Reducing IT costs through effective measures and identifying potential savings

Last updated: August 16, 2022

The fact that companies need or want to cut costs is not necessarily just an issue the last few years. Even before Corona and the war in Ukraine, many companies were forced to cut back on their costs in order to survive.

Naturally, the CEO and CFO focus on departments that only produce costs and whose output practically does not lead to visible financial returns.

Measures for savings have an impact on the entire company

Yes, this discussion has been going on for what feels like an eternity and sometimes on a rather emotional level through all departments of the company. On the one hand, employees don’t want to have to work on ancient computers and outdated monitors. Especially if this results in constant waiting times that are non-existent or could be significantly reduced with new equipment.

For those who now think that even a 3-4 year old computer is still up-to-date, we basically agree. But it is also the case that, due to savings in various companies, devices are in use that have passed their zenith from an IT point of view and already require several minutes just to start up in the morning – new software on old devices makes it possible.

In a different department, among the company’s IT support staff, resentment is also spreading. After all, they are primarily the point of attack for employees when the old equipment doesn’t work as it should.

And because we’re on the subject of clichéd thinking, the boss of the company in particular always has the fanciest notebook, the thinnest tablet and not or, but actually and, the latest smartphone from the fruitiest smartphone manufacturer on earth on his desk.

Everyone wants more efficiency and lower IT costs

It’s clear that you can’t favor individual employees or individual departments with devices while leaving others out in the rain. This classification doesn’t look good in any company, even though there can often be valid reasons (limited IT budget) for it. For example, a software manufacturer’s development department needs much more powerful machines than most office users.

At some point, however, there comes a time when devices need to be replaced. After all, Microsoft has come up with something wonderful for Windows 11 so that some devices from 2017 or older cannot be upgraded to the latest operating system, or at least not without tricks. Thanks to TPM 2.0 and UEFI Secure Boot.

The IT cost and department and the IT budget

IT departments have grown enormously in recent years. Well, the demands and tasks that an IT department has to deal with have grown enormously. In many cases, the number of staff has not increased linearly with the tasks involved. On the one hand, this may be due to the “shortage of skilled workers”, but on the other hand, of course, it is due to the many new challenges that have arisen in recent years.

What are the most time-consuming tasks in the IT department?

The focal points in IT are data backup, IT security and, increasingly, the use of the cloud in the company’s own operations.

In addition, detailed listing and reporting is demanded by management and those responsible, as no one outside the active IT department can keep an overview any more. As a result, more and more IT inventories and IT documentation are being ordered in the company, or even the introduction of extensive IT projects such as an ISMS with ISO 27001 certification is being sought.

Despite the fact that everyone is aware that IT documentation and inventory is one of the most important things within IT, it is neglected due to insufficient personnel and time.

How can the ability to innovate in IT be increased despite cost pressure?

This question can be answered quite easily in the actual sense – by automating time-consuming but recurring tasks. This also frees up resources in existing staff that can be allocated to other projects and tasks.

How can IT costs be reduced without personnel changes?

If all these IT tasks are to be carried out carefully, this means a lot of time, a high level of personnel expenditure and thus a sharp increase in IT expenditure. Constant “monitoring” has become indispensable, especially in the security sector. And for sensible planning of IT modernization, there is no getting around a detailed IT inventory. Increasing staff is not an option in many cases because increasing IT costs is out of the question. Or this option is simply not available due to the shortage of skilled workers.

Reduce time wasters, cut IT costs

Many IT departments have more than enough to do dealing with the basics and keeping the day-to-day business running. Therefore, it sounds a lot like a luxury to introduce well-managed IT documentation or keep it up to date. And, as was the case more than 4000 years ago, in most cases the focus is on real manual work. Lists are created, vast amounts of data are scribbled on pieces of paper, and plans and overviews are painstakingly drawn up. You don’t believe this? We see a ton of searches on our website for templates in Word and Excel. But they don’t help with the problem.

IT documentation and IT inventory must be as automated as possible and run with maximum efficiency. Under no circumstances should it be necessary for even a single IT employee to go to a workstation to find out its serial number, Windows version, drive utilization, licenses, anti-virus software or whatever else is of interest.

Instead of unnecessarily adding to an IT department here, there are professional tools such as Docusnap, which not only offer an enormous (time) relief for every IT department, but also offer a great deal of savings potential in the financial area.

Up-to-date inventory data at any time

Be it for a report to the management, an overview of the inventory (stocktaking), a control of maintenance and warranty contracts or the planning of a budget for the next year. In any case, Docusnap delivers the required data at the push of a button. No employee has to go to the switch to read its firmware version. That’s easier.

Even the time-consuming drawings of network plans that used to fail due to the lack of suitable graphics are a thing of the past. Just create an up-to-date network plan with all computers, printers, switches, access points, notebooks and much more. At the push of a button without any effort. Sounds wonderful? It is.

Docusnap also offers a convenient user management system that allows other users to access reports intended for them. This also makes requests from other departments obsolete when they can obtain the data themselves, up to date and at the push of a button, at any time. And if you, as an IT administrator, can now also convince the boss that the latest data will land on his screen in an instant at the push of a button without the hassle of asking, waiting and printing, without having to wait even a second for an IT employee to be available, you will have gained a lot of time. Time that can now be spent on important projects. Projects where the (cyber) security of the company is at stake. And here, too, Docusnap supports and provides important information where there may be critical gaps in the system or network.

See for yourself how you can reduce IT costs

Do you want to reduce your IT costs? Not every company has the same requirements for IT documentation and IT inventory. That’s why it’s important to get a proper overview of Docusnap’s features and benefits in your own environment.

Just give Docusnap a try. Free of charge for 30 days. And to make sure that the test phase really makes sense, our professional support team is available to you even during the free test phase.