Reduce IT costs: Creating an IT strategy to ensure long-term success
Implementing a proactive, strategic approach to business IT management sounds daunting; however, when compared to reactive break fixes and constant outages, the considerable savings make it time well spent.
It’s not just about BAU (business as usual) IT tasks, like emails and data processing, which are business critical. Your clients are also reliant on your business's IT systems. As a result, sufficient investment into not only the hardware and software but strategy and processes is essential to sustain growth.
That’s the day-by-day view, but what about the quarter-to-quarter, year-to-year view? Do you think of your IT approach to digital as a long-term strategy? And if you do, what is your strategy? Is it written down?
You’ll need to regularly reassess your IT strategy, as technology changes all the time. 38% of UK business leaders have already changed their approach to embrace generative AI (artificial intelligence). The only constant is change.
Your IT and digital strategy – the software and hardware you use, the online tools you use, the choices you make – all reflect your business and define the type and standard of service you deliver. The technology choices you make have the potential to drive your business growth for years to come.
Finding any advantage in a tough market
As you already know, the UK economy isn’t firing on all cylinders right now. Although some signs of growth are beginning to appear, there’s no doubt we’re living in fragile times.
Perhaps there’s no better illustration of this fragility than the rates at which new businesses are being both created and wound up. As of 2022 (the most recent figures available), UK businesses are closing down at the highest rate since the 2009 financial crisis. In fact, the closure rate hasn’t been this high in more than 20 years.
This means we’re in a highly competitive market where the difference between success and failure is vanishingly small.
Start as you mean to go on.
There’s a simple rule: plan now to keep your costs low later. Making up your IT strategy on the fly is 100% certain to lead to higher costs later on down the line.
For small and medium-sized companies in the UK, developing a robust IT strategy is crucial to ensure financial stability and growth.
What is an IT strategy and roadmap?
The financial sector is heavily reliant on technology for daily operations, customer interactions, and data management. Planning and mapping out current and future IT costs is vital to avoid unexpected expenses and ensure a smooth, uninterrupted service.
An IT strategy is a comprehensive plan that outlines how technology should be used to meet your business goals. It includes the long-term vision, goals, and the specific steps needed to achieve them. The strategy helps in aligning IT investments with business objectives, ensuring that this contributes to the company's growth and success.
Why should I create an IT strategy? Key benefits explained.
- Keep costs down. Planning ahead means you can avoid overspending on last-minute, unnecessary purchases. Buying ahead, and with a plan, means saving in the long-term. For example, could you consolidate IT vendors to reduce costs? After all, 47% of enterprises are managing more than 10 vendor relationships for a single IT initiative.
- Lower your risk exposure. A well-thought-out IT strategy means you can see risks up ahead. It helps identify potential risks and establishes measures to address them. This could be anything from the growing threat of cyber attacks to realising that your clients expect a new type of online service that you don’t yet provide.
- Improves efficiency. Forcing you and your team to think long-term means you can build for the future and design a strategy that leads to increased productivity and efficiency. For example, adopting a CRM system today – instead of finding quick fixes and manual work arounds – might help you avoid problems further down the line.
How to build an IT roadmap and strategy
Mapping out an IT landscape involves several steps, including auditing current IT systems, identifying inefficiencies, and planning for future needs. Here's Texaport’s step-by-step guide to creating an effective IT roadmap with IT support for financial services:
1. Analyse your current IT setup
Be sure to dedicate some time and thought to analysing your existing setup. Consider the reliability of your IT – does it fail often? Is it a business continuity problem: when your IT does fail, are the issues showstoppers or just minor irritations? Think about your IT applications and how – if at all – they support your business processes and functions.
How do you collect, store, manage, and analyse your data? How efficient, effective, and agile are your IT processes? For example, you may need to increase security spending. After all, the total average cost of a data breach in the UK is £3.4 million.
Better protections pay dividends. Don’t be alarmed if your analysis concludes that you need to spend more on every aspect of your IT. Remember, short-term spending can lead to long-term savings.
2. Determine what you want from your IT capabilities
What do you want your IT to achieve? Your answer will depend on your business goals. You may want nothing more than standard business functions, such as productivity, security and finance or HR.
But you might need more ambitious goals, such as wholesale digital transformation across your business or to address data privacy issues, supply chain disruptions, or evolving regulatory landscapes.
Think about the risks and opportunities ahead. What will your clients want and expect from your business in the near future? The answer could help define your IT strategy.
3. Explore the gaps in your IT capability
Where you are now versus where you want to be. Or, to put it another way, where is your technology failing you and failing your clients? Wherever this is letting you down, that’s a gap – and your IT strategy will need to find a sustainable, scalable way to fix it.
Crucially, make sure you have the skills onboard to help deliver your plan. 68% of UK CEOs say that a lack of skills is a barrier to their business’s ability to transform.
4. Design an IT investment plan
The final step is to create your IT investment plan: a document that details the following;
- The actions and initiatives you will undertake to address and resolve your IT challenges.
- The expected outcomes and benefits.
- The start-to-finish dates of the project or its component parts.
- Who will be responsible for what throughout the strategy.
A few ways to reduce your IT costs
Technology can be costly. We all know that. And while it’s essential for the basic operation of your business, there are ways to reduce costs and maximise the value of your investments.
One tactic is to consolidate licensing by reviewing software licenses and identifying opportunities for consolidation or renegotiation. For instance, switching to a single software suite that covers multiple needs can eliminate the need for separate licenses for each function.
Part of your detailed IT roadmap should outline planned investments and expected returns, ensuring that budgets are allocated efficiently to avoid overspending.
Clarity in the cloud
Migrating to cloud-based services can decrease the need for physical infrastructure and associated maintenance expenses. Likewise, investing in automation helps free up resources and reduce operational costs. It lets you do more with less, making light work of repetitive tasks like report generation.
Lastly, keeping systems up to date prevents costly downtime and security breaches. Maintenance is boring, but there’s no question that it saves you money.
Ready to build your IT roadmap?
Developing an effective strategy with IT support for financial services aims to reduce costs and enhance efficiency. By mapping out your IT landscape, creating a comprehensive strategy, and optimising investments, you can achieve significant cost savings and drive growth.
At Texaport, we specialise in helping businesses like yours develop and implement effective IT strategies. Contact us today to learn how we can support your IT roadmap journey and help you achieve your business goals.
By following these guidelines and taking counsel from the experts at Texaport, your financial services firm can build a resilient and cost-effective IT infrastructure that drives success for you and your clients.
