CIOs doing less with less
- Details
- Written by Nasheen Liu
Let’s face it; the “doing more with less” mantra no longer works for IT. With cost cutting being one of the primary mandates of CIOs, something has to give. Most know that, but few have a productive solution.
I had lunch recently with a CIO who heads up global IT at one of the major banks. He mentioned that he has to find $25 millions in cost savings this year. He needs help in figuring out where that money is going to come from, while not disrupting the quality of services. Ha! We all want to have the best of both worlds; but can we?
According to a recent survey by Gartner, organizations spent less on IT in 2011 than they did in 2006. Cost cutting in 2012 is more of a priority of CEOs than 2009 (when we were deep in recession). Cost optimization is now a key IT discipline. CIOs know what needs to be done, but are those things achievable? We must start with setting a realistic expectation and that is: doing more with less is simply not possible. We must do less with less for realistic outcomes.
Recovering costs from your vendors is not the best option.
Yes, when the times are tough and multiple vendors are competing for your business, low-balling the contract value seems to be an easy outlet. It can yield some short term savings. But you get what you pay for. Cheap price often equals sub-standard products and services, which in the long run will cost you more than what you would have saved.
Reworking IT operations & processes can only get you so far.
Most IT organizations have implemented tools and processes that will help to optimize savings. Virtualization of applications, consolidation of datacenters, outsourcing of support services and moving to cloud, all seem to be sound efforts but all have their share of complexities and risks. More importantly, while the journey is valid, the destination is not always crystal clear. Most CIOs can’t afford to wait for years to justify ROI.
People-reduction may be OK for the balance sheet, but not for your goal sheet.
It is no longer an exaggeration that there is NO ONE to cut anymore. Your service levels have been suffering for a while now. Training and career development programs are nixed. Your top performers are burned out and flat out angry. One CIO told us at a recent roundtable discussion that his #1 priority is talent management. He actively mentors and fiercely protects “the good people” when faced with the daily pressure to cut more. How refreshing to hear. Investing in people, especially when times are tough, will pay off in a big way. We are already seeing the downfall of many companies by doing the contrary.
The biggest potential for IT optimization is on the demand side.
Why? The reality is most organizations that under-invest in IT sub-optimize their business. The so-called days of ‘IT only’ projects are gone. Now, virtually all IT projects are business projects. Communicating the business value of IT to the line-of-business stakeholders is more vital than ever. The cost negotiation approach with the supply side of IT must be transformed to value negotiation with the demand side of IT. Determining where to take maintenance risks and where to increase funding has to be a joint decision between CIOs and their Line of Business peers.
Some IT organizations today have succeeded in addressing the cost of IT, but have not convinced the business to meet them half way. Demand management must be addressed through constant communications with business, making IT investment more transparent to business, establishing accountability with business for risk management, and perhaps hiring specific IT roles dedicated to and jointly funded by business. In addition, having the means and cadence to share challenges and best practices amongst your peers in other organizations can also have a profound and productivity-enhancing impact.
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