# Consolidation – The Foundation for IT and Business Transformation
Author:  Pal Sinha, Barnali 
Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali
Published: 2018-03-28
Category: BUSINESS
Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/business
Meta Title: Simplify ITSM and Business Resource Consolidation with ARCH
Meta Description: Learn how to address 'bad growth' challenges with the ARCH approach: assess, retire, consolidate, and host resources on a common platform for success.
Tags: featured
Tag URLs: featured (https://financedigest.com/tag/featured)
URL: https://financedigest.com/consolidation-the-foundation-for-it-and-business-transformationhtml

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**Mark Ackerman,** Sales Director, Middle East, ServiceNow

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Mark Ackerman

In every type of business, growth is good. However, there is what might be considered “good growth” and “bad growth.” Good growth makes an enterprise more agile, responsive, and [competitively successful](https://www.financedigest.com/a-holistic-approach-to-esg-is-the-best-chance-of-success-in-a-competitive-private-equity-investment-market.html "A holistic approach to ESG is the best chance of success in a competitive private equity investment market"), and tends to spur further growth. Bad growth, in contrast, can hobble agility, responsiveness, and competitive success, and lead to stagnation or worse for that enterprise. A hallmark characteristic of bad growth is the proliferation of multiple redundant and/ or incompatible versions of the same or similar resources.

What’s needed to address the “bad growth” challenges is an effective strategy for consolidation and modernization, and a [technology platform that enables execution of that strategy](https://www.financedigest.com/how-to-establish-a-successful-technology-strategy.html "How to establish a successful technology strategy"). At the highest level, your strategy will consist of four primary elements, which can be summarized by the acronym “ARCH.”

- **_Assess_** your current IT [Service Management](https://www.financedigest.com/cyclic-innovation-to-drive-the-medical-case-management-services-market.html "Cyclic innovation to drive the Medical Case Management Services Market") (ITSM) and business resources to determine their real business value and costs
- **Retire** those resources not meeting your [business needs](https://www.financedigest.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-tax-savings-for-businesses-in-las-vegas-nv.html "What You Need to Know About Tax Savings for Businesses in Las Vegas NV")
- **_Consolidate_** and modernize those resources worth keeping
- **Host** your most valuable and critical resources on a common platform that enables easy and effective migration, modernization and management

**Assess What You’ve Got**

Once you have identified one or more compelling use cases, you need to assess and quantify the true [business value](https://www.financedigest.com/pediatric-hiv-infection-treatment-market-by-covid-19-impact-analysis-volume-and-value-revenue-business-opportunity-future-projections-and-key-trends.html "Pediatric HIV Infection Treatment Market By Covid-19 Impact Analysis – Volume And Value, Revenue, Business Opportunity, Future Projections, And Key Trends") and costs of current resources carefully. This information is necessary to determine which resources should be consolidated, which should be migrated to a more robust platform, and which should be retired. Wherever possible, this information should be expressed in dollars or some other metric that enables consistent, “apples-to-apples” comparisons of all resources under consideration.

**Retire What’s Not Delivering Value**

Your assessment [efforts will enable you to rank your incumbent application based on the value they are delivering to the business and the costs](https://www.financedigest.com/factbox-europes-efforts-to-shield-households-from-soaring-energy-costs.html "Factbox-Europe’s efforts to shield households from soaring energy costs") required to realize that value. This ranking is a critical element of your [next major step:](https://www.financedigest.com/open-finance-the-next-step-for-global-digital-transformation.html "Open finance – the next step for global digital transformation") retiring the applications that cost too much, deliver too little, or both. This step is essential, as it will help your IT and business teams to focus on the applications that matter the most to the business. These are the applications your company should consolidate.

**Consolidate – On the Right Platform**

How best to consolidate will depend on specific business needs and goals, and on the consolidation features available to you. Those features, in turn, depend upon the specific characteristics of your candidate consolidation platforms. At a very minimum, the platform should:

- [Support both ITSM and business](https://www.financedigest.com/factbox-reaction-to-uks-energy-support-package-for-businesses.html "Factbox-Reaction to UK’s energy support package for businesses") resource consolidation, for maximum business value
- Already be known, [validated and approved by IT decision makers and their teams](https://www.financedigest.com/frameplay-announces-new-attention-metric-in-video-game-environments-validated-in-partnership-with-dentsus-attention-economy-team-by-first-to-market-studies.html "Frameplay Announces New Attention Metric in Video Game Environments, Validated in Partnership with dentsu’s Attention Economy Team by First-to-Market Studies") for rapid adoption and effective support by IT
- Be cloud-based, and should include integrated support for multiple consolidation-enabling features
- Integrate with your [applications and information sources](https://www.financedigest.com/amino-acids-premixes-market-overview-analysis-with-application-product-source-opportunity-and-region-2022-2029.html "Amino Acids Premixes Market Overview & Analysis with Application, Product, Source, Opportunity and Region 2022-2029"), and support modern, open Web standards to ease and speed resource consolidation efforts
- Include extensive, easy-to-use, pre-built templates for consolidation-related tasks, to minimize “time to success”
- Enable business [users to create applications](https://www.financedigest.com/paper-recycling-market-competitive-growth-strategies-based-on-type-applications-end-user-and-region.html "Paper Recycling Market Competitive Growth Strategies Based on Type, Applications, End User and Region") quickly and easily, with the full guidance and support of IT but with no direct IT intervention required
- Include specific features that let IT decision makers sleep well at night
- Be offered by a proven, committed provider of enterprise-class, cloud-based solutions, and supported by comprehensive professional services and a broad ecosystem of helpful knowledge, partners and users

**Host with the Best Platform – and Platform Vendor**

When choosing the right platform for your organization, below are some questions you should ask every vendor you consider:

- Does the vendor offer a written [service level](https://www.financedigest.com/is-ai-taking-quality-and-cost-optimization-of-enterprise-services-to-the-next-level.html "Is AI taking quality and cost optimization of enterprise services to the next level?") agreement (SLA)
- Is the offering based on modern, cloud-based technologies for maximum flexibility and economy
- Are upgrades to the vendor’s [technologies straightforward and non-disruptive to your business](https://www.financedigest.com/extracts-and-distillates-market-overview-high-demand-recent-trends-future-growth-business-scenario-technology-2022-2029.html "Extracts and Distillates Market Overview, High Demand, Recent Trends, Future Growth, Business Scenario & Technology 2022-2029") operations
- Does the solution make it easy to create and tailor [applications and their interfaces to meet specific](https://www.financedigest.com/application-specific-integrated-circuits-market-expected-to-reach-usd-33545-7-million-by-2026-tmr.html "Application Specific Integrated Circuits Market Expected To Reach USD 33,545.7 Million By 2026 – TMR") business requirements and user preferences, to maximize adoption and minimize training
- Is the offering proven in the real [world at enterprises with requirements at least as demanding](https://www.financedigest.com/world-coal-power-demand-to-hit-new-high-after-china-india-u-s-surge-iea.html "World coal power demand to hit new high after China, India, U.S. surge – IEA") as those at your organization
- Is the offering known to and supported by IT decision makers at your organization and elsewhere
- Does the solution incorporate support for mobility, social networking and other features that make applications more usable and popular
- Is the solution supported by a broad [ecosystem of partners](https://www.financedigest.com/volkswagen-to-partner-on-indonesia-ev-battery-ecosystem-minister.html "Volkswagen to partner on Indonesia EV battery ecosystem -minister"), users, and readily available knowledge, online and in person, at user groups and industry events

The right combination of justification, planning, execution, and platform can reduce or eliminate redundancies, incompatibilities, and complexities associated with those resources, as well as associated hardware, software, and maintenance costs. It can also make management processes and [delivery of IT-enabled services](https://www.financedigest.com/online-food-delivery-services-market-will-reach-a-valuation-of-over-us-4212-6-mn-towards-2029-end-fmi.html "Online Food Delivery Services Market will Reach a Valuation of over US$ 4,212.6 Mn towards 2029-end: FMI") more consistent and efficient, and enable new, innovative, high-value business applications. And as these extend beyond IT, they can also extend the value of IT consolidation platform investments.

All of these benefits can, in turn, increase IT’s support of and relevance to the business, and IT’s overall business value, while improving IT’s perception across the enterprise. Achieving these benefits, however, relies upon the [careful selection of a platform that can support](https://www.financedigest.com/the-cancer-supportive-care-products-market-to-stay-innovatively-persistent.html "The Cancer Supportive Care Products Market to stay innovatively persistent") the features and functions needed to succeed with consolidation.


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