The call to “do more with less” is practically a mantra in business today. Like many departments, IT has faced dwindling budgets in recent years. But, for many, company standards for IT performance have not seen a similar decline. While this may seem like a catch 22, there are some tips and tricks to stretch the limits of your company’s IT budget, so you get more out of it.
And, hey, you just may impress your boss while you’re at it. Sounds like a win-win to us.
Mobility and BYOD
It’s no secret the number of devices in the enterprise has grown in recent years. There’s a reason for that. Mobility and BYOD initiatives allow workers to do more when they are travelling for business or working outside of the office. With more employees working remotely, it just makes sense.
Enabling mobile-friendly applications like Cisco Jabber helps facilitate this trend, allowing users to access communication tools from the device of their choice. More productivity from your existing workforce decreases the need for new hiring initiatives, freeing up more money for your IT budget.
If you’d like to take this a step further, allowing employees to use their own devices in a BYOD scenario helps save on hardware. These initiatives work best when enabled by the cloud, so users have anytime, anywhere access to data and applications.
Future-Proof
Your budget won’t recover from the unforeseen expense of an outage. Even minimal time offline can add up. Look for a robust infrastructure that will keep you up and running in the event of a failure. For instance, your voice and collaboration provider should offer built-in redundancy and fault tolerance so your communication systems stay up, even in the event of a disruption.
Technology Partner Support
Another casualty of the “do more with less” approach is overburdened IT staff. Partner with companies that offer external support to help relieve your IT staff so they can focus on more strategic projects.
Training
You won’t reap the benefits of your IT applications if no one is using them! Don’t assume users know how to use the technology and communication tools at their disposal. Invest the time and resources in internal trainings, to truly maximize your IT Investment, and to make sure technology tools are in use.
The Takeaways
In summary, one commonality you’ll notice throughout these tips is to take advantage of the latest technology available. Believe it or not, some of the recent trends in tech can help companies save in the long run. The cloud, for one, not only modernizes, it can help minimize your capital expenditures in favor of an OPEX model. Cloud services are typically rendered “as a service,” via a flat monthly rate.
Who you partner with also makes a huge difference, so look for a partner who is robust, but will take the time to invest in your partnership with personalized support. Having a partner that can act as extension of your IT team and put these strategies into practice will allow you to do more…. With less!
Ali Din is the VP of Marketing at collab9, an Iron Bow partner. Connect with Ali here.
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