Budget cuts and job losses may be at the forefront of people’s minds, but there are some ways in which the downturn could be good for business. With organisations wary of spending any extra money at all, IT departments are finding it increasingly difficult to gain approval from the Board on new investments. Instead, they’re having to look at what they already have: many companies are using this period as an opportunity to rationalise existing infrastructure and extract maximum value from current systems.
And those who follow this strategy will reap the rewards – not only will it impact the company’s bottom line in the short term; it will prepare the business, and the staff, for the upturn.
Right now, it’s a good time for IT leaders to get to grips with the real needs of the organisation. IT departments can support their company through the recession by aligning themselves with the business’ priorities. They must establish a strong IT strategy which will ensure operations across the business run smoothly, staff work efficiently and teams are truly collaborative, so the organisation can increase profits, retain customers and gain a greater share of its market.
But this doesn’t necessarily require additional investment. At the moment, most companies are experiencing large budget reductions, with any increases relatively modest compared to previous years. Consequently, many organisations are shelving any non-essential projects and working with what they have in place already. By following three simple steps, businesses can sweat their assets, making the most of the technology, systems and resources they already have in place:
1. Re-organise, re-structure and automate
IT budgets are almost always spent in full, but all too often this just means people are buying technology for the sake of it. This results in complexity and additional management headaches, when what the business really needs is speed, reliability and ease of use.
IT managers need to establish what technology they have, what they need, and what they can manage. They may find they are over-subscribing to certain software programmes required for the number of the workforce that needs access, or it could be a case that some systems are no longer essential to the business’ operations.
A full audit of what is in use and what is of use will help rationalise the business. Any excess should be stripped out to avoid unnecessary complications and expenditure, making the whole company run more smoothly, more efficiently and more cost-effectively. It will also provide an accurate indication of areas that could make the best use of any future investment, as IT directors will be able identify outdated programmes or business critical tasks and systems.
2. Have your cake and eat it
Very often, organisations find they have invested in technology but failed deploy it. They end up wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds and losing out on increased staff productivity.
For example, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server has been around for some time, but there’s still widespread misunderstanding about how it works. It’s not like the Office suite, which is basically ‘plug and play.’ To take full advantage of its toolset, you need a fairly sophisticated installation, so many organisations are simply casting it aside.
But those who snapped it up and not utilising it are effectively sitting on money mountains. SharePoint provides the building blocks for gaining control over your unstructured data, moving towards effective enterprise content management. Once it’s up-and-running, it can improve workforce productivity exponentially. Organisations need to start realising the benefits of technology like this and stop wasting their investment by not using it.
3. Work smarter, not harder
Many organisations are already finding greater efficiencies through adopting different working practices that while reduce expenditure while supporting top-line growth. Shared services centralise back office functions, while remote and flexible working cut down on travel and office costs.
Another initiative that can be achieved quickly and has immediate return on investment is collaborative information management. Unlocking the value of information assets is vital to an organisation’s success in a downturn, whether this information is stored in IT systems of people’s heads. And for any organisation shedding jobs, greater collaboration and better information management is vital. When workers leave, they take their knowledge and experience with them; but those left behind need not suffer.
By consolidating information centrally, staff are saved from ‘re-inventing the wheel’ and can access, find and view the content they need immediately. Instant messaging and collaboration enable employees from across the business to work together more effectively, sharing and exchanging information wherever they are. This will improve overall workplace productivity and create a more integrated business.
By following these three steps, any money the organisation does need to spend on IT will be a long-term investment, not a short-term expenditure. In this way, the company can feel confident that it will outgrow the competition rather than just stay in business.
