Keeping the IT budget lean is a leading mandate of many IT shops, and many enterprises are rearranging cost management priorities to meet targets set by senior management. Info-Tech surveyed 188 enterprises about their IT cost management initiatives, including 33 enterprises from the professional services industry. Close to 58% of these professional services firms are faced with specific cost reduction targets. A budget reduction of 1% to 30% within the next 12 months is mandated by senior management in about 90% of these firms.
Discretionary Spending Wins the Popularity Contest
When deciding where to intensify cost management efforts in a cost reduction scenario, professional services firms show a clear preference for the following IT service areas:
- Discretionary spending.
- Network & telephony.
- Staffing.
- Application maintenance.
