27 Feb 2009

Assess IT systems, businesses told

IT departments should assess their services as they could enable them to save on costs, a research firm states.

Gartner advises companies to look at the way their IT systems management runs, saying they can represent one of the biggest areas for cost savings and optimisation.

Frances Karamouzis, research vice president at Gartner, says over recent years the services have received less time, which needs to be remedied.

"Going forward, the strategy, selection and ongoing management of IT services must become one of the top strategic imperatives for enterprises," she adds.

The expert also states that companies must recognise that IT systems management is more than just procuring them and includes the design, build and management of these assets.

She says these additional areas are key to savings, adding that "the inconvenient truth" is that the services being overlooked result in "complacency, inefficiency, ineffectiveness and lack of agility".

Robert May, managing director of Ramsac, an IT solutions consultancy firm, recently told Director of Finance Online that small businesses could benefit from IT outsourcing as it will save costs.