(Logicalis: Bloomfield Hills, MI) -- Logicalis, an international leader in high performance technology solutions, has identified several “Lean IT” practices which help businesses eliminate information technology (IT) waste and trim their IT “waste lines.”

Lean IT is a set of practices for identifying and eliminating waste throughout a company’s IT environment. Logicalis emphasizes that these key areas of IT waste exist in nearly every IT environment and take on a number of different forms: hardware infrastructure that takes up too much energy while underperforming, disparate systems replicating processes, and human resources being overworked or outmatched. IT waste is essentially any and every aspect of a business’ IT environment that is not functioning efficiently and cost effectively.

“The principles for lean IT are similar to those of the lean manufacturing process,” says Eric Linxweiler, senior vice president of solution services. “About a decade ago, the manufacturing industry closely examined its production process and identified key areas of waste that were reducing production and utilization and hurting profitability. At Logicalis, we have discovered that this process can easily correspond to the world of IT. Lean manufacturing principles revolutionized the production and manufacturing industry; Lean IT has the capability to yield similarly effective results.”

According to Logicalis, IT waste can be segregated into three distinct areas: nonvalue-added work, overburdened staff, and unevenness. The divisions are based on the same production principles that make up the lean manufacturing model. Each of these forms of IT waste exist in nearly every IT environment, even the ones that appear to be operating smoothly and running efficiently.

“When a company adopts lean IT practices for its business, one of the first and most notable outcomes it can expect to see is growth—growth through new customer acquisition and growth through new revenue streams,” continues Linxweiler. “This is especially important to younger businesses that need to experience growth quickly to compete with more established companies and brands.”

Wisconsin-based Johnsonville Sausage, the United States’ No. 1 brand of bratwurst and sausages, utilized Logicalis’ services for its IT management. When Johnsonville extended its systems applications and products (SAP) implementation across its entire operation, the company looked for a way to provide efficient IT management without taxing its current resources.

At first, the SAP implementation proved to be a strain on the company’s IT department. Just keeping the infrastructure up and running was a daunting task, team members were on call throughout the night, getting several calls, and then having to go to work the next day. Through adopting Logicalis Lean IT practices, Johnsonville was able to unburden its IT department. Johnsonville contracted the monitoring of its IT infrastructure, allowing its resources to focus on core activities and adding new business functionality, or working with plants on needed changes or additions.

“There is a set of tools for every form of IT waste—for retaining existing customers or finding new ones, for uncovering new revenue streams or growing existing ones, for reducing business costs, or for boosting employee performance,” Linxweiler says. “Implementing IT practices focused on trimming your IT ‘waste line’ can bring measurable results like these to all businesses and organizations.”

For more information on lean IT, visit www.us.logicalis.com/trim. Also download the feature story, “Trim Your IT Waste Line: Identify and eliminate waste throughout your IT environment” and listen to the podcast that is also available.