A new IDC survey says that in Asia just 10 percent of data centers are running at peak efficiency. More interestingly, it found that the 10 percent of data centers that are running at peak efficiency actually require less manpower. Analyst Simon Piff noted that “It’s like a strategic data center has 4 people managing 1,000 servers, while a basic data center has 9 people to manage 100 servers.” This is an emerging trend, the realization that inefficient data centers don’t just carry excess power costs but also have other associated costs like higher labor costs. And the downstream effect of inefficient data centers is that IT staff isn’t free to work on business projects like big data analytics, social media, and mobile optimization that could actually help a business grow.