file:///F:/Material/IT%20Budget/CO%20A0774/pert%2015%20%2018/Strategies%20for%20Reducing%20Your%20IT%20Budget.htm
Top 7 Strategies for Reducing Your IT Budget
6/05/2009
As we all know, many companies are much tighter with their budgets lately and are holding off
launching major projects due to the fear of the economic future. Consequently, it is an
appropriate time to discuss innovative ways for companies to start thinking about how they can
cut costs from an IT perspective. The list below includes some short- and long-term strategies
to assist in improving a company’s bottom line.
Reviving Old Workstations – One of the easiest ways that a company can maximize some of its
capital IT expenditures is to bring new life to existing workstations. Depending on the age of
workstations, it might be worth spending some money on old machines by adding RAM or
cleaning them up, which could give them an extra couple of years of life.
Purchase Refurbished / Remanufactured Servers – Most major computer manufacturers offer
refurbished servers with a one-year warranty. HP has a program where you can get great deals
on servers that were returned for some reason and then remanufactured with a full three-year
warranty. In fact, my first computer was a refurbished Dell that lasted four years. It is
possible to shave thousands of dollars from your IT budget by purchasing refurbished servers.
Skip Vista - With all of the problems that Microsoft has encountered with the Vista operating
system, many companies have decided not to upgrade until it becomes absolutely necessary.
There are still many applications that don’t support Vista. Luckily, you can still buy computers
with Windows XP through 2009. In fact, Microsoft will release a new operating system
(Windows 7) in a few years, and they will continue to support Windows XP Professional until
2014.
Virtualize Your Servers – The concept of virtualization has quickly become very popular in IT
circles over the last few years due to its huge cost saving benefits. Virtualization is a
technology that allows multiple operating systems to reside on one physical server, which can
result in a reduction of energy costs, IT management costs and physical server room space.
Very recently, Microsoft released a very low cost version of this technology (known as HyperV).
Incorporate Business Intelligence – Due to the fact that individual departments often need to
use different software applications and databases to track their information, analyzing and
compiling all that information in a timely manner can prove to be very difficult. Business
Intelligence is a strategic planning tool that quickly compiles information from all of these
different applications and databases and presents that information via graphs and charts. By
giving people this timely information, they can make quicker business decisions, which can help
reduce a company’s expenditures.
Don’t Rush to Purchase a New File Server – You can greatly reduce the cost of purchasing a
File Server by purchasing a NAS (network attached device)instead. NAS devices are File Servers
that cannot provide any other function and cannot have any software installed on them. If you
just need a reliable, centralized and secure way to store your data, consider purchasing one of
these devices instead of a full-blown server.
Review your data and telephone bills – Regarding voice and data service, there are a lot more
options available today than there were just a few years ago. Cable, FIOS, and hosted
telephone systems are just some of the new technologies available that might be worth
considering when trying to reduce monthly telephone and data expenditures.
With technology constantly changing, one must continually review (at least once a year) the
company’s business operations to determine if there are new and / or improved methods for
your company to either become more efficient or to stretch its dollar further.
Ken Fishkin, CISM, CISSP, MCSE, is the director of Information Technology Consulting at Cohn
Consulting Group. He can be reached at kfishkin@jhcohn.com or 973-871-4048.