Reduce IT Costs by Managing the Truths

When downturns hit, budgets are cut. And yet, the IT budget seems remarkably impervious to budget cuts. There’s many reason it survives. First of all, it’s mostly fixed - the majority of the IT budget is required to keep the lights on. Also, other parts of the business influence IT budget growth, so to cut it back, you have to affect the behavior of the entire leadership team, not just those who reside in IT. Third, there isn’t much chaff to separate from the wheat. IT costs have been under tight scrutiny in response to the runaway IT spending of the late 90’s. Data centers and call centers have been consolidated, contracts have been renegotiated, and services have been off-shored. Finally and most importantly, reducing IT costs has the perverse effect of increasing IT demand. Many budget cuts hinge on implementing process changes and thereby, require systems changes. Some eager IT staffers are probably ready to print out and distribute this blog entr...