News Feature | June 11, 2014

Help Clients Save With The Federal Savings Calculator

By Cheryl Knight, contributing writer

Research Reveals What Makes A Winning Healthcare App

In an age of reduced budgets, organizations — including federal agencies — constantly look for new ways to save money. In fact, recent federal efforts on the IT front, including developing key initiatives like remote access, consolidation, virtualization, diversification, and cloud computing, led to over $8 billion in annual savings. This number equates to more than 10 percent of the total IT budget afforded to government agencies.

While these savings are a great start, some say the savings should be much more. A recent MeriTalk report, called Show Me the Money: The Key to Doubling Agency Savings, and underwritten by Brocade, asked 300 federal network managers how to expand savings opportunities and better close the technology gap. The report examined:

  • Peer-sourced savings estimates for each key IT infrastructure initiative
  • Roadblocks to accelerated savings
  • The critical role networks play in allowing for cost-savings initiatives
  • Closing the savings gap while delivering on agency missions

“The network is the yellow brick road. It’s in disrepair — pot holes and puddles,” according to Stephen O’Keefe, founder of MeriTalk. “If Uncle Sam doesn’t make repairs, we’ll never get to Oz — or realize the savings potential of IT transformation.”

The Development Of A Federal Savings Calculator

To help provide a solution to the IT spending problem, MeriTalk collaborated with leading Federal IT execs, industry solution providers, and private-sector brick-and-mortar companies that previously deployed cloud solutions. It then aggregated and synthesized a series of industry and government metrics to create a revolutionary federal cloud computing savings calculator. The online calculator helps agencies determine the best ways to save money in the IT segment. The calculator uses information such as IT budget and allocation of funds for steady state and new projects.

Government agencies now predict they can save an additional 14 percent, equating to a total of $19.7 billion a year, of their IT budget by fully deploying key initiatives. To take full advantage of these cost savings, network managers must change roughly 26 percent of the infrastructure they currently have, in addition to upping the capacity of their network by 26 percent.

How IT Providers Can Use The Savings Calculator To Help Clients Of All Types

To help clients of all types take advantage of these types of IT savings, IT solution providers can use the Federal Savings Calculator as a model for optimization. This innovative tool can aid in the development of IT solutions through increased network capacity, reliability, and security. Additionally, many organizations have already or are considering moving some, or even all, of their systems and applications to the cloud. By improving in these areas, organizations can expect to generate significant savings.