Burges Salmon, a 650-strong commercial law firm, is reaping the financial rewards of a server virtualisation strategy implemented by Commercial IT Services.
Cutting the number of servers by 90 per cent has led to a 30,000 annual saving in electricity. Further associated benefits include lower maintenance charges and a much reduced server replacement budget. The catalyst for the project was a pending move to new premises. It was essential that the firm could be back to business as soon as possible after the relocation.
After conducting a detailed analysis, Commercial IT Services demonstrated how Burges Salmon could reduce the number of physical servers in two phases, yielding significant savings and simplifying the office move. In addition to the cost benefits of virtualisation, taking a dual-system approach means the IT infrastructure has redundancy. This makes it more resilient and enhances business continuity if a failure occurs.
IT is the third biggest outlay in a law firm after staff and building costs, and it plays a fundamental role in the delivery of vital documents, so it was possible to make a robust business case for virtualisation.
Alastair Adams, Director at Commercial IT Services, explains: Burges Salmon has a clear vision of how IT can bring added business value to professional services organisations. This far-sighted attitude has enabled the firm to seize the window of opportunity that came with the move to a new building and lay the foundations for future IT innovation.
Commercial IT Services will be hosting its annual Technology Day on 3 February 2010. Attendance is free of charge for public and private sector organisations who want to learn about new ways to enhance their IT. Further information is available at: http://www.commercialevents.co.uk/.
Commercial IT Services is a division of the business services group Commercial Limited.
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