When the economic forecast calls for budget cuts, those enterprises that don't plan in advance will be left with few options when CEOs call for across-the-board reductions. To maintain the sanity of the IT employees that do survive staffing reductions, and to ensure that key service levels are attainable, plan for cuts by revisiting service levels with stakeholders.

Scaling Down IT Services

When IT runs efficiently and waste-free, any cuts to the IT budget reduce IT's ability to serve the business. A challenge in a cost cutting situation is that, in all likelihood, IT services are not running at optimal efficiency. However, by this point the resources needed to optimize services are scarce and the time available to improve efficiency is allocated to help meet current service levels.