28 Jan 2009

Audit may 'lower costs and raise efficiency'

A new assessment claims to help chief financial officers (CFO) lower budgetary costs and enhance overall system efficiency.

Programs such as the Software Efficiency Audit aim to provide CFOs with information which will create significant savings by reducing maintenance costs, according to its manufacturers, IT assessment group Liken.

James Rowlands, chief executive officer of Liken, says that CFOs and chief information officers are suffering from "extreme budgetary pressure".

"Nearly every organisation we talk to has some over licensing or under utilisation of software … All this adds up to far greater maintenance and support costs even before you get to the issue of licence fees," he says.

Mr Rowlands added that the global recession has led to companies needing to "get more from an existing investment".

Last week industry expert Gerry McLaughlin claimed that businesses have begun to see IT as means of cutting output costs, rather than being simply a cost in itself.