The application reduction challenge

Like many large corporations, Intel is concerned with the cost of IT operations and its contribution to the corporations bottom line. In 2006 Intel began a top to bottom review of the cost of IT operations and established that there were opportunities to significantly reduce the number of applications residing within Intels infrastructure. To address this issue, Intel chartered a small team to lead the charge to reduce the quantity of application. The team was chartered to exist for two years. During that time, the team was charged to eliminate a significant number of applications and place the corporation on a glide path to eliminate 50% of the applications by the end of 4 years. Thee team was also asked to infuse in the corporate DNA the processes to assure that a glut of applications would not reoccur. Over the course of the past year, the team was able to establish a comprehensive list of applications and developed methodologies and frameworks to drive a 20% reduction in applications with attendant savings. This presentation addresses the challenges faced by the team the approaches taken, tools developed and lessons learned in obtaining the desired results.