Example: a previous commenter pointed out that a transaction at eBay is not the same as at Ford. From one period to the next, the exact same transaction at eBay might be different. Perhaps a new government regulation means extra processing steps. Or maybe Marketing wants some “next best action” analysis done real time and presented within the transaction experience. Are such changes normalized, or are they perhaps trivial in terms of the goals of DSE? I’m also curious how some controllable factors might be normalized, such as per transaction pricing.

Of course, one adopter does not make an industry standard. eBay’s transaction may differ from the Gap’s transaction, which in turn definitely differs from a Ford, Boeing, Fidelity, or GE transaction. But the framework and foundation allows us to start setting standards for various industries and building towards best practices in a way that was much harder without it.

But even today we can start thinking of how to use DSE in other industries. For instance, we can document that when one of our gaming clients uses 50% of their allocated power on average instead of the industry-standard 75%, they’re not being wasteful – but instead using servers that are put on standby during off-peak hours. Without DSE, there’s no metric that properly rewards that design – PUEs are higher since data centers are designed for peak loads, processor utilization may be lower, and it looks inefficient by standard metrics.

But if we track, say, energy per gaming hour, that value now shines through. Similarly, maybe a digital media firm’s “transaction” will be a view, while a manufacturer uses a unit shipped. Other industry-specific transaction units may apply for financial services, pharma, etc. The important part is building a platform for a common comparison among things that are alike and then we can tackle the question of who’s more efficient across industries and start putting together dashboards consumable by the business and metrics that financial analysts will probe to predict performance.

eBay has cracked the door. Now let’s swing it wide open. Let’s start building DSE for every industry, share experiences, and build cross-functional efficiency teams where for once the data center is the hub of the movement as opposed to the low man on the totem pole. Let’s start thinking about overall Service Efficiency and defend the industry from unwarranted challenges while highlighting the laggards that are genuinely wasteful.