While the linked article is about leveraging your existing reported information to enhance your request for more budget to allow you to generate more detailed reports in future for a security field, I think the general principle applies to us all. It's not enough to talk about your lacks and what you should be able to do if those gaps were filled, you have to be able to demonstrate that you're making good use of the resources you already have.

This is where (here I go, getting back on topic) the likes of storage virtualization can come in handy - but only if you have the numbers to back up your position.

Get the numbers to get the money. Use some of the money make sure you keep getting numbers. Sounds simple, doesn't it?