Surefire Ways to Migrate IT from a Cost Center to a Value Center

Quick Tips for IT Leaders

Cost center: A part of an organization that does not produce direct profit and adds to the cost of running a company.

Example: Your IT department?

That may be true today, but you can shake that image. Employ these 9 simple strategies to help transform your IT department from a cost center to a value center.

#1Emphasize IT’s role as a business enabler.

Businesses need their IT department to make the business go.

But today, that means much more than “keeping the lights on.”

To make that clear, you should:

• Reposition your IT department as a hotbed of innovation and problem-solving for the business.

• Use every opportunity to underscore your team’s accomplishments.

• Tie every achievement to a specific contribution of value to the business.

#2Communicate how IT provides

competitive advantage.

Every modern business is a technology-enabled business to some degree.

Business leaders sometimes overlook that, and are not aware of how technology, and a skilled IT team, specifically help the business to compete.

You can help them to better understand IT’s influence by doing two things:

1. Increasing the frequency and quality of your communication with senior management.

2. Explaining in business terms how IT provides advantages to the organization.

For example:

“We implemented a video communications solution that

emphasizes the end-user experience, which has led to massive adoption of video into workflows. Our sales

leader says it’s helping reps to close deals faster,

and HR says they’ve sped up the hiring cycle.”

#3Empower users to be more productive

(and self-sufficient).

Here’s a fact:

When employees are overly dependent on the IT team for enabling everyday business collaboration, they impede the IT department’s efforts to become a value center.

Solution:

Equip employees with user-friendly, reliable technology that helps them to communicate and work more efficiently, anywhere, anytime, and from any device — and without IT’s help.

#4 Improve communication and collaboration

within IT.

Tip #3 doesn’t just apply to business users.

To solve problems and innovate — i.e., add value — IT teams need effective tools for collaboration. They must be able to meet “on the fly” seamlessly from any device.

#5 Enable the business to maximize its

IT investments.

When the IT environment is overly complex, it is not cost-efficient.

Help the business rethink its approach to IT investments by finding ways to:

• Simplify and consolidate the current IT environment — such as by moving business applications to the cloud.

• Leverage existing IT solutions — for instance, by implementing new collaboration tools that make use of existing technologies, such as room systems, existing hardware investments, or employees’ devices.

#6 Implement flexible technology that can grow

with the organization.

Building on Tip #5: Guide the business toward technology that is scalable and easy for IT manage.

Cloud-based solutions for high-quality video collaboration, as an example, can flex to meet changing business demands — and are therefore cost-effective.

#7 Help the business enhance information

security and avoid risk.

As your organization embraces new technologies, such as cloud-based collaboration solutions like video communications, look for enterprise-grade security features such as:

• Cloud architectural security: Infrastructure and network security.

• Web application security: User account security.

• Admin-level security: Group administrator security features.

• Privacy: Secure storage of customer data.

• Media and encryption: Support for standards-based encryption.

When IT helps the business reduce risk it

creates value.

#8 Give your team more time to devote to

value-adding work.

How can your IT team add value to

the business when they don’t have time for value-adding work?

When the business invests in reliable and flexible technology that is easy for employees — and IT — to use, IT can spend less time on maintenance and support.

But that’s only part of the solution. As an IT leader, you also have to emphasize the value of value-adding work. In short, you must guide — and set an example — for your team.

#9 Use hard numbers to underscore how

IT delivers ROI.

Talking about the ways the IT department can and does add value to the business is important to helping change the perception that IT is just a cost center.

But metrics are even more compelling.

So, be sure to adopt technologies that offer strong analytics engines. That way, you can communicate hard numbers to business leadership on how IT is helping the organization to be more productive, to compete, to reduce costs, and to realize ROI.

About BlueJeans

BlueJeans is a flexible, cloud-based video communications platform that enables effortless video collaboration. With enterprise-grade security, full interoperability, and in-depth analytics, it’s no surprise some of the best and brightest IT departments think BlueJeans is the right fit for their business.

Find out more from our customers, here.