Cost reduction – what is needed to apply

Implementing smart expense management in your company may require making difficult decisions. However, cost reduction is essential for the sustainable growth of a company. 

With the IT market constantly updating, it is necessary to be prepared for possible changes. Therefore, it is important to direct available resources in the most economical and sustainable way possible. 

What is cost reduction for IT? 

Cost reduction for IT has the main objective of analyzing the company’s process. From this it is possible to locate unnecessary expenses or those that can be reduced.

Reduction is part of a company’s cost management, which aims to ensure sustainable growth. To achieve this, the strategic planning of all operations must be aligned with management. 

This way, it is possible to reduce costs intelligently, that is, without losing the quality of the results. All employees must pay attention to management, so that cost reduction and monitoring actions are implemented in a disciplinary manner. 

IT cost management is a set of actions and measures installed by company leaders. Such measures will seek to align all the company’s spending and expenses with its strategic objectives.

How important is IT cost reduction? 

The IT sector has become fundamental for companies in any field. Whether by having your own department or hiring an outsourced company.

IT automates company processes, ensures data security, facilitates analysis and contributes to the company’s success in several ways. Nowadays, it has become almost impossible to imagine a company delivering high-quality results without the help of some type of IT service. 

That said, it is necessary to look at IT cost management carefully. Cost reduction is part of company management, that is, once done well, it will contribute to the sustainable growth of the organization. 

It is necessary to guarantee the quality of deliveries using resources in the most economical way possible. Today, there are methodologies that combine productivity with cost savings. 

The first of these is TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), a calculation that will help managers examine the cost-benefit of each company expense. It takes into account three aspects: service acquisition, implementation and general maintenance expenses.

Another widely used methodology is ITIL. In Portuguese it means Information Technology Infrastructure Library and is a set of good practices for IT management. It will address the application of management in the area’s infrastructure and also in the maintenance and operation of IT services. 

Finally, COBIT, Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology, are recommendations for IT management, contributing to the security and quality of operations in the area. 

Tips for reducing costs:

With the importance of cost reduction presented, the time has come to understand how to achieve it. Check out some tips for successful cost reduction in your company: 

• Invest in cloud computing

Migrating the company’s infrastructure to the cloud not only guarantees greater data security, but also allows for smart savings. 

With cloud infrastructure, the company does not need to spend on installations, downloads, maintenance, product licenses and software and hardware updates. Thus, productivity is guaranteed in an economical way. 

• Encourage hybrid work or home office

Remote work has become an option for companies that want to achieve intelligent cost reduction. With the COVID-19 pandemic, isolation forced companies to migrate to home office and adopt remote management.

When it comes to cost reduction, the home office has a lot to help. For the company, remote work means saving on space to accommodate teams, in addition to reducing expenses with electricity, cleaning, food and parking.

Working from home also helps employees save money, as it does not require travel. Find out how to make a good remote team management.

• Define performance indicators

Defining performance indicators contributes to encouraging and analyzing employee productivity. With an evaluation metric, it is possible to identify obstacles and problems in the process, which may be generating unnecessary expenses. 

Despite this, it is necessary to establish metrics that can be achieved. They must encourage employees to do their best, but cannot charge more than is essential, in order to avoid excessive stress and worries. 

• Utilize softwares project management 

Use a software project management system ensures that the entire workflow is in one place. This contributes to controlling expenses, whether by analyzing expenses recorded on the platform or by monitoring the budget. 

Furthermore, with the entire flow and processes structured in the tool, it is possible to analyze how resources are being used, contributing to the reduction of unnecessary costs or costs that can be simplified. 

With Gipo, in addition to monitoring your company’s monetary expenses, you can also control the time spent on each task, through the feature time tracking. 

This way, it is possible to know which tasks are demanding more effort from the team and, consequently, using more resources. Thus, the process can be readjusted to optimize the use of company resources. 

• Automate processes 

Another way to make the best use of company resources and reduce expenses is to optimize processes. Repetitive tasks take up employee time that could be invested in other activities. 

With automated processes, the team can focus on developing strategies and executing tasks. 

Gipo also contributes to the automation of processes. You can follow the projects and see the real cost of each task, without having to perform any calculations. Furthermore, charges to be sent to the customer can be generated automatically, bringing transparency to records.  

• Incentive o DevOps

DevOps is a methodology that aims to integrate development and operations teams, so that they can work as a team. 

Adopting this methodology guarantees synergy between areas. This joint work contributes to a collaborative strategy, agility in decision-making and more efficient results.