10 ways to better control costs

Cost cutting is a tricky game. As a leader, you need to find ways to cut costs while not hurting employee productivity or your company’s revenue. Finding places to cut that don’t negatively impact either of those two areas isn’t an easy task.

I recently ran across a nice article/slideshow in CIOInsight.com with some very good ideas for better controlling costs. Even better yet, most don’t hurt productivity or revenue.

While I like most of the ideas in the article, #9 really stuck out to me because I think it addresses a common problem. Many companies buy solutions for one specific need. After 5 years or so, they have many single-use solutions. Isn’t it smarter to buy one solution that solves many needs?

For example, let’s say that you need to improve your reporting this year. But you also need to create a customer portal and move an order entry system to the web. Additionally, you’re thinking about implementing some executive dashboards in the next couple years. Many companies view that as four different software purchases. Instead, why not look for one product that solves all of those problems?

Here’s a great example: This company needed better reporting, executive dashboards, and a financial reporting suite. Instead of three separate purchases, they found one product that addressed all their needs. Isn't that a smarter way to operate?