Fostering Innovation

27Lean and Efficient IT

Get it right, then get it cheap. The second level of the Laudato Hierarchy of IT Needs is lean and efficient IT (see Chapter 5, Figure 5.1, Laudato Hierarchy of IT Needs). With reliable systems and mature processes, we can turn our focus to reducing IT costs. To do an expert job of cost-cutting, you're going to have to dig more deeply into the details. Have your IT finance partner provide you with a spreadsheet of every vendor you've paid and how much you've paid them in the past 18 months. Sort your list in descending order, and focus on the largest suppliers first.

Now you need to go digging for IT software and services that don't roll up to the IT budget. This is affectionately known as shadow IT. Marketing and Human Resources are always good places to look for shadow IT. In this step, some accounting knowledge will be useful. Software outside of IT will be charged to a different department (sometimes called a unit) in the general ledger (GL) but most likely the same account numbers you see in your IT budget. Ask your IT finance partner to extract all vendors and payments to those accounts across every department. Note: be sure to get permission from the department head and the CFO before you start rooting around in someone else's GL. The next method for identifying shadow IT is to ask your support team. Your business partners may demo software, implement software, manage the access, and pay the bill, but they're still calling IT when the software ...