CIO Corner: Paving the Way for a Better IT Future
Posted by Dan Webber on Mon, Aug 31, 2009 @ 06:00 AM
Many articles today are being written which focus on IT cost reduction. “Spend only what is essential to keep the lights on.” With reduction in staff, IT Leadership is being asked to do more with less. Some tactics may allow certain companies to re-architect, re-energize, simplify, and eliminate some of the headaches that engulf too many IT shops.
Re-Architect
Take a look at all of your current assets and see where there is wasted capacity. I am always amazed that when you take the time to “walk around” the enterprise, there is a lot of IT equipment which is not being utilized. Pull out your software maintenance contracts and match them against the usage which is measured by your IT asset management system. If you do not have an IT asset management system, get one. Look in all of those closets and see where departments are hoarding equipment or set aside a laptop or monitor. Are you using all of the software that you are paying maintenance for? Are you buying new software, you really don’t need? Look at your service levels and contracts. Ask the hard questions, when was the last time we needed someone out in 4 hours? Could you expand the time frame to next day? Could you buy a hot spare that would accommodate and cost you less? Have you looked at third party maintenance? Have you had a frank discussion with your vendor and asked to renegotiate the contract?
Re-Energize
This is a great time to tighten up the governance process or in some cases establish the governance process. Make them, “Make the case.” It is a great time to engrain the business as the driver of projects for the business. Standardization of the business case that feeds the process is essential. Many companies that are successful in driving good business cases add the anticipated revenue or deduct the estimated cost savings to the budget upon completion of the project. This factor leads the project initiator to be more realistic in its goals for the project.
Simplify
Take the time to review the application portfolio of the business. How much is each application being used? How well are applications performing? Is the application costing more to maintain than it is adding back to the business? Is there existing functionality within your core ERP application that is not being used that could replace another application? Have a member of the IT Team spend time working with the business in that role. It is amazing the knowledge that can be gleaned about how individuals use systems vs. how IT thinks the business is using systems.
Eliminate Some of the Headaches
Since technology is never perfect, you can never eliminate the headaches associated with IT. You can transfer some of the headaches to outsourcers or systems in the cloud. When the systems fail, it is still a headache to the business. By taking the time to Re-Architect, Re-Energize, and Simplify, you are communicating and exposing IT to the business. By streamlining the platform, it will reduce the footprint that then can be extended to support the business as it evolves and gets back to growing.
Dan Webber is a CIO in Atlanta, GA. He delivers his unique perspective as Chief Information Officer on technology, business, and the Atlanta 
IT industry. He is a recent recipient of Oracle's CIO of the quarter award.
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