Trimming costs with technology

The Indian economy is slowing down. While we aren’t anywhere as badly hit as the US, which is definitely in a recession, in times of slowdown, technology’s role starts to shift from that of purely an efficiency multiplier to one of a cost trimmer. There are five technologies that we have highlighted in this issue that can help a company reduce its cost of doing business.

First and foremost among these is none other than virtualization. This technology comes in various forms and affects every part of an enterprise’s hardware stack. There is server or storage virtualization that is all about reducing the number of boxes that you need, increasing utilization from the low tens and twenties, making it easier to provision resources and to dynamically allocate resources as and when they are required. Then there are desktop and application virtualization that make it easier to manage IT set-ups. In the case of application virtualization, a company can buy only as many application licenses as it needs. Desktop virtualization takes it up a notch with everything—OS and applications—being pushed out from a central server to a thin client.

Next up is unified communications also known as UC. As with its predecessor VoIP, UC helps companies cut the cost of communicating internally and externally. It goes beyond that, however, to help establish presence across devices be it a phone or PC. It also links together different means of communication including voice, e-mail and IM tying them all together into a greater whole. With VoIP equipment out-shipping PBX in India, it’s only a matter of time before UC takes over.

Then there is SSL VPN that works in two ways. First off, it supports telecommuting and helps companies reduce costs by cutting back on office space. Secondly, it supports secure access to corporate IT from outside the enterprise.

Document management systems help reduce the use of paper and speed up process turnaround time. They enable processes to work across continents something that would be impossible with paper-based documents. Over and above this, they can help comply with regulations.

Last but not least, there’s automation. Using IT management solutions to automate the IT department’s operations is an often-overlooked way to squeeze efficiency out of scarce resources. For instance, automating a help desk can help resolve users’ problems faster with fewer technicians.

prashant.rao@expressindia.com