9 ways that an IT department can save money during the recession

Be energy efficient: Even though electricity rates have been reduced, power costs are a major expense in large organizations. By adopting some energy-saving policies, you can save a large amount of money. Currently, all modern operating systems have several power-saving features that can be used in order to save energy and money for the organization.
Avoid mobile technology overspending: Since we are living in the era of mobile business, mobile phones are required from every business. However, spending too much on the latest technology is not recommended since several surveys showed that 75% of voice minutes and 55% of services that companies are paying are not used at all from the employees.
Allow employees to work from home: Save money, parking, heating and cooling for the company and clothes, transportation and lunches for the employees. This is a win-win situation for everybody. However, IT security is an issue but can be resolved using several latest technologies.
Do not use consultants for jobs that could be done by IT staff: Staff is the most important asset of the IT department and can be used for several projects, even if they do not have the expertise. For example, an IT department should have the facilities to run tests before going live with a new application or hardware.
Try using contractors instead of full-time employees: When an existing employee has the expertise for a certain project then use this employee. In case that nobody has the expertise required for a certain project then it is better to hire an IT consultant. However, make sure that you do some research before hiring someone since it is very important to find a good, hard-working IT consultant. Also, make sure that the costs are not too high in relation with the size of the project.
Unnecessary upgrades: It makes sense to upgrade hardware and/or software when a new operating system is released or applications providing more functionality to the users are necessary. Also, some companies are upgrading their hardware every X years and their software when the X version comes out. However, during the tough times of economic crisis we have to be careful and evaluate our “real” needs. Most of the companies have hardware and software that are not fully utilized. By running an evaluation for your current equipment, it might help the users to see extra functionality or benefits that the existing hardware and software has and utilize the existing equipment without the need of upgrading.
Necessary upgrades: From the other side, companies that do not upgrade at the right time are at risk of slowing down the productivity with computers that are slow or not responding properly. Make sure though that you upgrade only the necessary equipment. For example, some departments might not need any upgrade but others do.
Not needed hardware: Even though buying new hardware can save you money, sometimes companies buy more than the necessary. Most of the companies use virtualization techniques in order to utilize all the possible resources that their servers have.
Training: Technology can help a company to work more efficiently and effectively. Employees have to be trained in order to be able to use all the available technology. Having employees that have the appropriate knowledge of the systems means that the company will save costs on the administration of the systems and also the productivity will be higher.

Avgoustinos Constantinides
IT Consultant
IBSAC Intelligent Business Solutions Ltd
http://www.ibs.com.cy