Doing more with lessThe constant pressure of having to do more with less

The constant pressure of having to do more with less

IT leaders have rarely been required to be as nimble as they are in today’s

business climate.

If you are like many other IT leaders we work with, having to “do more

with less” has led to increased complexities around the management and

ongoing support of your technology infrastructure.

In the post-GFC business environment, the “do more with less” mantra

has taken root in enterprises big and small as the world’s economies are

buffeted by change.

Rapidly changing technology trends, an increasingly mobile workforce,

budget challenges and globalisation are all conspiring to make the IT

manager’s role in any organisation one of the most crucial.

When the squeeze is on, organisations will employ obvious ways to

become more effective - reducing waste, moth-balling struggling

projects, re-thinking work flow.

But there are limits - and dangers. By ignoring realities like the number of

hours in a day and the physical and mental limitations of the people who

work for you, there is a real risk that the customer service you provide

will be damaged.

If you overburden people and systems, you will succeed only in burning-

out employees, experience equipment and process failures, and cut

corners that will come back to haunt your business.

Smart managers know that the key to success is not so much about doing

more with less, but the opposite - doing less with less.

2

Get fit

Businesses that emerge in relative good health from economic doldrums

share a common trait. When push comes to shove, they let go of

distractions and focus on what they do best. They concentrate on giving

their customers what they want.

Letting things go is hard, but it pays off. Every person, process, system,

program, and policy must be examined through the prism of their

effectiveness in providing value to customers. Those people and things

that are critical to providing value must remain; everything else must go.

It is resource optimisation, and a healthy business must constantly review

its resources to keep ahead of the game.

Nowhere is this more relevant than the IT sector. The role of IT

departments is evolving rapidly, with in-house technology specialists

relishing new opportunities to help employees extract maximum

productivity out of the devices and systems they use rather than

squandering most of their time on the administration of those devices

and systems.

But some IT managers are traditionalists, determined to retain control

of provisioning, set-up and maintenance of technology infrastructure

believing that by doing so they can keep a tight rein on spending.

Unfortunately, this could be holding their enterprise back.

A modern imperative

Take mobilising your workforce for example. Mobility is one of the

biggest revolutions transforming the modern workplace, driving massive

productivity gains.

Your staff demands it and you need to deliver it, all the while maintaining

flexibility, security, and control.

“Many IT leaders deploy and manage a mobile fleet themselves thinking

they have the people, capability and infrastructure to do it effectively

and securely. However, indications are that nearly 80 percent of

enterprises dramatically underestimate the expense of mobile device

management,” says Peter Hobbins, Vita Enterprise Solutions’ Mobility

Practice Lead.

Certainly it requires a big investment in time - time that could be

better spent helping employees get the most out of the technology or

enhancing the customer experience.

There is a strong case, on both economic and productivity grounds,

for outsourcing the management, procurement and provision of your

mobile device fleet, freeing highly skilled IT specialists to add value to

the core business.

That’s doing less with less, but doing it better too.

Great opportunity

If your enterprise is under pressure to do more with less, look on it as an

opportunity to refresh the business.

Instead of having a mindset of “cutting back”, start with a blank page.

Organisations often are full of people who are either in the wrong jobs

or who have talents that are underutilised. This is the time to examine

their roles and re-deploy them. The same can be done with other

resources.

Getting lean doesn’t mean firing people. It means unburdening them of

unproductive tasks and having them focus on what is really important in

the business.

Who is Vita Enterprise Solutions?As part of Vita Group, Australia’s most exciting technology,

communications and electronics provider, Vita Enterprise Solutions

draws on the insight, expertise and know-how generated from 20 years

of servicing the Australian market.

Over this time we’ve built an enviable record of technology and service

delivery. Our strong reputation comes from developing in-house

expertise and aligning with key technology and telecommunications

partners including Telstra and Apple.

We’ll match agile technology outcomes to your business requirements,

simplifying the process for you. From providing the right mobility

solution, increasing collaboration, transitioning to the Cloud or NBN, to

providing hardware and accessory solutions, Vita Enterprise Solutions

will partner with your business to deliver a personalised and fully

integrated end to end solution.