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How a CIO Positions IT for Growth in the Economic Recovery

While survival is the paramount concern these days, how you survive will determine your true legacy. Today, IT groups must prepare for the inevitable rebound by investing in change. It’s not just about “keeping the lights on;” it’s about tuning the engine that makes innovation possible. If it doesn’t positively affect the bottom line, the top line and/or increase efficiencies, then it is not the change your company needs today. IT groups and enterprise stakeholders must have a tough dialogue on technology investments. During lean times, many enterprises cut IT to the bone. Typically the projects that survive will offer high value to the sustainability of the technology platform. Here are my tips on how IT can stay on the innovation track during an economic downturn and position your enterprise for growth during the rebound.

1. Mining The Data – While the task of data clean-up typically assumes a tedious groan, small strategic improvements can offer serious ROI now and later. For example, review and analyze those help desk tickets — specifically the high-volume submittals. If you have a high number of password reset tickets, then you should invest in a self-service password maintenance application or automated process. This will reduce your support cost and increase customer satisfaction.

2. Virtualization – Equipment upgrades are necessary to keep up with the pace of change and manage long-term IT costs. For example, are you fully utilizing all your application servers and storage devices in your data center? You should consider consolidating these applications on “virtual servers” which use less space and allow you to take back ownership of servers that can be used for other applications or retire those that are no longer needed. This will immediate cut your overhead costs for 2009 and establish an annual savings moving forward. Please be advised that this type of consolidation is a large disruptive project, so it is wise to implement when IT project work and business operations are slower.

3. Automation – Which IT processes are targets for automation? You may already own modules on your ERP application that have not been implemented. A couple options are employee on-boarding and off-boarding applications, HR self-service for managers (title changes, promotions, reviews, etc.) and self-service applications for employees such as paychecks and W2s. If done correctly, all these factors contribute to reducing costs and driving efficiency for the enterprise.

4. Vendors – Look to do business or renew contracts with smaller boutique/niche vendors; because, they can offer all the qualities of a larger firm, but without the overhead and higher costs. Recently, we outsourced our ERP support and development to a niche firm and are reaping the benefits of a higher level of customer service, better attention and understanding of our environment all at a better price than the larger more well-known vendors.

IT is truly a catalyst for growth and the backbone of success for most companies. Enterprises that are taking advantage of these turbulent times to “clean house” will not fall behind their competitors. In this light, IT is not just about technology, it’s about helping the enterprise run smarter, faster and cheaper.

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