IRISH COMPANIES stand to make considerable savings by reviewing IT and maximising the value it brings to their business, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Rather than cutting back on investment, however, PwC says businesses can benefit from investing in technology that delivers value for money, putting the responsibility for spending back on to individual departments, and getting board-level support for IT programmes and investment.
The company has already put its theory into practice with a systematic review of its processes over a two-year period that cut costs by 23 per cent, or €3 million, a year.
“PwC would always have been cost conscious,” said the firm’s director of IT, Noel Carroll.
“In the past few years, the real focus has been growing revenue and growing the business. The move [of PwC’s Dublin offices to Spencer Dock] was the trigger point, but the bulk of the savings could have been effected without the move.”
The company has adopted a “consumer pays” principle, which it says can be used to reduce costs regardless of the size and focus of the business. “This means charging the appropriate IT services back to the point of consumption,” said Mr Carroll. For example the cost of printing comes out of a department’s budget rather than a central fund.
“If you don’t do that, you always run the risk of people incurring spend without consequences,” he said.
Support and input from senior business figures is key. “First and foremost you need the appropriate governance in place,” said Mr Carroll, adding that IT needed to be made an integral part of business.
Mr Carroll said all companies could make significant reductions in their costs.
“This is sustainable, year-on-year savings,” he said. “This isn’t a once-off programme; this is ongoing.”
The company, which is spread over seven locations, made a number of changes to help cut costs without affecting service levels. It centralised processes such as printing, reducing the number of devices from 380 to 100, and standardised technology to cut down on support overheads.
Mr Carroll said once the economy starts to come out of the current decline, the changes would mean that companies and their leaner IT systems would be better placed to take advantage of the upswing.
