IT Budgeting with Scarcity Bohyun Kim http://bohyunkim.net | Twitter: @bohyunkim Associate Director for Library Applications and Knowledge Systems Health Sciences and Human Services Library University of Maryland, Baltimore ALA Annual Conference, Orlando, FL. June, 2016

What I will Cover Today How to meet the challenge of budgeting for recurring large hardware purchases (e.g. servers, storage arrays, hosts) in the times of the flat or decreasing library technology budget and how to deal with them using cloud services A few strategies for revenue generation to keep up with the increasing technology demand and expectations from library users If there is time, some ways to balance the staff workload to keep up with continuous new IT projects given to the IT department without new staff or resources to accommodate those new IT projects created for revenue generation.

I. Servers, Hosts, Storage Arrays Challenge : How to budget for recurring large purchases for hardware Over $100k. How to save up. Varied ways in different organizations. Look for a configuration that can cost less money. Look for ways to rent out VMs at other schools? Consider a cloud service such as AWS or Azure. Not necessarily cheaper But easier to come up with the monthly or yearly cost than a large sum for 5 years at once.

How to Find Cost Savings in IT Create an inventory of all recurring IT purchases both hardware and software Look of alternatives less expensive Potential adjustment of the refresh cycle Ways to repurpose old equipment to extend their lifespan

Hardware Inventory PCs Servers/Hosts/Storage Arrays AV systems For the public For the staff For classrooms and meeting rooms Servers/Hosts/Storage Arrays AV systems Other IT equipment Printers Photocopiers Scanners Staff iPads

Software & Support Licenses SpecOps VMware vSphere Citrix XenDesktop Certificates MS SQL server licenses Redhat CISCO SmartNet

PCs & Network as an Example A 5-year refresh cycle instead of a 3-year one. Remove unused or rarely used features such as a DVD drive. Retain old monitors if they are still functional. Review network software support and how much it is actually used. Look for more inexpensive configurations e.g. Backup software instead of another SAN

Repurpose Old Hardware for Experiment or Redundancy Reuse old but still functional equipment e.g. Pi-wall with old LCD monitors Save old servers and use them for storage Joint purchasing for greater discount Partner with other units if possible.

II. Generate Revenue Service fees Outside funding Technology Fee Fund-raising/donation Grants Important to keep up with the increasing technology demand and expectations from library users.

Fee-based Services for Cost-Recovery On-site IT support fees AV capturing/editing service fees 3D Printing Poster printing Digitization service ILL Photocopying Printing Scanning Fax Add administrative costs to fees that can include the IT portion of the infrastructure used.

III. Staff Workload New services may generate revenue. But they may also generate additional work for IT! How to balance the staff workload to keep up with continuous new IT projects given to the IT department without new staff or resources to accommodate those new IT projects is a challenge.

Balancing You can do R&D, propose, plan, and implement new services. Separate R&D, proposal, planning, and implementation of new services from their daily operation. Team up with other departments to hand over new services for daily operation. Partner with other departments and collaborate to bring up new services!

Thank you! Questions?