A recent survey conducted by IDC's Industry Insights Information Technology Management Service (ITMS) reveals a shift in IT organizations' approach to Virtualization Management (VM).

The survey finds that the majority of companies are adding virtual machines to their systems management portfolio. Only a few have incorporated virtualization as part of an overarching IT portfolio management strategy, although 80% are beginning to make the effort to coordinate.

In addition to portfolio management trends, the survey results also reveal that respondents view their existing IT chargeback (i.e., the IT expenses that are charged back to individual business units) processes as moderately effective and fair.

While the majority of companies report to have begun deploying virtualization, only 50% are factoring virtualization resources into their chargeback methodologies. Of those who do, less than half (40%) believe it adds to business user confusion, while the balance (10%) report it enhances the process by more tightly mapping resources to business units.

Cost savings and organizational trends are among the benchmarks highlighted in the study. According to survey results, the average cost savings range experienced by deploying management processes and solutions for virtual infrastructure is $100-$200,000.

Additionally, the survey results find the majority of responding companies (85%) are allocating ownership of the virtual infrastructure to a small group of "virtualization specialists," while 15% of organizations are creating specific cross-functional virtualization groups, often called the "Virtual Computing Team."