How a CIO Advisory Can Optimize IT Cost Management
How a CIO Advisory Can Optimize
A CIO advisory can provide the expertise and support you need to adopt best cost cutting practices that will give you the maximum return on your investment. They understand your limited resources and budgetary constraints and will develop a cost-cutting strategy accordingly. They can also help you meet IT governance standards by establishing methods for your IT organization to be governed by.
There are many IT costs that need to be cut and this can include reducing nonessential projects, implementing a hiring freeze, and increasing the amount of money spent on software maintenance. While these tactics are often necessary during times of financial distress, they must be done carefully so as not to mortgage the future of the business. Using a streamlined process, a CIO advisory can help you identify potential IT cost savings. They will then work with you to prioritize and implement them.
Another way a CIO advisory can help you save on IT costs is by improving your vendor relationships. They can assist in the negotiation of contracts, and ensure that you are receiving the best value from your IT vendors. They can also help you identify and leverage cloud-based solutions that will reduce your need to purchase expensive on-premise hardware.
How a CIO Advisory Can Optimize IT Cost Management
Increasingly businesses are turning to outside sources for their IT leadership. They recognise that the role of a CIO is not easy and that they need someone who can take control and drive significant change within their organisation. A CIO Advisor is a great option as they are highly experienced in promoting change and know how to build strong IT/business relationships. They can act as an interim solution for a struggling IT function, or work alongside the existing Head of IT to help them develop into the role.
New IT functions can suffer from growing pains and can have trouble establishing the appropriate governance, structure and strategy. CIO Advisors are experienced in the growth of IT functions and can help establish the underlying structure and governance that is required to enable the IT department to become an effective partner with the business. This can also be used to change the underlying governance, structure and strategy in an existing IT function where this is needed.
One of the more difficult costs to cut is IT maintenance. This can be expensive and can include a lot of time in performing regression tests to ensure that code changes do not impact functionality. A CIO advisor can help you reduce the number of regression tests required, automate them where possible and look at whether the cost of software maintenance can be reduced by simply not upgrading the current version of the software.
In times of crisis, there is usually little room in IT budgets for new expenditure. A CIO advisory can help you reprioritize IT requirements and work with the business to set spending levels that they can afford. They can also advise on which projects are critical and which ones can be put on hold to preserve cash flow.