The global economy is constantly changing through periods of strength and weakness. Similarly, most verticals in the industry also increase and decrease as market forces fluctuate. But despite everything, good and bad times, companies are still looking for ways to reduce costs. And why not? As Ben Franklin well advised, a penny saved is a penny earned. With this in mind, we share five ways to rationalize IT costs and benefits that no company should overlook.
5 ways to save money on IT infrastructure
1. Standardize and automate processes
Most IT departments are plagued by processes that have been embedded over the years and are somewhat less streamlined. Many of these developments incorporate useless steps that involve unnecessary human intervention; or worse, many processes are not documented and standardized, so they are performed differently each time.
2. Offer improved self-service IT
Self-Service is the holy grail of IT: make users handle many of their own problems instead of contacting the IT service at all times. The IT self-service portal also turns out to be a great way to reduce costs.
3. Evaluate licensing and implementation models
The old model of buying a software tool, and then spending additional money each year on maintenance and renovation costs, is falling in popularity. Instead, more organizations are moving to a subscription model. Similarly, SaaS solutions are gaining ground on on-premise development as a means of reducing costs.
4. Lift IT service management to business service management
Why are the benefits provided by ITIL best practices and ITSM technology limited to IT? Why not apply the principles of IT service management to other departments within the organization, such as human resources, finance, and marketing?
The only reason he wouldn't do that is that he can't do that; Most IT service management tools do not allow such capabilities and flexibility. But with the right tool, it is possible to optimize operations in multiple business segments while maximizing the ROI obtained from your investment in the tool.
5. Software license management
How many software licenses do you currently pay but do not use? In most companies, that number is likely to be quite substantial.
Licensed applications usually exist on all or any of an organization's computers, as part of a "standard image" that is reproduced on each machine. But that does not mean that every user needs that application. Therefore, the application is inactive on many machines, never used, but license fees have yet to be paid. What does it represent? Losses!
Often the problem oscillates in the other direction: Users are added, with the total number resulting from users exceeding the number of licenses purchased. And when the seller performs an audit and discovers additional users, the resulting fines and fees can be quite important.
Time to put the batteries
If you have not yet taken advantage of the cost reduction initiatives that we present to you, you are not alone. Most companies are overlooking these easy-to-implement methods to save money. And that means that with every clock signal, your IT department is wasting money unnecessarily.