0. IT Cost Optimization George Ambler IT Cost Optimization Workshop
Notes accompany this presentation. Please select Notes Page view. These materials can be reproduced only with written approval from Gartner. Such approvals must be requested via Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates.
This presentation, including any supporting materials, is owned by Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is for the sole use of the intended Gartner audience or other authorized recipients. This presentation may contain information that is confidential, proprietary or otherwise legally protected, and it may not be further copied, distributed or publicly displayed without the express written permission of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates. © 2012 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

1. Cutting Costs Versus Cost Optimization
Cost Cutting
Reactive
Short-term results
Across the board
Decisions often made in haste
Cost Optimization
Strategic
Decisions tied to business value
Cuts made selectively
Longer-term initiatives and longer-term results
Key Issue: How should you think about cost optimization, and where should organizations look for cost improvement opportunities?
In hard economic times, when revenue is harder to come by, companies often turn to cost-cutting initiatives to increase net income. Because cost cutting affects a company's bottom line directly, certain types of cost cutting can be the quickest way for companies to remain competitive. The typical revenue-to-cost ratio is about 3 to 1, which means, for example, that increasing revenue by $300 has about the same effect as cutting costs by $100. Cost-cutting initiatives are often reactive and across the board, and however necessary the cost cuts are, they create little long-term sustainable value.
It can easily be argued that IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) groups should always be involved in cost optimization initiatives. However, during times of economic growth, many I&O groups focus more on other initiatives that help grow and transform the business. In the wake of the recent financial conditions and budget cuts, many I&O groups have become more focused on cost optimization projects. Cost optimization projects are strategic investments in people, process and technology that can deliver both short- and long-term cost savings. Cost optimization projects can take weeks or years to complete and do include an additional outlay of resources, but the cost-saving benefits are substantial and long term.
Action Item: Develop a list of cost optimization projects across the IT organization and business and prioritize them based on ROI, ease and time to complete, just like any other IT project.

2. Gartner Framework for IT Cost Reduction
Business Restructuring and Innovation
Process improvement, reorganization, new methods
Joint Business and IT Cost Savings
Implement cost-saving technologies with the business
Cost Savings Within IT
Identify opportunities to reduce IT costs
IT Procurement
Get the best pricing and terms for your IT purchases
Difficulty
Value
To reach big cost optimization goals, CIOs and other IT leaders must combine strategy with action that includes high doses of IT service-level optimization (i.e., mission-critical and non- mission-critical differentiation), IT service industrialization, and a reconciliation of which technology capabilities the IT organization should continue to manage.
In addition to other strategic shifts, CIOs and other IT leaders must shift their focus from just managing the supply of IT to improved direct and indirect demand management for IT services. This will reduce the enterprise pipeline of underperforming and unaligned initiatives, related capital expenditures and higher multiyear maintenance burdens.
CIOs and other IT leaders must recognize that there is a finite list of strategic levers for big cost optimization goals; by just focusing on three or four of these levers, the IT organization will be able to deliver the focus and purposeful force necessary to reach once-in-a-lifetime cost optimization goals.
IT Procurement. Partnerships with IT vendors means that each party benefits in the good times and make joint sacrifices in times of economic uncertainty. Each year, IT organizations spend billions of dollars for hardware, software, IT services and telecommunications services. How the IT organization approaches procurement issues will affect how much it can reduce spending to meet business goals. In the IT procurement element of the framework, we provide: guidance on getting the best pricing for your IT purchases; the best practices for contract negotiations and renegotiations; terms and conditions; selection of service providers, alternative delivery and acquisition models; and other issues related to procurement of IT inputs.
Cost Savings in IT. A priority for many IT organizations will be to identify opportunities to reduce baseline IT costs from the enterprise, and not just move them to another budget center. Where IT organizations focus is where they will be successful with costs savings. In the cost savings in the IT element of the framework, we provide specific cost savings opportunities by technology and service area, ranges or specific percentages of savings that are typical, things you have to do to achieve these savings, alternatives to the current status quo, with pros and cons related to possible cost savings actions.
Joint Business and IT Cost Savings. There is often a limit the amount of cost savings that the IT organization can achieve by itself without working with internal business partners to make decisions on the trade-offs and benefits to a specific course of action. Often, 100% of discretionary spending is based on direct new business demand. In this element of the framework, we provide specific guidance on implementing cost-saving technologies in conjunction with the business, that may include investment to reduce cost in the long term or alternatives to current technologies. Also explored are energy-saving strategies with technology, modernization, total cost of ownership, and alternative delivery and acquisition models.
Enable Innovation and Business Restructuring. As the immediate emergency of economic uncertainty passes, cost optimization will be refocused on efforts to implement long-term process improvement and enable business structuring and innovation. This element of the cost optimization framework focuses on IT and business process improvement to reposition the business to competitive advantage using IT and the resumption of economic expansion. Businesses that do not focus on innovation in their business models are destined to the whims of a mature marketplace and this research area help IT organizations better organize to help lead their enterprises to competitive advantage.
Different types of cost optimization involve different parts of the organization and varying IT department decision rights

3. Cost Optimization Opportunities Remain in Every Area of IT
Differences Between Average and Best Performers
Overall IT Spend
38% difference in cost
Application Development
53% difference in cost per function point
Application Support
55% difference in cost per function point
Mainframe
35% difference in cost per installed MIPS
Unix Server
62% difference in cost per server
Wintel Server
32% difference in cost per server
Storage
44% difference in cost per TB
Desktop
22% difference in cost per device
Help Desk
33% difference in cost per handled contact
Wide-area Data Network
43% difference in cost per device
Local-area Network
51% difference in cost per active port
Wide-area Voice Network
27% difference in cost per minute
Voice Premise Technologies
34% difference in cost per active extension
This is what we have found in surveying large numbers of Gartner clients.
The point here is that when we compare the IT cost savings of "Average" Gartner clients with those who are "Best Performers," there are startling differences in the level of savings that they have achieved.
There is a pressing need to ensure IT spending, which on average equals 4% of revenue, drives business value and financial performance not simply "keeping the lights on."
Failure to do so limits IT's ability to support the enterprise's strategic shift from cost control to growth
CIOs indicate IT is now more directly accountable for business results than it was 10 years ago when IT was seen as primarily responsible for providing technology results.

4. Common Cost-Reduction Opportunities
Manage Demand
1. Chargeback
2. IT PMO
3. IT Governance
Demand
Shift to Variable Cost
4. Contingent Workers
5. Software as a Service
6. Capacity on Demand
Reduce Labor Cost
7. Staff Reconfiguration
8. Selective Outsourcing
9. Offshore Outsourcing
10. Automated Software Distribution
Supply
IT Cost Containment
Reduce Technology Cost
11. Server/Storage Virtualization
12. Voice/Data Network
Re-engineering
13. Voice over Internet Protocol
14. Open-Source Software
15. Data Center Consolidation/Automation
16. Standard Operating Environment
17. Teleworking
18. Refresh/Upgrade Delay
Change IT Operating Model
Control
19. Asset/License Management
20. Print Fleet Rationalization
21. Telephone Expense Management
22. Telephone Bill Audit
Improve IT Business Practices
23. Contract Renegotiation
24. IT Operations Process Improvement
25. Apps. Dev Process Improvement

5. Decision Framework For each initiative to cut costs:
What's the upside?
Is it worth the effort? ?
Costs, Time and Risks
Benefits
Benefits
Potential Benefit
How big is the saving if the action is implemented?
A relatively small or (-) $ number here
A relatively large $ number here
A $ number here
Customer Impact
What impact will this have on customers?
Negative
None
Positive
Time Requirement
Can you capture the savings in this fiscal year?
>18 months
6-18 months
<6 months
Degree of Organizational Risk
Will your leaders ensure the changes are made? Is your organization capable of adapting to the changes?
Staff redundancies, and re-engineering of processes and structures
Limited changes in roles, structures and processes
No staff reduction, nor changes in organization and processes
Degree of Technical Risk
Is there a risk that the change will undermine the ability of your systems to deliver?
Impacts OS, DB, middleware and applications
Moderate impact on few components of the architecture
Little more than "moving boxes"
In doing IT cost optimization, it must be recognized that not all ideas are worth the effort. To this end, Gartner recommends a decision framework that takes into account all of the categories listed in the graphic above.
Potential benefit must be measured to get a sense as to whether the effort might be worth it. Customer impact must be assessed (though not necessarily quantified) to determine if an effort might have large financial benefits, but create ill-will with customers and thus undermine the value of moving forward. This is especially important in the public sector where customer impact is often a primary concern of elected officials.
But, in assessing the options, the IT governance decision makers must also take into account how long it will take to accomplish the reduction, whether the technical and organizational risks are so high that it may not be worth the effort, and whether an upfront cash investment is required to achieve downstream savings. The issues of time, risk and investment requirement may be so severe as to diminish the likelihood of ever achieving any of the desired benefits.
Advice: When considering IT cost optimization, do not focus just on benefits. Create a decision framework that assesses the impact on customers and the actual achievability of the intended reduction.
Investment Requirement
Does the change require a large upfront investment before savings can be captured? Is the organization willing to make an investment at all?
High
Moderate
Low/None

6. IT Procurement
Contract renegotiation — the first line of offense in saving money. Large enterprises have huge buying power. Act like it. Organize to achieve it.
Procurement Opportunity
Financial Benefit
Time
Organizational Risk
Technical Risk
Investment Required
Renegotiate Network Rates
Moderate
Low
Renegotiate Contract Labor Rates
Consolidate Desktop Hardware Contracts
Consolidate Desktop Software Contracts
Renegotiate "Shelfware" Maintenance
Renegotiate HW/SW Maintenance and SLAs
Consolidate Commodity (Non-IT) Purchases
Consolidate Purchasing Staff (Shared Service)
Consolidate IT Contract Services Vehicles
Hire Lower Rates Than Contract Staff
High
Enable Shared Risk/Reward Contracts
Defer Desktop Purchases
This is a specific list of opportunities to reduce the cost of IT by centralizing buying and procurement across the enterprise and renegotiating rates with vendors.
Source: Gartner Research.

7. Cost Savings Within IT Opportunity Financial Benefit Time
Organizational Risk
Technical Risk
Investment Required
Stratification of Desktop User Types
Low
Automated Software Distribution
Moderate
Desktop Printer Rationalization
Standardize Desktop Products
High
Cell Phone Audits
Centralize Portal Management
Telecommunications Line Audits
Consolidation of IT Infrastructure
Server Virtualization
Storage Migration to SAN and NAS
Reduce Business Continuity Capability
Info Management, Capture DB Capacity
Application Audits
Application Maintenance Outsourcing
Turn off Legacy System Maintenance
Outsource Repetitive Software Testing
Assess internal IT Staffing Needs
This is a specific list of opportunities for IT to help reduce the cost of IT across the enterprise.

8. Joint Business and IT Cost Savings
Opportunity
Financial Benefit
Customer Impact
Organizational Risk
Technical Risk
Investment Required
Emergency Call Centers (Government)
High
Negligible
Moderate
Nonemergency Call Centers (Customer Service)
Positive
Teleworking
Low
Videoconferencing
Create/Expand E-learning Capability
Create Data Warehouse to Mine Opportunities
Enterprise Self-Service Integration
Workflow and Handoff Analysis and Automation
Asset Utilization Analysis
HR Self-Service Expansion
Deploy E-procurement Catalogs
Examine Storage Policy to Reduce Storage Size
Consolidate Radio Systems
Consolidate Geospatial Systems and Data
Enforce Modularization of Large Scale Procurements
This shows a specific list of opportunities for IT to assist business units with reducing operating costs.

9. Shared Services Opportunities
IT capability
Financial Benefit
Customer Impact
Organizational Risk
Technical Risk
Investment Required
Call Centers (Emergency and Nonemergency)
High
Moderate
Electronic Document Management System
Back-Office Applications
Low
Computing Centers (Mainframes, Servers, Storage)
Networks
Non-administrative Applications
Middle-Office Application Support
IT Contract Vehicles
Desktop Applications (Acquisition, M/A/C)
IT Help Desk
Self-Service Web Sites
Reassess Internal IT Staffing Needs
This shows key opportunities for consolidation or creation of enterprise or cross-enterprise shared services.

10. No Pain — No Gain Costs, Time & Risks Benefits Shared Services Mergers
Application Standardization
High
Server Consolidation
Architecture Standardization
Mainframe Consolidation
Portfolio Management
Costs, Time & Risks
Enterprise PMO
Automate Software Distribution
Network Consolidation
Procurement
Audit Device Utilization
Call Center Consolidation
Deferral of Spending
Low
Benefits
High

11. Characteristics of IT Cost Optimization Programs
Leading Practice: Treat IT Cost Optimization As An On-going IT Discipline
Successful IT cost optimization programs have common characteristics that deliver sustained results as compared to typical cost cutting programs
Characteristics of IT Cost Optimization Programs
Have a clear definition of short- and long-term success
Operate from a basis of fact rather than speculation
Look at the Demand side of IT as well as Supply side
Prioritize cost savings opportunities taking into account risk to implement in addition to financial payback
Align IT Cost Optimization management disciplines with business alignment objectives
Focus on successful execution, including a program in place for benefits realization to hold people accountable through measured performance
Use working capital from IT savings to self-fund improvements towards business
Evaluate
Strategize
Execute
Optimize
Manage
Strategize
Our services constantly evolve with clients' changing needs, but our focus on results never changes
IT cost optimization is not a project; it's a discipline.
New opportunities and threats emerge as:
Business imperatives evolve
New technologies mature
IT assets reach the end of their useful lives
New service and delivery options proliferate
You (and your team and your business colleagues) need to get good at this, because even if your CFO does not ask you to keep reducing costs, if you continue to apply the discipline, you will drive innovation and competitive advantage for your organization.

12. Create Cost Optimization Team
Key Issue: What tactical cost optimization activities can organizations pursue with short payback periods?
Assign some of your best staff
Include a financially qualified professional
Strengthen relationship management roles
Define cost-cutting goals and project timelines
Establish rapid go/no
go approval process
Meet weekly
Many of the low-risk and low-effort cost optimization initiatives have already been completed by most IT organizations. New cost optimization initiatives can sometimes seem limitless, but each has varying levels of understanding, risk, rewards, required resources and involvement from all IT departments.
Identifying, categorizing, choosing, planning and completing a combination of tactical and strategic cost optimization initiatives requires a strong, cross-functional team. This team should not only be able to ferret out cost optimization ideas and understand the risks and rewards of each, but also to drive the initiative through IT senior management and staff, develop goals and timelines and see projects through their completion. Without a strong team in place to drive cost optimization initiatives, IT senior management is much more likely to resort to reactive and sudden cost-cutting programs when revenue and budgets fall.

13. Finding Opportunities and New Ideas for Cost Cuts: IT Cost Transparency Elements
IT Service Portfolio and Catalog
Benchmarking and Measurement
IT Performance Management
IT Portfolio Management
Chargeback/Cost Allocation
IT Asset Management/CMDB
Market-Based IT Chart of Accounts (COA)
Hardware Software Outsourcing Personnel
Procurement Commodity Taxonomy
UNSPSC NIGP RUS Etc.
There is nothing linear about achieving the nirvana of IT cost transparency. The implementation and maturity of several management practices will be necessary to achieve actionable transparency. Also, by being immature or not implementing one or more related IT management practices does not mean that an IT organization is not "transparent." Many enterprises pick just two or three elements and try to achieve "best in class" status, and this action alone will ensure that enterprise goals for cost transparency are met. Some elements will be more difficult than others, and this is not meant to be a maturity model. Procurement commodity taxonomies can take years to rationalize and require enterprise stakeholder buy-in. Changing the chart of accounts is often met with resistance by the corporate or enterprise finance and accounting organization. One thing holds true for many organizations: IT chargeback and cost allocation often are catalysts for maturity improvements in IT asset management, benchmarking and measurement, and IT performance management. Also, they are often prerequisites for the effective implementation of IT service portfolios and catalogs.

14. After You Leave Here … Immediately…
Assess which of the tactical cost opportunities are still worth trying.
Determine how best to get executive engagement in your IT governance process to ensure the right decisions are being made.
Evaluate your IT optimization decisions across all of the dimensions listed.
Argue for pursuing cost optimization that can be done and has appropriate organizational support that will not do long-term damage to the enterprise.
In the Next 90 days….
Determine if your IT demand governance process is working and, if not, create a plan to fix it
Create an ongoing IT optimization program to ensure long-term efficiency.
Evaluate how your IT organization is structured to determine if it is appropriate for maximum productivity.
Evaluate with your senior management whether there is alignment of expectations for the role of IT in the strategic leadership of your enterprise.

15. Related Gartner Research
"Decision Framework for Prioritizing Cost Optimization Ideas" G , Barbara Gomolski, John Kost, 13 May 2009
"Cost Cutting in IT: Findings and Recommendations, October 2008 to March 2009" G , Ken McGee, 2 April 2009
"Method to the Madness: Applying a Methodological Approach to Cost Optimization" G , David W. McCoy, Barbara Gomolski, 13 May 2009
"How the IT Organization Handles the Three Stages of a Downturn" G , Jorge Lopez, 17 February 2009
“IT Cost Optimization Round 2: Strategic Shifts and Doing Less With Less” Kurt Potter (G )
“CFO Advisory: Enterprise Cost Optimization; Overview” Barbara Gomolski, Kurt Potter (G )
“The Four Levels of Cost Optimization” Barbara Gomolski, Kurt Potter, Mark Raskino (G )

16. IT Cost Optimization George Ambler IT Cost Optimization Workshop
Notes accompany this presentation. Please select Notes Page view. These materials can be reproduced only with written approval from Gartner. Such approvals must be requested via Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates.
This presentation, including any supporting materials, is owned by Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is for the sole use of the intended Gartner audience or other authorized recipients. This presentation may contain information that is confidential, proprietary or otherwise legally protected, and it may not be further copied, distributed or publicly displayed without the express written permission of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates. © 2012 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

17. Link Costs to Demand
Manage Demand
1. Chargeback
2. IT PMO
3. IT Governance
Demand
Shift to Variable Cost
4. Contingent Workers
5. Software as a Service
6. Capacity on Demand
Use chargeback so the business can make cost-vs.-value trade-offs
Create an IT PMO to improve project, program and portfolio performance
Establish IT governance councils to improve prioritization and investment decisions
Contract with contingent workers to fulfil variable demand and special expertise needs
Use software as a service (SaaS) to avoid capital costs, to vary costs with usage and to achieve benefits sooner
Use capacity-on-demand (CoD) to vary processing costs with workload changes
IT costs are driven by demand for IT products and services. One cost containment approach is to manage the demand by implementing mechanisms to help IT and the business make more informed decisions about demand value, prioritization and investment. Also, because demand varies but most IT costs are fixed, at least in the short term, making more costs variable can also help align supply with demand.
One way to reduce costs is to stop doing things. Determining which activities to stop is a difficult decision that requires business and IT collaboration. To be able to control their own demand, users need to understand the costs of the services requested. Chargeback makes these costs explicit. Then users can make informed decisions about which IT services they want to pay for. Governance councils are necessary to make the tradeoffs between competing requests for IT services.

18. Reduce Resource Costs Reconfigure your staff for higher performance
Reduce Labor Cost
7. Staff Reconfiguration
8. Selective Outsourcing
9. Offshore Outsourcing
10. Automated Software Distribution
Supply
Reduce Technology Cost
11. Server/Storage Virtualization
12. Voice/Data Network
Re-engineering
13. Voice over Internet Protocol
14. Open-Source Software
Reconfigure your staff for higher performance
Outsource noncore IT functions for cost and service advantages
Move selected work offshore to lower-cost labor locations
Automate electronic software distribution to reduce support labor
Pool server and storage resources for efficiency and flexibility
Move toward IP-based converged networks for greater bandwidth at lower cost
Transition to VoIP telephony to reduce cost and to position for unified communications
Selectively adopt open-source software to reduce software costs
Labor is the largest IT budget cost component. Even with flat head count, labor costs tend to increase every year due to wage increases. Employee benefits, travel and entertainment, training, and occupancy costs are all driven by head count. Technology costs are the second largest component. Reducing these two resource costs has the largest impact on the IT budget.
IS labor is the largest IT cost category, comprising at least 30 percent of most IT budgets, depending on the extent of outsourcing. In North America, reducing head count has an immediate and predictable cost impact. In other parts of the world, this may take longer and be more expensive to do. While outsourcing may not always reduce overall costs, it does reduce head count, which in some enterprises is an equally important metric. Four common ways to reduce IT labor costs are reported in the case studies.

19. Change Operating Practices
15. Data Center Consolidation/Automation
16. Standard Operating Environment
17. Teleworking
18. Refresh/Upgrade Delay
Change IT Operating Model
Control
19. Asset/License Management
20. Print Fleet Rationalization
21. Telephone Expense Management
22. Telephone Bill Audit
Improve IT Business Practices
23. Contract Renegotiation
24. IT Operations Process Improvement
25. Apps. Dev Process Improvement
Consolidate, standardize and automate data centers for economies of scale and resilience
Implement a standard operating environment to reduce complexity
Implement teleworking to increase employee productivity while reducing occupancy costs
Extend the useful life of established IT assets to defer buying new ones
Tighten software asset/license management to reduce overspending
Rationalize copy and print services to control the output explosion
Manage telephone expenses to gain control of the device explosion
Audit telephone bills to find overcharges
Renegotiate maintenance/service contracts for better prices and terms
Increase IT operations process rigor for many benefits
Professionalize application development processes to reduce costs and risks
Unnecessarily complex IT operating models and lack of formal business practices leave room to squeeze out costs and gain other benefits. Instilling more rigor and discipline in IT operating practices is yet another way to contain costs.
Too often, IT operating models are historical accidents, the legacy of past mergers and acquisitions, rapid geographic expansions, long-term contracts signed by predecessors and insufficient planning. How many CIOs suffer from redundant operations and inefficient facilities in expensive, congested cities? Or frequent, disruptive hardware refreshes and software updates driven by vendors rather than by business needs? Changing your IT operating model can save millions using these techniques.

20. Common Cost-Reduction Opportunities, Continued
Manage Demand
26. Stop Low Business Value Project
27. Reduce Apps Maintenance
28. Manage Apps Portfolio
29. Reduce Service Level
Demand
Shift to Variable Cost
31. Financial Engineering
32. BPO
30. Manage Apps Spec.(Mandatory, Useful, Nice to Have)
Reduce Labor Cost
Supply
33. Manage Technology Portfolio
34. Lean IT
IT Cost Containment
Reduce Technology Cost
Change IT Operating Model
35. Grouped Maintenance
36. Reduce Project Length
37. Retire non-use Code/Module in Apps
38. Adopt Layered Model
Control
Improve IT Business Practices
39. Fiscal Optimization
40. Improve IT Financial Knowledge
41. ZBB for opex
42. Increase Span of Control in IT Org.

21. Savings Depends on Time Since Last Optimization Exercise, Implementation or Major Project/Program
IT Procurement
Open-source Software: 75% Savings in Maint./License
Software as a Service (SaaS): 80%
Enterprise SW Agreement: 20-50% Dropping Maint.
IT Outsourcing Offshore: 10-40%
Cost Savings Within IT
Virtualization & Consolidation: 20% Less Workload
IT Asset Mgt.: 8-10% Per Managed Asset Per Year
PC Power Mgt: 43% Per Year vs. Non-Best Practice
Apps. Dev. Reuse: 18% Over Five Years
Joint Business & IT Savings
Apps. Portfolio Reduction: 50% for 20% Savings
Cancel Projects: Reduce Discretionary Spend by 75%
Teleworking: 20% Reduction in Net Occupancy Costs
PMO: 5-20% Productivity Improvement
Process Improvement, Business Restructuring & Innovation
Business Process Mgt. Technology: 18% Avoidance
Shared IT Services: 15-20% is Typical, 40% Maximum
Territory Mgt. Software: Increase Sales 1-3%
Online Marketing & Lead Mgt: Increasing Revenue 20% 21

22. Spend Less, Get More: 25 IT Cost Containment Techniques
Use a mix of short- and long-term techniques to ensure an on-going stream of benefits
Most Frequent Short-Term Cuts
PMO and IT governance working jointly
Staff reconfiguration
Refresh/upgrade delay if scheduled for current period
Asset/License management
Contract renegotiation
Most Frequent Med.-Term Cuts
Server storage virtualization
Automated software distribution
Print fleet rationalization
Contract renegotiation
Asset/License management
Most Frequent Long-Term Cuts
Selective outsourcing
VoIP
Network re-engineering
SOE
Offshore outsourcing
IT operations process improvement
Across the Enterprise Cuts
VoIP
Teleworking
Telephone expense management
Telephone bill audit
Cuts With Business Benefits
Server storage virtualization
Automated software distribution
Print fleet rationalization
Contract renegotiation
Asset/License management
Most Frequent Ease of Use
Telephone bill audit
Refresh/upgrade delay
Contract renegotiation
Print fleet rationalization
Telephone expense management
Each of the techniques has a certain lead time before the cost savings start to occur. Some occur within a few months, others may take over a year. Some save money just in IS, others work across the enterprise. Some only save money, others also generate business benefits. Some take a lot of staff time to investigate and implement, others are easy to do or can be easily outsourced. And some work well together and organizations that use one particular technique will almost always also use the complementary technique.