Reduce Spending Without Cutting IT Costs

41% of CIOs surveyed have IT cost reduction on their agenda, with targets to cut costs by up to 30-40%.
PwC and Strategy & COVID-19 CIO Pulse Survey

Year after year, IT costs continue to rise, resulting in a major shift in the role of the CIO. Instead of focusing on gaining a competitive edge, CIOs are spending time finding ways to reduce IT costs. It can be tempting for business leaders to want to cut IT support and other IT-related costs and spend less time and money on technology-related resources. However, cutting IT costs can be damaging to your business if you eliminate crucial IT services.

Rather than cut IT costs, businesses should search for smart IT investment opportunities. To help CIOs refocus their attention to bringing the business competitive advantages instead of reducing costs, let’s examine a few key methods that can be implemented to help a business’s bottom line, without reducing IT costs.

1. Move Your Data to the Cloud

Transferring mission-critical data to the cloud is a smart and effective way to reduce costs. Not only will transferring data to the cloud save you money on paper and office equipment/supplies, storing information in the cloud can enhance your productivity and minimize headaches.

If you have your own servers, you have to spend money on hardware and have a place to store it. In addition, you’ll have to hire a team to maintain the equipment. These costs add up quickly and you can easily spend more than you anticipated. When you consider the cost of staffing and managing a team of in-house specialists, embracing the cloud is one of the best ways to cut infrastructure costs. Also, cloud applications undergo frequent updates, meaning you will not have to spend time and money updating the applications yourself.

If you’re already in the cloud, are you getting the best available services for your business? Consider the following:

• Are you paying too much for your current cloud services? Are you paying for cloud services and resources you are not using?
• Are you aware of the mobility and scalability features available in the cloud? Are you taking advantage of those features?
• Are you replicating on-premise and cloud-based services?

2. Automate Day-to-Day Operations

Nearly everything around us is automated, and, if you want to make a smart business decision, you’ll start automating your business operations. You can reduce spending and human error by utilizing automation software and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to enter data, share data, organize your emails, manage invoices, and more.

Optimizing critical business processes will also reduce overhead costs and give you that competitive edge you have been searching for. Automating day-to-day tasks will not only help you fulfill more business objectives but will also help you boost employee engagement. Overall, businesses with high employee engagement see a 21% increase in profitability. Therefore, increasing employee engagement is critical because of its direct ties to efficiency.

By removing some of the more tedious tasks with automation, your employees can focus on tasks that are more critical to the success of your business. There are some tasks that are better completed by a person, and these tasks are generally the more creative tasks. When your employees can work on complex and creative tasks, they will enhance their abilities and contribute more to the business, which can keep them engaged, make your business more efficient, and help cut costs.

3. Invest in Cybersecurity Technology

In today’s ever-changing digital landscape, the threat of cyberattacks is rising. Ransomware attacks, security breaches, data theft, and more are becoming increasingly common, and more expensive. According to IBM and the Ponemon Institute’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2021, the cost of a data breach in the US is $4.24 million, an increase from the average cost in 2020, which was $3.86 million.

One of the common mistakes that many businesses make in regards to cybersecurity is that they are reactive and not proactive. If you only take action after you encounter a security issue, you are losing money, not saving money. When you are proactive, not only can you protect your business from ransomware attacks, data breaches, etc., you can help reduce the costs associated with cyber attacks. There are different types of technology that can protect your business from cyberattacks.

Lost profits in the event of downtime due to a cyberattack can have a devastating effect on your business. By investing in cybersecurity technology, you can take your cybersecurity defense to another level. Cybersecurity technology will not only provide you with continuous monitoring to allow you to detect vulnerabilities, but you will be able to protect your systems using other services such as data backups, incident response planning, and application management, which can ensure that your systems are protected on every side.

4. Consolidate Your Platforms and Applications

Consolidating applications can reduce per-seat costs and reduce hardware maintenance and demands. When you take time to evaluate the platforms and services you’re using, you will realize there are some redundancies. After evaluating your platforms, you will likely find multiple opportunities to consolidate your platforms.

Businesses that successfully consolidate into a comprehensive platform can enjoy the following benefits:

• Enhanced business agility
• Improved security
• Increased innovation

Consolidating your platforms will also allow you to enjoy the added benefits of increased employee engagement and productivity. When employees are engaged and satisfied at work, your business will operate more efficiently.

Reduce Costs Without Compromising Capabilities

By implementing strategies that can help your business save money and become more efficient, you will not have to cut IT costs. By implementing a combination of these strategies within your business, you can boost the quality of your business, decrease unnecessary spending, and avoid cutting critical resources, such as IT support.

At Initial.IT, we help businesses gain clarity in their IT spending, streamline operations, and realize cost savings. With our 20 years of experience, our team is able to find cost-effective IT solutions that align with your unique business needs. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and find out how much we can help you save.