The Ops4Less model of IT Operations cost control:
P A I D ™
People
Get the right people, get the people right
□ Recruitment
□ Culture
□ Motivation
□ Evaluation
Activity
Do the right things, do things right
□ Planning
□ Process
□ Measurement
□ Improvement
Investment
Spend to save money, save money on spending
□ Technology
□ Services
□ Suppliers
□ Projects
Dealing
Manage the business, the business of managing money
□ Funding
□ Service
□ Outsourcing
□ Revenue
![LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ops4less.com%2Fnode%2F69&title=Put+a+finance+person+into+IT+management&summary=<img align="left" src="/files/ops4less/images/dollars_shaved.jpg" width=100 style="padding-right:5px;"/><span>Introduce a cost-centric mindset.&source=By+the+IT+Skeptic)
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Comments
Shoot the bean-counter.
Introducing financial discipline (Budgeting/Accounting/Charging) will provide the base for an IT department to articulate it's value to the business. This is good.
Deploying a bean-counter (i.e. Cost Accountant) will focus the IT Department on reducing costs instead of increasing value. This is not good.
Examine at any troubled organisation... at the core there's a miserable cost-accountant, slashing budgets, killing off R&D projects, retrenching staff, disinvesting on strategic projects and selling off assets. None of these are wholesome, creative solutions which result in growth. Temporary profitability perhaps, but then the decline continues.
One bullet per cost-accountant is the most cost-effective solution to this problem.
What IT needs is a little discipline
Here I disagree. Most IT departments have been financially mis-managed for years and there is considerable scope for improvement.
What IT needs is a little professionalism (code word for discipline): IT governance, change control, process accountability, service level metrics, production readiness of projects, license management... A good tidy up of accounting practice, procurement, budgeting etc is in the same vein.