How do you measure the ROI of server virtualization?

2 How does server virtualization benefit your business?

Server virtualization can offer many advantages to businesses, such as improved performance and availability through workload distribution and load balancing, failover, and backup. It can also help reduce costs and complexity, as you only need to manage one physical server instead of many. Moreover, it can increase security and compliance by isolating VMs and applying different security policies and configurations to each VM, depending on its purpose and requirements. This can help with compliance with regulations such as GDPR, PCI DSS, or HIPAA.

3 How to calculate the ROI of server virtualization?

To measure the ROI of server virtualization, you need to compare the costs and benefits of your virtualized environment with those of your previous or alternative environment. The formula for calculating the ROI percentage is (Benefits - Costs) / Costs x 100. Capital expenditures (CapEx) and operational expenditures (OpEx) are both taken into consideration when estimating the costs and benefits. CapEx are the upfront costs of acquiring and installing hardware and software for your virtualized environment, such as the cost of physical server(s) and hypervisor software, any additional hardware or software components, and installation or migration services. OpEx are the ongoing costs of running and maintaining your virtualized environment, such as electricity, cooling, and space for physical server(s), software licenses, updates, and support for hypervisor and VMs, labor expenses for IT staff, and downtime or outages that affect your virtualized environment. To estimate benefits, subtract the OpEx of your virtualized environment from that of your previous or alternative environment. To estimate costs, add CapEx and OpEx of your virtualized environment. Plugging these values into the ROI formula will give you a percentage value; the higher it is, the more profitable your server virtualization project is.

4 How to improve the ROI of server virtualization?

Server virtualization is a powerful and beneficial technology that can help you optimize your IT infrastructure and achieve your business goals. To maximize its value and potential, you need to measure and improve its ROI. Choosing the right server and hypervisor for your needs is essential, as it can affect performance, scalability, compatibility, security, and support. Comparing different vendors and models to find the best value for your money is also important. To optimize VMs and resources, you should monitor and analyze them regularly while avoiding overprovisioning or underprovisioning. Automating processes such as provisioning, configuration, management, backup, and recovery of VMs and resources can save time, money, and effort while reducing human errors and risks. By using these methods and tips, you can evaluate and enhance the performance and efficiency of your server virtualization project.