By Mary Beth Hamilton – With 2018 around the corner many firms are locking down their budgets and looking for opportunities to run more efficiently. Technology is one area where savvy alternative investment firms can optimise their budgets to make room for new IT initiatives.
Here’s our list of five technology budget areas to evaluate.
Cloud Technology
- Go Cloud. If you’re still running an on-premise IT environment it is time to evaluate a move to the cloud. Aside from shifting IT management responsibilities, you’ll gain access to cost predictability and the latest technology feature sets. Not to mention the real estate footprint benefit – going cloud will increase your floor space and reduce your power and cooling expenses as well as your hardware & software costs.
- Hybrid Cloud. If you’re already in the cloud, it may be time to consider seeing what a Hybrid Cloud offering can deliver in terms of cost-savings. Note, if control, security and privacy are your top priorities, you may want to stick with a Private Cloud.
Purchasing
- Think ahead. Purchase multi-year software licenses, and you can usually get a discount. You can also buy hardware in bulk. Even if you don’t need a dozen PCs or printers, you will end up paying more out-of-pocket if you order at the last minute.
- Be resourceful. Take advantage of vendor relationships. Buy in bulk, when possible, and ask about rebates and/or special incentives that could reduce costs. You can also inquire about blanket discounts. You might be able to make an arrangement in which all purchases within a certain timeframe are locked in at standard prices.
- Evaluate. Take a close look at your internal requirements and whether you need all the functionality that each service and product offers. In most cases, your service provider can give you a standard package, and upgrades can always be made at a later time.
Market Data
- Evaluate again. Firms can pay thousands/month/per user for access to market data, which makes perfect sense if an employee requires the functionality. However, some employees only require parsed down features and functionality, which can present a cost savings. Evaluate the alignment of an employee’s job function with their technology needs and purchase accordingly.
Disaster Recovery & Data Protection
- Take a Hybrid Approach. While we don’t recommend that a firm operate without data protection and backup in place, it is possible for firms to take a phased approach with their disaster recovery deployment especially with the advent of Hybrid DR Solutions (think: Eze DR). With Hybrid DR, you can protect high-performance/availability applications in a Private Cloud environment while putting less critical applications in a Public Cloud.
Telecommunications
- Just ask. It can’t hurt to ask your telecommunications provider if there are any ways to reduce costs. Of course, they want your business, but they also want you to remain a valued and satisfied customer. So they will often go out of their way to help you lower your telecomm bill if you ask them to.
- Try WAN Optimization. WAN optimization can often reduce costs for a firm in the long-run. Vendors offer premium, but cost-effective, optimization solutions that can reduce network traffic, thereby lowering bandwidth costs.
To learn more about ways you can increase efficiency and reduce costs at your firm – without sacrificing performance – contact us directly.
