A Better Way to Cut Your IT Budget

1. Get Real. You know better than anyone else where the nooks and crannies of the IT budget are. If you are asked to cut the budget, start with the chairman’s pet project. When school departments are told to cut their budgets, the first thing to get the ax is the football team. Cutting the football team brings all the budget discussion into focus.

You don’t want to go meekly into that good night of budget slashing. Go cut the social network that the chairman’s son is running while collecting a fat salary.

2. Go After the Golf Game. Which tech vendor always gets to keep the fat contract because its reps play golf with the CEO? Which tech vendor gets to burden the IT budget because it takes the VP of sales to the Super Bowl each year? Start your cutting there.

3. Keep the Company Lawyers Busy. Ask the legal department to give you a report on all-

4. Be a Green Meanie. Leave nasty sticky notes on every terminal left on after work hours, on every printer left running, on every copier ready to copy 24/7 and, of course, on every light left on after folks head home for the day.

5. Wield Your Knowledge. Power down the network to a crawl, and, when people complain, compile a report that shows the amount of YouTube watching, Web surfing and eBay selling that is taking place on the corporate computing systems. You will not make any friends, but you will instill fear in every secret Web surfer in your company.

6. Cut Where It Hurts. If you have to cut, cut the IT graveyard shift. More important, give the beeper to the CFO. A couple of 3 a.m. alerts for crashed systems will get you the resources you need.