cost reduction and business cost reduction

Excessive and unnecessary costs can rapidly erode your profit margins.

H & H ASSOCIATES can review your spending patterns and identify potential savings, either from elimination of certain cost items or from buying at a lower price.

H & H ASSOCIATES can also introduce purchase order and approval systems that will enable you to maintain full control of your spending.

Keep it up. Keep it cheap.

According to a recent survey by Meta Group, 70% of Global 2000 corporations still view IT as a cost center.

According to a survey of 97 IT organizations, cost reduction was rated as the highest overall spending priority for 2004, with 26 percent of respondents rating it number one, and 58 percent ranking it in the top three. Improved service and consolidation round out the top 3 spending priorities for 2004, further emphasizing cost reduction initiatives.

So the "do more with less" mantra lives on and won't likely go away any time soon. Some companies are beginning to realize that it takes money to save money. A small expenditure to optimize your IT can reap big savings later.

When done properly, some types of cost reduction initiatives benefit companies in many other ways. Proper consolidation streamlines data centers and makes them more manageable and more agile - more responsive to changing business demands. It can also improve IT audit ability for compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley. Outsourcing emphasizes the importance of service levels and often brings new technical capabilities to the table. Service level management (SLM) forces a better communication and helps align IT with business objectives.

Cost reduction is a noble cause, but is dangerous as a stand-alone objective. The key is to do it properly, so IT becomes a better business contributor and a driver of innovation.