The world of business has quickly integrated into the digital stream. This new integration calls for an influx of information management professionals to optimize the digital market for best returns. While IT costs are only going up, CIOs can reduce expenses by taking advantage of affordable resources and scaling down unnecessary expenditures.
If you’re a CIO looking to implement new practices for cost optimization, here are six tips to start you down the road to lower overhead.
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Consider crowdsourcing for troubleshooting and IT questions
Hiring a full-time help desk or outsourcing through a third party are costly endeavors. The integration of crowdsourcing strategy allows you to put non-emergency IT questions and troubleshooting in the hands of employees.
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A chat room or online forum works as a jumping-off point for these more minor queries. Of course, a designated IT professional for urgent matters is still necessary, but it’s not as costly as an entire team.
Use an open-source container system
Kubernetes is an open-source platform for portable servers container orchestration. Containers are helpful in cost optimization as they reduce the use of system resources.
For IoT and Edge computing, lightweight Kubernetes distributors like these are an excellent tool. These tools manage production workloads where resources are limited, minimizing steps for Kubernetes cluster installation.
Phasing out the WAN
A WAN is an unnecessary expense for many mid-sized and large companies alike. The Wide Area Network helps your company share information across an extended distribution area, but this reach is costly. SD-WAN is more than capable at a fraction of the cost for offline-to-offline business flow.
Wireless WANs lower your bandwidth needs while maintaining mobile work and connectivity, making them a perfect low-cost solution to the network issue.
Opt for VPS hosting
While VPS hosting is an ongoing cost, it offers a variety of cost-effective benefits. There is no need for constant hardware upgrades, cooling units, or maintenance fees when using a virtual server. VPS also provides options for data backup and ongoing scalability.
While not an IT-related cost, eliminating onsite servers reduces energy output and lowers electricity bills.
Create transparency mandates among IT departments
Knowing where the money comes in and out in IT departments is key to optimizing spending. Employees and management are held accountable when data compiles in a general ledger.
Build an asset-based view of technical costs, including business service fees and hardware. Transparency ensures everybody knows where money is being spent and keeps a CIO in the know about department spending.
Keep contractors under review
It’s common for technology departments to operate with contracted professionals. However, this process can be confusing and leave contractors lost in the shuffle. Lumped into a separate category from full-time employees, contractor costs can spiral out of control when not taken strategically.
On a final note
Being CIO means having a plan for all the moving parts of the information technology department. Updating your strategy and implementing evolving practices, such as cloud-based technology and container software, has the power to reduce costs over time.
Remember to focus not only on the technology and software your company uses but the employees in your department. These are the keys to cost optimization in IT.
