Thursday 24 September 2009
When cash is tight slashing your IT budget is a false economy, writes Stuart Wilkin
If you’re old enough to remember the last recession in 1991, you’ll also remember that it was relatively gentle. Comparisons are difficult; after all it was an entirely different time. The Spice Girls were still at school (apart from the ginger one) and the nearest thing to reality TV was the Generation Game.
In the business world there was no banking sector meltdown, no iconic images of bankers carrying the contents of their desks out of the London office of the doomed Lehmans Brothers bank, and at that time Alastair Darling’s hair probably matched his eyebrows.
We all just cut our cloth and carried on.
In the nineties finance directors knew where to squeeze when times were hard – training, marketing and IT. Ten years ago IT still wasn’t seen as an essential business tool. But forward thinking businesses now recognise that protecting their IT budget and building a strong infrastructure will help to drive efficiencies in all other areas of the operation.
Cutting your budget on IT now and then playing catch up when things improve just won’t work. Research in the US found that twenty five per cent of companies said they would put up with lower network performance, because budget restrictions slowed investment in IT systems and support. The study also showed that these were the same businesses that typically underperformed compared to their peers.
IT investment should be driven by sound business reasons that can justify the expense, and be targeted at ways of improving efficiency.
Many businesses have legacy infrastructures and new technology tends to be smaller and has less need for cooling. With energy costs increasing as they have, efficiency in this area merits attention.
And a managed IP service that enables telephones and PCs to be switched off when not in use will make savings overnight.
Poor IT can result in reduced productivity, wasteful expense and risk of fraud.
But if you want The Birdie Song to be on the radio, Graham Taylor to be the England Football Manager and a sidecar to carry your mobile phone then cutting your IT budget is for you.
And don’t forget training and marketing while you’re at it.
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