ewams

Virtualization and Cloud Computing have been the hot topic in most organizations for the last several years. Annually the self proclaimed psychics and soothsayers broadcast to the world the "this will be the year of virtualization" or "the sky is no longer the limit." Everyone gets excited, blogs are written about blogs, hashtags skyrocket and then it is just business as usual. Virtualization has become the show without the finale, primarily because the adoption rate is not what the vendors have wanted it to be, but also because battles are still being fought for or against it. Here I discuss reasons why a majority of organizations fight against virtualization. Use it to arm yourself.

Money. The rise and fall of many bubbles over the last decade, and the markets still attempting to equalize, a large portion of organizations have had to reduce expenses. Future projects are usually the first thing to go when budgets are cut. Virtualization is not free¹ so any virtualization initiatives are canned, even in cases where it could help save money.

Changing architectures can inherently be very challenging and difficult. Modifying the underlying platform that software runs on using hardware virtualization can introduce compatibility issues where the software may not run or work correctly. Some software vendors even go so far as to say their software is not certified to run in a virtualized environment. With architectural issues an organization may chose to not use virtualization and delay related projects.

Lack of technical resources or man-power. Some organizations may not know what virtualization is or what it can do for them. Others might want to use virtualization but not have the technical knowledge available to implement it. One that has become more commonly lately is an organization may be full on ready to use virtualization but will not have the man hours available in the organization to do so because of reduction in employees.

The largest obstacle by far is of people being afraid, misunderstanding, mistrusting or set in their ways. The human barrier is not only dangerous for organizations that wish to stay relevant but are also the most difficult to overcome of all the roadblocks. The human issue can also spread into the other mentioned roadblocks like a plague and multiply the difficulty of breaking them down.

Virtualization will continue to be adopted by more organizations this year but because of these barriers its growth will still not penetrate as deeply as the fortune tellers predict. Understanding these roadblocks and identifying them in an organization can help win those over to the virtual side. Good luck.

What roadblocks have you experienced? Drop me a line, contact information on the right.

Footnote

1. Yes there are free virtualization solutions available, hardware and application virtualization especially. Migrating an existing service to a new platform takes time, and time is money, therefore none of the solutions are free.
   

*disclaimer*
These opinions are my own and are to only be used for good. Shoot not the messenger.