It has become a familiar lament. “Our IT organisation is under more pressure to
deliver more value without increases in budget.” Well, in today’s economic environment
of fear, uncertainty and doubt, the IT cost management problem has become even more
acute. Even before the latest events on Wall Street, Forrester Research reported
that more than 40 percent of over 900 executives in large European and North American
businesses have cut their IT budgets in 2008.
But demands on IT are not tapering off to accommodate the reduction in resources.
Indeed, as organisations respond to transformative shifts in the global economy,
CEOs are looking for the IT department to contribute to innovation initiatives that
will improve competitiveness, streamline operations and strengthen the corporate
balance sheet.
Since budgets are not rising, that means that “innovation initiatives” will have
to be funded by cost reductions in the day-to-day management of “core” operations.
what are IT managers to do? We should develop a new mindset toward cost control that
revolves around:
- Simplification
- Centralisation and
- Collaboration
Each of these concepts affects the others, and when they are viewed in an integrated
context they offer an opportunity to reduce IT costs significantly while actually
improving service delivery to the enterprise.