Have you ever felt that something was too good to be true? Something that appeared to solve every problem without sacrificing anything in return? You might think there’s a hidden catch somewhere, but when it comes to cloud services with , it really is that good.

In a time when enterprises are asking more of IT than ever before, a solution that can provide a cloud-like experience with on-premises control, and can do it while reducing costs and complexity, is exactly what these organizations need to be successful.

Before we delve into exactly how HPE GreenLake and HPE Synergy work together to deliver increased value to HPE customers, let’s discuss the highlights of each solution on its own.

HPE GreenLake Brings The Cloud To You

HPE GreenLake is a fully managed, scalable cloud infrastructure service, which offers enterprises an as-a-Service delivery model for on-premises infrastructure. More specifically, it offers IT-as-a-service to simplify IT with consistent cloud operations

In designing GreenLake, HPE has cast aside the one-size-fits-all approach to supported technology by allowing enterprises to choose the most appropriate supported HPE or third-party technology. HPE also offers flexible pay-as-go models and makes it easy for enterprises to scale to their exact needs without worrying about costs.

HPE GreenLake has a variety of use cases, from data transformation and unlocking insights, to application modernization and offering a cloud-like experience on virtual machines. Thanks to its built-in flexibility, enterprises can utilize HPE GreenLake to fulfill their exact needs instead of making do with the rigidity found in competing options.

HPE Synergy Can Power Any Workload Within The Hybrid Cloud

HPE Synergy, a composable bladed infrastructure, can power any workload on a single infrastructure and can run both traditional and cloud-native workloads, reducing management complexity and cost.

Its compute models offer IT the ability to make use of processors that consume higher levels of power, and provide a larger number of cores than past systems. This allows HPE Synergy to run applications that require higher performance CPUs, and more memory configurations.

HPE Synergy also simplifies the firmware and driver distribution process, while offering automatic updates for a single frame or group of frames from a single management point.

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Real Tech with WEI – HPE Synergy Episode

HPE Synergy and GreenLake Together

Now that we’ve discussed the benefits of each solution on its own, let’s talk about how they work together.

When combined, the two allow enterprises to run almost any business workload on one cloud-like platform, without sacrificing the control of on-premises infrastructure. They help enterprises optimize value per workload, simplify management, reduce costs, and allow IT to focus on business initiatives instead of just keeping the lights on.

, the benefits can be broken down into four main categories:

• Efficiency: HPE GreenLake cloud services with HPE Synergy frees IT staff from routine tasks, consolidates IT into a flexible, simple platform, and improves productivity for infrastructure teams by 60%.
• Speed: Together, the solutions allow for faster deployment time and offer a 75% faster time to market than other solutions.
• Control: By utilizing HPE GreenLake cloud services with HPE Synergy, enterprises can meet low-latency performance needs, secure IT and data, and enjoy a 35% lowered cost of operations.
• Economic: In addition to the aforementioned operations savings, enterprises will also see reduced costs by eliminating overprovisioning, reducing overhead, and a reduction in the costs associated with IT resources.

By combining the flexibility of the cloud with the control of on-premises infrastructure, all wrapped up in an IT-as-a-Service package, HPE is offering enterprises a new way to meet challenges head on and turn IT into a source of innovation.

Are You Interested In HPE GreenLake Cloud Services With HPE Synergy?

As a global, edge-to-cloud company, HPE is helping enterprises around the world implement solutions that improve productivity and reduce costs. In combining HPE GreenLake with HPE Synergy, they are helping enterprises take control of their digital infrastructures.

Did You Know? WEI is an HPE Platinum Partner and we have extensive experience implementing HPE Synergy for Fortune 500 companies. If data center modernization is on your roadmap, to start a conversation about how HPE Synergy can fit in your environment AND ask us how HE GreenLake services can help you deliver IT services to the business FASTER.

NEXT STEPS: Learn 6 tips for mitigating financial risk and maximizing operational reward with Composable Infrastructure in our FREE white paper below!

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It seems like everyone is going hybrid these days when it comes to enterprise architectures. According to Gartner, 75 percent of midsize and large organizations will have adopted a multi-cloud and/or a hybrid IT model by now. The reason is pretty simple, while 97 percent of IT decision makers confirm a positive experience with the public cloud, not everything can go there. Unfortunately, there are issues such as security, compliance, and the uncomfortable uncertainty of managing your stuff “up there” wherever that place is, that prevents companies from the public cloud experience for all. If everything could reside in a public cloud however, what a wonderful world it would be.

The inequality within hybrid models

The adoption of a brings about a lot of flexibility. It lets you choose where to host your applications, workloads and resources. But with hybrid architectures, many organizations quickly discover an unsettling consequence, inequality. While the public cloud is a panacea for matters such as scalability, rapid deployment time, resource utilization efficiencies and reduced startup costs, many of your critical applications that remain on-prem continue to be saddled with the typical restraints as was exemplified in a recent survey by 451 Research that examines the typical cloud experience through the lens of 1,001 “on the ground” practitioners. Here are a few of the key findings from that report that illustrate the ongoing challenges of the on-premises model:

• Scalability and agility were the biggest worries, with 80 percent citing that deployment times are too slow.
• Capacity planning was a major challenge for 71 percent of IT leaders, with 92 percent acknowledging a wait time of 30 days or longer to get new capacity installed.
• 83 percent of enterprises are still using fixed-capital models for on-premise capacity, reducing the agility of budgets and innovation.

There’s no doubt, that from the on-prem world, the grass looks a lot greener on the other side of the fence. And so lies the conundrum. How do IT decision makers balance the need for greater agility, and improved provisioning times that you typically get from a cloud experience while maintaining security and control of their resources? In the end, most IT leaders play it safe, which creates unnecessary 40-50 percent server capacity and lost opportunities.

Consumption-based IT

What IT leaders need is a cloud-like experience on-premises. Doing so would eliminate the blaring gaps that exist when comparing the on-prem experience to that of the public cloud. But is that even possible?

Here’s some good news at a time when good news is at a premium! You actually can have high resiliency, scalability, and effective capacity utilization while still remaining secure, compliant and in control. It’s a new cloud-like financial model referred to as consumption-based IT and it is available today through HPE GreenLake services. While you may not have heard of GreenLake, you have certainly heard of its parent company, HPE. So popular is the idea of transforming your on-prem environment to a public cloud-like experience, that GreenLake is HPE’s fastest growing business. With 10 years of experience as a market leading IT-as-a-Service provider, GreenLake has demonstrated to its customer base that you can have the cloud experience everywhere.

How the HPE GreenLake model works

There are definite reasons why the public cloud experience is superior to the on-prem strategies of most enterprises today. Public clouds are comprised of the latest equipment and service catalog technology. All of it is administered by experts in their field who utilize best practices, operational techniques and orchestration to ensure optimum performance. This what you get with GreenLake. You can achieve that cloud-like experience with the latest technology from HPE such as HPE SimpliVity, HPE Synergy, Nimble Storage and ProLiant Gen10 servers. They also incorporate third party software and services including Docker, Hadoop, SAP HANA, Nutanix AHV, VMware Cloud Foundation, Microsoft Azure and AWS. Multi-vendor flexibility without the lock in, that’s nice! All of this is then managed by them, while ensuring that you are calling the shots. By handing over the administrative burden to dedicated specialists, your own IT department can focus on business objectives and value added projects.

Four steps for adopting ITaaS with HPE GreenLake

The GreenLake blueprint involves the following essential steps to adopting an IT-as-a-Service experience across your entire enterprise.

1. Define the right mix to remain in control of your complete enterprise according to your current business needs
2. Implement in-place scalability and on-demand processes in order to stay ahead of business demand, while only paying for what you use (this is key!)
3. Optimize skill sets within your organization by offloading management of your hybrid environment to HPE GreenLake Management Services
4. Access your operating model to simplify IT, while providing increased security, visibility and flexibility at the same time

Greater cash flow and cost visibility

The GreenLake model is a pay-per-use model. No longer do you have to play it safe with excessive and wasteful capacity that approaches 40-50 percent for the average enterprise. By eliminating overprovisioning and upfront capital expenditures, HPE customers are seeing an average cash flow saving of 30-40 percent on average after adopting the GreenLake consumption-based IT model. On top of everything else they offer, GreenLake’s metering and analytics software helps customers determine the true cost and profitability to each of their allotted IT services.

Talk to WEI about consumption-based IT

There is nothing new about the concept of consumption-based IT. What’s new is that it is no longer just available in the public cloud. It’s available for your on-prem data center as well. If you want to learn how eradicating the inequality of workloads and performance within their hybrid architectures, then talk to WEI where we can introduce you to the GreenLake model, as well as the concept of having the best of both worlds at your doorstep.

Pay-per-use models are looking to be the future of IT cost models, ask us how your business can start reaping the benefits. Send me a message on LinkedIn to start a discussion, or contact our team here. We look forward to helping you find opportunities to move your business forward in the most cost-effective manner.

You might be interested in our white paper about implementing a hybrid IT model and how to overcome some of the common challenges we’ve seen across enterprise organizations. Click below to read more.

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When it comes to service delivery, there has never been more pressure on IT teams than today. With rapid adoption of digital technology and the prioritization of responsiveness, employees, customers, vendors, and enterprise leaders expect digital needs to be fulfilled faster than IT can often provide.

For this reason, IT leaders must improve the speed and efficiency of service delivery in order to keep business moving forward and stay ahead of the game when it comes to these new technologies.

IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) has been a buzzword for some time, and the industry is at a point where best practices for implementing ITaaS have been developed and the benefits have been proven to be effective, making the transition to ITaaS all the more attractive for enterprise IT organizations.

Five critical steps every IT organization should take to transform IT service delivery:

1. Promote self-service IT
2. Quickly integrate and optimize
3. Establish policy and controls
4. Provide seamless delivery
5. Plan for Day-2 and beyond

By linking together all of the tools and technologies in a way that acknowledges the people and process challenges of modernization, you can improve control and agility at the same time. Let’s take a closer look at these 5 steps to examine what is involved so that you can effectively plan your ITaaS delivery strategy.

Self-service for all

If an IT organization can’t get ahead of service requests, there will never be time for digital innovation. For this reason, promoting self-service for end-users is paramount. Whether the request involves providing access to business critical apps, spinning up a new (VM) or cloud resources, cutting through the noise and allowing employees to find the answers they need quickly, easily, and securely, will free up IT for long-term digital transformation initiatives.

As a secondary bonus, self-service cuts down on instances of , where users bypass the IT service stream entirely, whether due to impatience, wait times, or any other reason, and go off in search of answers themselves. Not only does this pose increased security risks, it can result in increased costs.

Integration and optimization

A majority of enterprises are running a mix of several platforms and clouds, with new options being added all the time. For this reason, utilizing software that promotes third-party integration is a game changer when it comes to optimizing your environment for efficiency. To fully take advantage of the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and automation, IT must have visibility and integration across the network.

Controls and policy

Third on the list is establishing effective role-based access control (RBAC). Regardless of your desired governance model, utilizing RBAC to effectively manage user access, provide self-service and automation, while still ensuring security, is a key piece of the IT service delivery puzzle.

Seamless delivery

Speeding up product delivery a high-priority goal for many IT organizations. That said, hurrying along the development of software development is of no use if the delivery and implementation process does not quicken as well. By bringing together development and implementation, IT organizations can create a seamless path for efficient delivery.

Post-implementation administration (Day-2 Ops and beyond!)

Automation will be your friend for managing Day-2 operations. While the provisioning process is accelerated through the above strategies, it’s also crucial to include lifecycle management as part of the IT service delivery equation. IT leaders are often expected to push out new applications or services as quickly as possible, but IT’s job doesn’t end once the new technology goes live. After that first day, IT is responsible for the administration and management of every new technology and ensuring that lifecycle management, including monitoring, logging, and data management, is part of your long-term plan for IT service delivery is key to preventing roadblocks in the future.

Consider transforming IT service delivery with Morpheus

Morpheus originally began as an in-house agnostic application automation platform and has now grown to serve some of the largest Fortune 1000 companies and service providers in the world. Offering CloudOps, DevOps, SecOps, and FinOps as a unified platform, Morpheus drives innovation and propels enterprises forward.

There is no single product or “magic bullet” that can make your digital transformation initiatives an instant success, but Morpheus stands behind their agnostic automation and orchestration platform as a catalyst to help you get there faster and provide the freedom to quickly adapt to an ever-changing landscape.

Regardless of where you are in your digital transformation or innovation journey, can provide the platform and tools your enterprise needs to promote efficiency, reliability, and speed throughout IT service delivery.

Questions about Morpheus? WEI has the answers.

WEI’s engineering team has vast experience helping IT organizations in several industries implement automation across infrastructure, cloud, and application management. Our goal is to help you simplify the management of your unique IT environment, while also ensuring all your business goals are met. Our experience with Morpheus will prove to be a critical factor in your assessment of their automation and orchestration platform. Contact us today to learn more about how Morpheus can work in your environment and what implementation will look like. We’re here to help.

NEXT STEPS: The speed and agility benefits of hybrid cloud provide a way to accelerate digital transformation, while maintaining control and security. You might be interested in our white paper below as a helpful resource on your digital transformation journey. Click below to read our paper, “How Hybrid Cloud Can Launch Your Digital Transformation” today.

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Information Technology as a Service (ITaaS) represents a change in paradigm when it comes to managing IT. When you treat IT as a service provider, you can ensure that your enterprise has exactly the right amount of hardware, software and support to fit the unique and changing needs of your business. You’ll find that you are more agile and able to deal with whatever comes up. And, you’ll find that, under an ITaaS model, you’ll save time and money, dramatically improving your bottom line.

Switching from the traditional IT model to ITaaS requires changes in how your IT department (and the business) as a whole operates. By implementing your ITaaS strategy in a smart and controlled way, you can ensure that the transition is smooth, everyone knows what to expect and your business is in the best position to thrive now and in the future.

5 Benefits of IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS)

1. Standardization
2. Cost Predictability
3. Self-service
4. Scalability
5. Increased Productivity

Let’s explore the details of these benefits and the implications for your IT environment, your processes, and your company culture.

1. Standardization

To be efficient and effective, it is important for IT to not be in the business of providing customized one-off solutions for their customers. Instead, your IT operations needs to offer a standardized set of services specific to the needs of the business. It sounds simple enough, but without a set of standardized services and the financial cost predefined, departments will make requests and just assume they’ll get done by IT without understanding potential staffing needs or time involved.

Standardization isn’t just of the services offered by IT but of the process, too. You’ll more than likely need technology tools to help with setup and administration of the change to ITaaS. This goes with the self-service aspect described above. The quicker you can mature a standard process, the more easily it will be for you to deploy additional services. Refactor what you know into standardized parts and you’ll be well on your way to a successful transition.

2. Cost Predictability

One of the biggest advantages of ITaaS involves the ability to leverage a chargeback model for services. Instead of the IT department getting a budget, each department gets part of what was IT’s budget allocation. Then, any time the IT department is called upon to resolve a problem, they then bill back the business unit that needed their services. This allows the tracking of who actually needs and uses the IT services as well as how effective IT is at delivering them.

A key benefit of this chargeback model is that if a department can find the same service elsewhere for a lesser cost, they’re not forced to go through the IT department. This potential for a loss of business for the IT department motivates them but it also frees them up to not have to support everything the different business units need. It generally opens the door to better planning.

3. Self-service

Before thinking about self-service IT, it is important to understand what services will be delivered:

• Simple services: order more storage capacity
• Bundled services: order computer with OS, VM, Storage, and Network
• Tiered services: offering different service assurance levels
• Metered services: order time/resource usage
• Complex services: order a whole multi-tiered application

Keep in mind that services don’t have to be purely IT based. Consider a service to on-board a new employee. Their new vm or computer setup is just one piece of a bigger pie that includes desk assignment or ordering office furniture.

Once you understand what’s in a service catalog, you can figure out how to get there from a self-service perspective. The idea of self-service is to offload repetitive tasks. So, there may be some infrastructure changes that need to be put in place so that current manual tasks can be automated. Now that the foundation is in place, services can be requested to expand operations, provision/deprovision resources, or any of a number of tasks. Typically, much of this is done through the cloud so that anyone, anywhere can request a service (provided they’re running through the VPN if remote).

4. Scalability

A key part of moving to ITaaS is virtualizing the infrastructure environment. You’re not downsizing or outsourcing, you’re just making it less relevant where somebody is, or who does something. You’re creating levels of service such that if something is simple, the first level of service can handle it. If they can’t handle it, they pass it off to a second level. This allows you to better define the staffing needs because you’re not relying on the more advanced engineers to handle the simpler problems. As each level gets busier, you scale accordingly. Need a separate set of resources for another business need? Engineers won’t need to be shared.

Parts of the are done with the help of remote management tools. Have a user who needs help removing some malware? Nobody needs to walk down the hall or to the next building. The user can relinquish control to the remote support center. Lose a mobile device? IT can remotely wipe it. Putting the tools in place for IT to scale their support enables users to focus on business needs.

5. Increased Productivity

The move to ITaaS creates the need for the IT department to act more like they offer a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to the internal company departments. They’re no longer a cost-centric group that keeps asking for more budget. Instead, they need to become nimble to the needs of the business users and company. It isn’t just infrastructure management that needs to be dealt with but the ever changing real needs of their customers.

With the help of the scalability, self-service, and standardization advantages previously mentioned, the change to ITaaS creates an environment that is more responsive to their users. The tools, mechanisms, and processes that are adopted practically push people to an increased productivity automatically. Instead of focusing on the du jour, the company can focus more on the latest strategic business needs. It isn’t just the IT personnel who will be more productive after moving to ITaaS, but the business as a whole, too.

Don’t be left in the dust. Consider moving your to the ITaaS model sooner rather than later. You’ll soon be able to reap all the benefits and rewards of having a highly modernized operation.

Next Steps

Moving to the IT as a Service model is less fixated on technological advancements and more focused on people, internal processes, and changes to the overall IT organizational culture.

Check out our FREE infographic to help you prepare for the ITaaS model — .

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Why Implement an ITaaS Strategy?

ITaaS removes unnecessary considerations from the technical equation: when you implement ITaaS, it matters less where resources are or who specifically handles a task. Instead, enterprises ensure that tasks — and associated staffing resources — are allocated to the right level of service. By driving workflow based on service requirements instead of at an individual staffing level, enterprises can be more fluid and efficient, resulting in opportunities to scale. Other benefits of ITaaS include better ability to predict costs associated with technology, increased options for standardization, and maintain higher levels of productivity.

Key Elements of Viable Strategy

While it’s a smart move for almost any organization, ITaaS isn’t always easy to implement, especially if you’re looking for maximum return and want to create a strategy that grows with your enterprise. Understanding your company’s goals, and how those goals can be serviced by ITaaS, should be the foundational component of your ITaaS Strategy. Some things to consider include:

• Value Creation. How is the service going to create value for your entire enterprise and customers, including shareholders?
• Return on Investment. What is the budget? Is it enough, and how is the investment going to pay itself off?
• The Service Lifecycle. Does the solution you are considering impact the entire organization in a positive way? Do you understand the service lifecycle of your organization so you can appropriately answer this question? Some enterprises might need to conduct define and process map steps prior to cementing an ITaaS strategy.
• Repeatable Business Activities. Understanding all processes in your organization – and how they rank in priority – is critical to understanding how ITaaS can play a role in success.
• Manage Demand. As a business organization, you probably already deploy this concept in other areas. Business analysis works to provide enterprise leadership with the data required to proactively manage staffing demands, for example, so you’re never dealing with serious shortfalls or overages in labor. Incorporating this same idea into an ITaaS strategy lets you proactively manage technical resources based on demand.
• Standardize. Streamlining and standardizing technical infrastructure throughout an organization helps you create reusability and control both costs and compliance throughout the enterprise.

• Automation. Where can your organization function more fluidly? Where can automation bring efficiency? One of the strengths of ITaaS is automation, but that strength is for naught if it isn’t deployed appropriately in an enterprise.
• New Products and Services. ITaaS is extremely agile, so organizations seeking technology as a service should avoid in-the-box thinking. What new things do you want to accomplish now? What do your employees want to do that they can’t? Where are your current pain points? Avoid implementing an ITaaS solution that simply serves current needs in a slightly better way – capitalize on new services and solutions by adding to goals and growing the business in incremental ways.

Think Big, but Step Small

Don’t dampen goals for the future, but avoid the mistake of going all in without doing your research and taking time to map your goals against ITaaS functionality. By taking incremental steps, you can save your organization large and unnecessary expense in the future while maximizing returns on your ITaaS implementation.

Starting with small steps and ensuring you take time for defining and researching also gives you time to facilitate communication about ITaaS throughout the organization. First, all IT or IT-adjacent staff members must have an understanding of the aaS ideology. Encourage IT resources to activity participate in defining functions with the new model to help create buy-in and strengthen internal teams. Develop business-based communications that explain ITaaS in non-technical terms so business partners within the organization know what is going on and can support or accept the changes as needed.

For more information on preparing your organization for ITaaS, check out the white paper ““

Sources

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As IT organizations are recognizing the increased efficiency, agility, and scalability of virtualized mission-critical applications, the next critical phase is to develop an IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) program as a method of staying ahead of a constantly evolving IT and business environment. What is distinctive about the ITaaS model is that it allows an organization’s IT department to function as a separate business entity, operating as a value-based service team that delivers precisely the resources needed, when needed. This model is geared towards the unique demands and requirements of internal and external customers.

Transitioning to ITaaS requires fundamental changes in the internal methods for creating, funding, and delivering IT services. In order for an organization to fully realize the benefits of ITaaS there must be true dedication from all stakeholders. Once the team completes the successfully, the rewards are substantial. Take a look at a few of the stand-out benefits that can help convince your organization to transform the way IT services are delivered and consumed.

Scalability

The ITaaS model affords the option of targeting to the specific needs of the company, whether big or small. Tailored service packages are able to grow and adapt alongside the demand for system capacity, eliminating extraneous resources, and providing solutions that fit the need.

Easy Budgeting

Predictable payments are the highlight of the ITaaS model and allow businesses to gain a clearer understanding of the value of their IT resources through a more defined cost-per-unit service model. Standardizing services and costs means greater flexibility and utility within the company as a whole, as well as greater consistency.

Proven results

While the ITaaS model is not new, it has gone through a recent renaissance where more companies than ever are incorporating it into their business model. Companies are seeing ROI year after year, and the ROI increases the more the company invests in the model. Check out research from VMware that tells the ROI story.

Simplification and Standardization

The integration of ITaaS into an organization requires IT departments to learn to market and productize services, meaning simplifying and standardizing processes. This is a benefit for internal customers as much as it is for the IT team, and it happens naturally as a company makes the transition to ITaaS.

Boosted Operational efficiency

The streamlining of also means a constant quest for lower operating costs resulting in greater efficiency. By putting this responsibility on the shoulders of your IT department, you benefit from a self-sufficient business entity that is constantly looking to improve and perfect itself.

Business alignment

Proven efficiency and optimized services put IT at the center of strategic partnerships within the corporation. Because IT employees are trained to work across different roles and responsibilities within the ITaaS horizontal labor structure, they become more effective at working within the larger picture of the company, and applying their unique talents to problems that might not have been on their radar previously.

A steady transition

Those who have gone through the transition to ITaaS can attest that it is certainly a process that takes focus and dedication. Luckily, one of the benefits this model offers is a relatively smooth transition process from traditional IT structures. In the early stages of implementation, you will be able to rely on all your old systems, meaning employees can take the change at their own pace. For those most resistant to change, this will help them ease into a new way of doing things.

To learn more about the benefits that come with ITaaS, take a look at our white paper , which outlines all of the important steps which will get you and your team from start to finish. While the process certainly takes time and effort, businesses that have experienced the change for themselves can speak to the many benefits of the ITaaS model. Whether you are a business leader or an IT department head, be sure to carefully weigh the advantages of this model.

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