How to optimize IT costs ?

We are aware that Luxembourg is not immune to the challenging economic context that Europe is currently experiencing. The STATEC (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) forecasts a modest growth of 1.5% for 2024. In this context, businesses must revise their budgets downward and make budgetary adjustments that are appropriate for the current situation. During this webinar, Céline Dupuy, Sales Director, and Aurélien Viaud, CFO, shared best practices for optimizing IT costs!

Taking Action on Consumables

Consumables refer to computer accessories such as keyboards or mice, as well as printing costs, all stationery supplies, and computers that can be considered consumable and non-strategic.

How to take action in this area?

• Consolidate Purchases: When buying individual items, you may not have the same conditions as bulk purchases. By engaging an IT provider like Rcarré, you can benefit from better prices.
• Reduce Consumption: Using platforms like Rsign (electronic signatures), you can reduce printing and mailing costs. Electronic signatures offer greater mobility, speed of action, and accessibility for everyone. You can also turn to Canon to streamline your printer fleet and configure network printing settings. Additionally, badge printing helps you avoid unnecessary paper waste while securely storing your documents.

Taking action on energy

In some cases, computer equipment consumes a significant amount of energy, so it’s essential to optimize this aspect. Let’s take the example of a washing machine for a household of 4 people. Over a year, with 198 cycles, your washing machine will have an average consumption of 101 kWh. In contrast, over the same year, your computer will have an average consumption of 250 kWh if it runs every day for 8 hours.

The most significant costs in IT, therefore, are electricity expenses and the energy consumption associated with server cooling. So, how can you act on these areas?

• Turn Off Devices Instead of Leaving Them on Standby: Power off your devices when not in use rather than keeping them in standby mode.
• Invest in Energy-Efficient Hardware: Equip yourself with the latest-generation hardware that is designed to be more energy-efficient.
• Use Power Strips with Switches: Employ power strips with switches to easily disconnect multiple devices at once when they’re not needed.
• Consider Data Center Hosting: Consider hosting your servers in data centers where space is optimized, and providers like LuxConnect use green energy in their data centers.

By implementing these practices, you can significantly reduce your electricity costs and minimize the environmental impact associated with energy consumption in IT.

Taking action on telecommunications

Telecommunications costs encompass expenses related to your telephone line, internet connection, and their usage. To reduce these costs, transitioning to Voice over IP (VoIP) appears to be a suitable solution, especially considering that copper lines will be phased out in Europe by the end of 2023.

What are the benefits of VoIP?

• You now have only one cable to connect your phone to the computer.
• You gain greater mobility; your phone goes with you everywhere!
• You can be reached anywhere and anytime thanks to the softphone (internet telephony).
• You reduce your communication costs!

In concrete terms, how can you act on telecommunications?

By conducting a communications audit, you enable:

• To highlight obsolete positions,
• To identify the most significant cost centers,
• To determine your actual needs and thus adapt the existing solutions,
• To find effective and self-sustaining alternatives.

Adopt the digitalisation

Digitalization, by definition, is a process that aims to transform traditional processes, objects, tools, or professions through the use of technology to make them more efficient.

This digitalization, now well-established in businesses, offers you several advantages for optimizing your costs:

• Increased productivity
• Reduction in operational costs
• Facilitated data analysis
• Simplified communication
• Enhanced attractiveness and skill development

Rcarré-Rcube can assist you in implementing solutions tailored to your needs. We offer, for example:

• Oodrive is a document sharing tool that facilitates collaboration among colleagues and offers versioning management, data security, and accessibility for everyone, anytime, anywhere.
• Rsign is an electronic signature tool that reduces signature turnaround times and leads to higher contract closure rates. Sign wherever and whenever you want!
• Digital training programs, on the other hand, provide greater accessibility to training for all, time and cost savings, and increased flexibility for employees to participate in training wherever and whenever they can.
• Qlik is a dashboard that enables data analysis across various departments, resulting in automated insights for easier decision-making.

Indeed, there are many other examples of digitalization solutions available, depending on the industry and specific tasks that need to be digitized!

Addressing support costs

IT is a crucial aspect of businesses, but it may not be your core expertise. To optimize costs effectively, it’s important to have a thorough understanding of the various challenges that support must address:

• Assessing the workload.

To best meet customer needs, you must hire competent technicians and/or developers tailored to the services offered. However, it’s not always necessary to have a full-time person if the workload doesn’t justify it. Rcube can assist you in internally hiring a technician under a fixed-term contract! This way, you can have a trusted provider while optimizing your costs!

• Consider service continuity in the event of your IT specialist’s absence! Surround yourself with efficient support ready to meet the necessary needs! Remember that competent support enables your employees to be more effective and presents your clients and partners with an organized and positive image of your services!

Optimizing Your Cash Flow

The penultimate and no less important area to focus on is cash flow! To maximize your cash flow, we recommend considering a leasing solution, which offers several advantages:

• Financial or operational leasing helps reduce your debt ratio and presents a positive balance sheet because it’s not recorded on your financial statements.
• You can spread the financing over 12 to 60 months with our partner EMG. Need more information? Contact us!
• Sales and rent-back allows you to refinance your already delivered equipment!

So, if your equipment and assets are too costly, don’t worry; leasing offers you the opportunity to optimize your expenses to the fullest!

To protect yourself in terms of cybersecurity!

Attacks can be costly. Did you know that phishing accounts for 2/3 of attack sources in 2023? 1,114 cyber incidents were recorded in 2020. Among the victims, 54% are individuals, 24% are companies in the financial sector, 12.5% are institutions, and 9% are industries.

Investing in cybersecurity can lead to cost savings.

Our Rsecure team can assist you in analyzing your current situation and implementing concrete actions to protect your business! Feel free to contact our Rsecure team!

As you can see, to optimize your costs, you can address several areas. But in addition to cost savings, improving and adapting these services will lead to better organization and convey a positive and competent image.

Revew our webinar