The start of each new year inevitably brings resolutions for improvement. Getting in shape and becoming more organized are ways we can become more efficient; for those of us working in the data center, efficiency translates into higher levels of service. But before you can manage more effectively and efficiently, you need greater visibility into your environment. You can't manage what you can't see.

One of the best ways to gain that visibility is to deploy storage resource management (SRM) software. This software has matured over the last five years, but there's still a lot of room for improvement. A recent Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) research report reveals that 37.3% of businesses have deployed SRM solutions (see "Current and planned production use of SRM software," below). An additional 40.3% have SRM purchases and installations on their New Year's resolution list.