4 Mistakes your company should avoid when reducing IT costs

4 Mistakes your company should avoid when reducing IT costs

All businesses want to save money, and some do this by reducing spending in certain areas of their operations. Cutting costs, however, especially in crucial business components like IT, must be done properly or it can end up doing the company more harm than good. Here are four mistakes to avoid when reducing IT costs.

1. Reducing costs without a plan

Simply reducing all types of IT spending may seem like the best and easiest approach, but this may end up compromising crucial elements of your IT infrastructure. For example, although you may save some money by reducing your cybersecurity-related investments, doing so could make your company more vulnerable to cyberattacks, which could cost more money in the long run.

Simply reducing all types of IT spending may seem like the best and easiest approach, but this may end up compromising crucial elements of your IT infrastructure.

Before making sizable cuts in your IT spending, you need to consider your company's goals and identify the technologies necessary for achieving these objectives. You can then start taking out hardware, programs, and web services that don't make the cut without having to worry about causing significant impacts on your IT infrastructure.

Additionally, run your desired changes by a "beta audience" composed of some of your company's stakeholders. This reduces the risk of alienating staff, partners, and customers with these changes.

2. Outsourcing everything

As a business strategy, outsourcing can offer massive savings and other game-changing benefits. Partnering with a managed IT services provider (MSP), for instance, gives your company access to top-tier IT expertise and services at an affordable cost. An MSP can act as your dedicated IT team or augment the capabilities of your in-house tech department.

But outsourcing most or all of your business's processes to third parties can be problematic as well. Among the common pitfalls of outsourcing are communication problems, especially with teams you've never worked with before or those who don't understand your business's IT goals and strategies. This could result in your company spending more resources addressing communication gaps, correcting mistakes, and/or training people in your company's procedures.

Outsource processes that would be more expensive or difficult to do in house. And when doing so, properly vet providers to ensure that you get the best quality services possible.

3. Mindlessly choosing automation over employees

Just because automated technologies offer fast, cheap, and consistent outcomes doesn't mean you can now spend less on employee wages and benefits. Automated tools excel in accomplishing repeatable tasks. However, for valuable business processes that are dynamic and require critical thinking, you'll still need highly skilled, versatile, and adaptable human workers.

For example, automated backup tools can consistently create copies of business data with little human supervision, but this doesn't mean you no longer need your IT team. Freed from having to manually create data backups, your IT personnel can now focus on troubleshooting, optimizing your tech infrastructure, and doing other important IT-related tasks.

When you carelessly lay off employees, you may lose staff with niche albeit critical skill sets that you may need later on. If this were to happen, you will have to spend more time and money hiring and training potential replacements, if you can even find talent of the same quality.

4. Impulsively migrating to the cloud

Cloud technology can help you save money and enhance your business's cybersecurity, flexibility, and efficiency, but cloud migration should be carefully planned for and executed. Research cloud services and how these address your company's needs and resources, and, if needed, find IT experts who can guide you through the migration process.

Skipping these steps and blindly adopting the cloud can have tremendously negative repercussions. First, your cloud might not jive well with your existing IT infrastructure, creating costly process inefficiencies. Second, your business may rack up exorbitant fees if your cloud is not set up right. Worse still, migration may create vulnerabilities in your cybersecurity posture, making your business more susceptible to dangerous and expensive cyberattacks.

Reducing IT costs can help you save money that you can leverage to grow your business, but it's a move you should make with great care. The IT experts at Quicktech can help you assess your company's needs and create effective plans to safely lower costs without compromising your operations or cybersecurity.

Discover how working with us can help you save money and secure other great benefits by downloading this free eBook today.