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IT departments that slash headcount in response to the recession are setting themselves up to fail, on top of hampering the ability of their business to recover. This is the conclusion of a study of 500 IT leaders by Affiniti, a tech consultant, which said today’s knee-jerk culling of IT roles would cause problems tomorrow. Offending departments will not only miss their immediate IT-enabled goals, they also risk being ill-equipped to help their outfit when the upturn comes, the firm said. If the decision-makers act on their plans, more than one third of employers with an IT workforce may fall into this trap of both near and long-term impediments to growth. In fact, 37 per cent of IT departments plan to cut costs by closing their positions before they consider other cost-saving steps, like using more managed services. They are included in the three quarters of outfits under pressure to cut their spending on IT operations immediately, or within the next six to 12 months, the study shows. IT leaders were urged to appear as providers of smart savings in the short-term, and as providers of innovation, which is vital to the corporate comeback, in the longer term. But exactly how bosses want IT to help is either not being made clear or is not universal, in spite of almost half of IT units saying the downturn offers them a key role. According to the research, about a third of tech leaders have their troops prioritising client satisfaction, while increasing company turnover was a goal for only a quarter. “IT departments must look for alternative cost saving strategies to headcount reduction, which ultimately distracts attention from the most important issues,” said Paul Renucci, a director at Affiniti. “Without focusing on impacting revenues and increasing customer satisfaction, IT departments risk missing out on a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get away from being seen just a cost centre.” Only a handful of the IT decision-makers surveyed said they would shore up their company’s bottom line by looking to reduce internal service level agreements. The preferred cost-saving method - slashing tech roles - means many IT departments are “setting themselves up to fail in their short-term commitments,” the firm explained. Prolific IT job-cutters would also “not be adequately positioned to lead their company through the upturn which is widely predicted to begin in late 2009/early 2010.” May 27, 2009 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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