Big firms could slash 40 percent from IT

For CIOs and their IT employees at Global 1000 companies, it may not seem like your department's budget is bloated, given all the needs and the long wish list. Yet, the Hackett Group, a research firm, said tough economic times require cutbacks. At the big global companies--those with at least $23.4 billion in revenue and 56,000 employees--between eight percent and 39 percent of baseline spending can be cut, Hackett says, by making application maintenance, application development and implementation, end user support and infrastructure management processes more efficient. Hackett executives say that most companies are surprised by how much they can actually save. "I've seen companies take out 50 percent of their IT operating costs over a few years," says Erik Dorr, Hackett's senior IT research director.

To learn more about cost-cutting strategies:
- See this CIO Magazine article