Q: If the IT organization undertakes a project that decreases the costs of providing IT service, that savings ...
When companies save costs, where do the savings go? According to Dennis Adams, "Most managers understand that keeping a tight rein on spending, particularly spending associated with overhead operations such as IT, must be closely managed. Within IT, there are various mechanisms that organizations can employ to achieve this strategy. The two most popular involve consolidation of hardware/operations and outsourcing. However, most managers are not omniscient. Consequently, enlisting the help of staff is crucial. Many companies have some sort of reward system for ideas centered on cost savings. Augmenting this within IT by allowing some portion of that savings to remain within IT is a management technique attracting the attention of CIOs. As more and more companies look to the IT function for innovative ideas and initiatives, wise managers will use this strategy more often in the future."
* Excerpted from "IT Budgets and the Economy: Some Boom, Some Gloom" (
), Cutter Benchmark Review, Vol. 12 No. 4.