Rightsizing your IT and office usage

The optimists say we are seeing the greenshoots of recovery, meanwhile the doom mongers believe that the recession looks likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Whatever your view, everyone is focused on streamling their businesses, looking to maintain or improve efficiency at the lowest possible operating cost.

Of course the drastic measures of redundancy and reduced working hours have hit the headlines. Yet whilst such action inevitably has a place, there are often overlooked routes to reduced expenditure. It is simply a matter of knowing where to look and one of the first areas to review is IT.

In an effort to tighten the belt it can be tempting to adopt a break/fix approach for the IT systems that are relied upon day-in-day-out. Whilst this can seemingly reduce costs in the interim, the longer-term implications of stifled productivity, due to a failure of a vital system such as email, often outweigh these nominal gains. The key to improved efficiency and reduced costs in this instance is forward planning and reliable ongoing maintenance (whether this is managed in-house, or via a trusted IT outsourcer).

Often an overlooked part of this ongoing process is software licensing. Under-licensing brings with it the risks heavy fines from the BSA and FAST, so often organisations will over compensate. However, paying for software applications that are not used is a major source of wastage. Does every employee need the same applications on their computer?

It is also worth considering the type of PC that employees use. Whilst a laptop or mobile device may be more expensive, they give a much greater degree of flexibility in the working environment. Whether you have a wired or wireless office it is simple for an employee to place their laptop on their desk (or a hotdesk) and connect to the network services they need. Remote access to servers and email can easily be set up by an experienced in-house or outsourced IT team, with portable laptops, PDAs and smartphones giving employees fast and efficient access from almost any location.

Also, do all the desktop PCs, scanners and printers need to be turned on and left running all day and night, draining energy, prematurely aging the technology and costing you money?

Finally, look at the office itself. As the popularity and demand for remote and home working has increased the office space requirements (and associated infrastructure) have typically decreased. However, many organisations fail to recognise this and continue to rent space that is no longer required. For example, organisations that operate in premium areas, such as the City, can pay as much as £9,500 per annum for 10m sq of desk space and this doesn’t take into account the cost of office equipment, utility bills, general maintenance and cleaning which are expensive.

In fact, figures suggest that some businesses only have a desk occupancy rate of 45% at any one time, so the potential savings from rightsizing the office space is evident.

What your business needs today isn’t necessarily the same as yesterday, or indeed tomorrow. Flexibility and adaptability are bywords whether times are fruitful or frugal in order to eliminate unnecessary wastage, controlling the costs that need to be incurred and improving operational efficiency.