Investing in transformation on a budget: Is it possible?

Today many businesses are looking to modernise their IT strategies but are working within the confines of a limited budget, according to Fronde, the ANZ cloud advisory and technology services company.

Mike Roxburgh, Fronde sales director, says while many companies are investing in IT they are not seeing a strong return on that investment, and to solve this problem many organisations try to tackle one IT project at a time, in the hopes of achieving transformational results. However, dealing with one IT project at a time is simply not the right approach, he says.

According to Roxburgh, this is because part of the problem is that organisations are spending too much on operations that simply maintain the status quo, rather than helping the company grow and move forward.

Roxburgh’s suggestion is that when more budget is put towards innovation, the company will be able to move towards digital modernisation and systems, allowing for greater capability and growth.

He says, “Reducing the total cost of ownership of IT is the key for these organisations. They can do this by implementing a cloud strategy to effectively remove the time and cost burden of infrastructure and network management. This will create lower expenditure on infrastructure, personnel, maintenance, and training.

“Cloud reduces costs in obvious ways but it also frees up IT staff for innovation, and that’s where companies can start to see significant benefits. Rather than focusing on discrete project after discrete project, businesses should consider a wholesale switch to cloud. This can have far-reaching impacts that companies can use to start seeing faster results.”

Roxburgh says it is helpful to have a focus when investing in technology. He narrows it down to three key objectives:

1. Providing employees with modern, up-to-date tools and devices that can access all of the company’s applications from anywhere, at any time. The aim being to build a collaborative workplace, and help employees be more efficient and effective.
2. Streamlining communications and engagement with external stakeholders including partners and customers to drive improved relationships and revenues.
3. Creating new IT cost models and structures that will support investment in innovation and the agility to leverage digital technologies and new platforms, particularly in mobile and social spheres.