[red-beard]

Welcome to life in a Corporation!

First, I doubt the guy lied to you. He was most likely being told this and he believed it. After all, you work for a very tech company.

Second, in large corporations, the budgets for each year are usually set by Oct/Nov in the previous year. At GE, the 1st pass for budgeting occurs in MAY!!!

If you want to meet with senior staff about an issue, do not walk into the meeting with a problem. If all you have is a problem, to them, all you are doing is '*****ing'. You need a problem, a solution, and a solution that the person you are meeting with can implement.

You also need data and an analysis. There are X number of servers. Percentage Y are fully up to date. Percentage Z are not. Of the Z units, here is the breakdown of the states of the equipment.

Now you need a set of alternatives: Fix 'em, replace 'em, do nothing. Do the pros and cons of each alternative. Show the costs of each alternative both in people and money. Now the fun part. Risk analysis. What is the risk to the company of doing each one. Determine the worst cases, note the dollar value, human value (work lost) and the percent chance of each happening. Multiply these together and add it to the costs of each alternative. If you did things 'correctly' the alternative you want to do if the one with the lowest total cost. If not, you may be surprised at which alternative is actually the best one. Sometimes the answer is not the one our gut says.

Remember, one of the alternative should be the 'status quo', i.e. doing what you are doing now. Show them that what you are proposing is a reduction in costs vs. what is already in progress.

This really works. It also shows that you have inititive and that you are cost conscious and have the corporations best interest (keeping costs low) at heart.

If the upper management is not willing to listen, then the find another job. You have found they do not have the companies best interest at heart, and that they are on the wrong path. It also means that they may be on the wrong path for other decisions.