital Equipment Corporation James Metzler Strategic Networks Consulting As a first step towards establishing an out-tasking strategy, network managers should develop a plan to identify where people in their organizations can add the most value and what network functionality should be out-tasked One way of doing this is to focus first on the attributes of the network that are most relevant to successfully supporting business objectives. For example: Well-defined service offerings Flexible bandwidth High availability Benchmark cost-effectiveness Appropriate higher level services; i.e., security Once these attributes have been identified they should be prioritized. In addition, network mangers should determine quality metrics that can be used to measure best in class performance. Then network mangers must answer the following questions: How many of these quality metrics can be successfully realized over the next two to three years within the limitations of in-house capital and personnel resources? Where could external assistance be most effectively deployed in achieving key metrics that cannot be realized in a commensurate amount of time purely on an in-house basis? Who are the key providers in the service areas where help is needed? How can the external assistance be used in a way that allows budget goals to be achieved? CONCLUSION Network managers are under increasing stress due to rapidly changing and accelerating business pressures, a wide breadth of technological options, and the continuation of tightly constrained budgets. In order to be successful in this environment, network mangers should institute the following continuous planning cycle. 1.Quantify the current status of the network 2.Identify the specific forces that are impacting the network 3.Determine the set of viable network alternatives 4.Identify the decision criteria 5.Evaluate the alternatives based on the criteria 6.Develop a business case for the network upgrades Central to each of the above steps is a thorough understanding of the cost of the network. While network managers need to quantify their own cost of network ownership, they can expect to spend annually between $2,800 and $3,500 per desktop for LAN connectivity and between $0.50 and $75 to transmit a megabyte across a corporate WAN. Once the cost of the network is well understood, then one key technique that many network managers use to deal with this situation effectively is the strategic use of complementary out-tasking. The manager must identify where out-tasking could add value to the organization. This requires, first, an analysis and understanding of current costs, of where people within the organization can add the most value, and of which functions, when performed in-house, either do not add value or are without strategic impact. Second, the manager needs to identify areas where the skillful use of outside partners can assist in making strategic decisions more effectively. An out-tasking strategy can then be pursued within the framework of corporate budgets and goals.