5 IT essentials: A recession-proof priority list
Seven out of 10 CIOs interviewed by Robert Half Technology said their companies will invest in information technology initiatives in the next 12 months, with security topping the list of budget priorities. Virtualization, data center efficiency, VoIP, and SaaS rounded out the top 5.
But ask an IT manager what 5 things their IT departments must do -- no matter how bad the economy gets -- and a somewhat different picture emerges. Sure, security still sits at the top of the priority list, but innovation, aligning IT with business, and training are top-of-mind for some.
[ See also: Five CIOs talk about managing IT costs in a weakened economy and Report: Security Tops IT Budget Priorities ]
Amidst all the talk about managing costs, doing more with less, layoffs, and cutbacks, IT managers find themselves paring things down to the essentials. Here, IT managers share the things their departments can't do without. (And IT professionals share the things they'd be happy to stop doing ... now!)
[ What are your 5 must-dos? Share them in the comments. ]
Security is job 1
For MEDEX, provider of global travel medical and security evacuation and assistance, risk mitigation is mission critical, not only because it's what they do for over 20 million travelers each year but for the security and privacy of the customer data they maintain. And it's why security and disaster recovery are top priorities for Eddie Jenkins, MEDEX's Director of IT. "We urge our international clients to be 'prepared for the unexpected,' and we have to be prepared as well," says Jenkins.
Disaster preparedness is also key for CableOrganizer.com, an e-commerce company headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where the hurricane season begins in June and lasts until November. "We have to be ready, which is why we've created a disaster recovery plan, and were more than willing to spend money on it," says Nicolas Dubus, CableOrganizer's IT Director.
Bill Bolt, VP of IT for the Phoenix Suns puts an even finer point on it: "The ability to recover through redundancy and backup procedures is everything."
By phone or by Web
Telecommunications tops Scott Whitney's must-have list. "A 24x7 dial tone is paramount to us," says Whitney, IT manager at Journyx, a provider of Web-based time tracking, project accounting and resource management solutions. "Calling prospects and providing support to customers happens 99% over the phone."
Coming in a close second on Whitney's list is Internet bandwidth: "Even in a recession, for a tech company to be bottle-necked in their office causes enormous headaches for the entire team," says Whitney. Bill Bolt picks up this thread, adding "Today a company can't do without e-mail, calendar and contact loss of service."
For Andre Preoteasa, Director of IT at Castle Brands, the communications must-have can be summed up in one word: BlackBerry.
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5 IT Essentials
It's good news to read that some businesses are still investing in IT and their creative approaches in these difficult times are encouraging.Agreed
Can't help but agree with this statement. From the time a person enters this field till retirement most companies will look at IT Professionals as an evil necessary then someone that can actually help he company and their business goals. To see companies that actually look at the IT professional in this light is actually quite refreshing.Top 5 Items Our IT Department Must Do and to Skip
Here are the top 5 items our IT department will not sacrifice:1, Network security and security in general. Being in the network security business themselves, we know that network security and security in general is paramount and no matter how hard the economic situation might be, this is not an item to save on because the price is too high. Certainly, we are not buying the most expensive solutions, even though they are incredibly great but we also do not make compromises with the quality either.
2, Going green. Going green is also an item we can't skip. Green technology saves money and now this benefit is more important than ever. So, if we buy new IT stuff, we definitely go for the green items.
3, Compliance. Regulations compliance is another item we can't afford to skip, unless we really want to go out of business (and we don't). So, when there are steps in this direction to be taken, we do them – no way!
4, Training. Training is also important and even though our training budget has shrunk, we still try to keep our staff qualified.
5, Outsourcing. Outsourcing has been a successful strategy for our company at all times and now, when money issues start to surface, we are happy that outsourcing helps us cut cost with no sacrifice of quality.
Here are 5 items our IT department want to skip:
* No purchases of new hardware. Though it is not precise to say that we haven't bought a single piece of hardware in the last year, we have definitely cut hardware spendings. For the time being we do not plan to make major hardware purchases.
* Capital expenditures. Capital expenditures are another budget item we had to drastically shrink. We had schedules projects but the current economic situation made us have second thoughts and now capital expenditures are on hold.
* Software that is nice to have but we can do without it. Similarly to hardware and capital expenditures, some major software expenses had to be cut. Yes, there are many products, for instance accounting, HR, or ERP modules, which are great to have but we'll go for them when the economic outlook is less gloomy.
* Standardization. You know that IT people generally hate when they have to deal with bureaucracy and standardization, so if there is an item, we are happy to skip, this is standardization. More or less we skipped all standardization-related activities except those, that are related to regulations compliance. Standardization is put on hold, especially if it requires investment or other resources.
* No infrastructure upgrades. We are not exactly happy about this one but since there are more important items we can't skip, we had to significantly reduce the planned network upgrades. Some of the projects in this area are put on hold, while others are canceled.
- Kevin Zhou, with Colasoft Network Analyzer Software