Five ways to sell your server consolidation project
1. Consolidate storage first to gain buy-in for the concept and then move on to application servers.
2. Attack low-hanging fruit such as mail and print servers first and build on your success.
3. If you charge back, show savings that way.
4. If you don’t charge back, then focus on detailing service-level improvements, staff/asset utilization savings and business flexibility (all of which should exist at some level).
5. Be patient and don’t consolidate all at once. Wait and consolidate when an upgrade is necessary anyway, and even then do it bit by bit.
