Reducing expenses – both operational and capital – is one of the primary reasons to seriously consider outsourcing IT functions. Hiring an IT sourcing consultant can help you thoroughly examine alternative solutions, so you can capture every possible capital expenditure reduction.
Whether your organization has a rich source of capital funds or you’re strapped for cash to move to the next level, every company’s future depends on making advantageous use of available resources. An IT sourcing consultant helps uncover ways you can reduce capital expenditures by ensuring you look in even the most unlikely hiding places.
Obviously, you can reduce your hardware and software investment.
“Server sprawl” is causing large enterprises to require more or larger data centers, along with the attendant necessities and more people to manage it all. But with cloud-based services and virtualization choices becoming the norm, outsourcing can easily boost your capacity without capital outlay. You can:
- Consolidate to save labor, reduce risk and save money.
- Automate to streamline processes and ensure consistent service delivery and quality.
- Minimize downtime, the results of which can range from annoying to disastrous.
An IT sourcing consultant can help you sift solutions and choose the right provider.
Instead of an ever-increasing hardware footprint, you can reduce floor space and related costs for facilities management, including labor, overhead, property taxes and the increased risk associated with additional equipment and facilities. And you can skip expenses for new applications, the inevitable upgrades and ongoing support.
Reducing capital expenditures on IT infrastructure can make a huge difference in your organization’s available resources. But there’s more. Your sourcing consultant can help you discover potentially significant system-wide cost-savings that do a lot more than protect your capital.
Revitalize your IT staff.
We don’t normally consider labor to be a capital expense, but when an IT sourcing consultant helps you find the right external partner, you’re relieved of costs for hiring, training, etc. Those savings could go directly to your bottom line, or you could beef up your capital fund to pay for some exciting new initiative.
Your retained staff can turn their attention to projects that make more strategic use of their knowledge and skills. Exploiting your human capital is just as important as conserving your dollars.
Gain new insight.
IT sourcing consultants have pertinent knowledge and experience with companies like yours. They can make recommendations beyond outsourcing solutions, such as improvements to governance policies and management procedures that can increase your visibility into your daily activities and pinpoint further efficiencies. You’ll see how you can be more nimble, without resorting to the traditional financial response of “buy more stuff.”
Be prepared.
Things go wrong, sometimes in a spectacular way. Having to replace expensive infrastructure, or even some of it, can represent a potentially devastating capital cost. Downtime, lost productivity and lost data can all have far-reaching negative consequences that go beyond financials. Your IT sourcing consultant can help define a disaster recover plan that protects your existing capital investment.
Be more responsive.
You can be more flexible than ever, with scalable services that allow you to go with the flow. You can forget over-purchasing “just in case,” yet be poised to grow without additional capital outlay. Double the savings.
Improve predictability.
No matter how you arrange your IT functions, your solution has to guard network operations, security and availability. An IT sourcing consultant can help you find the right solutions and the right partners. You’ll be able to accurately forecast budgetary needs, eliminating that frustrating contingency fund that sidetracks resources and stifles growth.
You have to put every resource to the smartest possible use, to remain competitive and profitable. Certainly your IT program, above all, should reflect the latest advances in technology. Hiring an IT sourcing consultant is a sound investment in ensuring the best use of your capital.
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