A business manager identifies an urgent need for a software application that promises to support a growing revenue stream. He goes to his IT department to request a server to run the new application. The business case is a slam dunk. So true to the corporate standard, the server and the software purchases are quickly approved.

Then the request moves from the fast track to the slow track, as the server provisioning process kicks off. There’s the acquisition of the server, storage arrays and more.

There’s licensing the business application and the security software that must be installed with it. At the same time, IT staffers must determine if there’s space in the data center, and whether the electrical capacity is available to power the server.

If--and this is a big if--all of these hurdles can be cleared, the server must be installed and tested before it can be triggered live. This is hardly the picture of an agile, customer-centric enterprise. However, unfortunately, it’s the way many companies are operating today.

Read this short whitepaper to learn about new techniques and technologies that can enable your business to cut through so much of the red tape involved in adding new applications.