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Helping IT Save Money ... and Jobs?
An anonymous reader asks: "I work in a small, overworked and understaffed IT department at a profitable business. We recently got the news that we needed to cut costs. While every penny counts, simply turning off the computers at night and saving pennies on processor cycles isn't exactly a noticeable savings. I'm curious what measures other Slashdot readers have taken to save money within their IT departments."
We just fired our CEO! =]
fewer users -> fewer issues -> lower costs.
if it weren't for those pesky users...
Oh there might be some outages at the company during that week. I expect that any necessary employees could be convinced to contract their services to whatever department needs them... at about 3 times their average salary...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
What if my native country is India?
Where do I outsource to then????
Karnal
Use the spare space and bandwidth on the company web server to host porn. Use profits from porn hosting to run IT dept.
*shrug* it's a no worse idea than cutting support costs when support is already overworked. Perhaps such a message [perhaps in more businesslike terms] should be the proper reply.
If you find out anyone's surfing for donkey porn - tell them it's time to pay up - or their boss will find out.
The money goes back into IT dept. funding so you can still buy that new videocard you need to play Half-Life 2.
replacing the CFO with a shell script.
Hey it worked for me. And since I implemented this cost cutting measure upper management has taken it one step further. I now get every week off without pay.
Why do we correct our criminals but punish our children?
By switching to Geico! Err umm, oops. Sorry Just pops into my head everytime someone asks about saving money. Damn those Ads!!
Paid overtime? You kidding, right?
"I have people skills! I'm good at dealing with people! What the hell is a matter with you people!!"
I just realized that this list reads almost exactly like i would expect some D&D game character creation screen would.
This only works if you (as the hiring person) know a good programmer from a bad one.
Linux is not Windows
*sarcasm*
You left out California.
In many ways a country by itself. Just a short plane ride from the U.S., 7th largest economy in the world, highly trained (and hungry) IT workforce, Low-level work at average-cost (Lots of Chinese, Mexicans, Vietnamese, and Malaysians), and well-known for string bikinis.
Downsides are high taxes and English deficient workforce.
*/sarcasm*
Self Defense - A Human Right www.a-human-right.com
Block slashdot.org in your proxy server!
Keep infrastructure in the house and offshore development. Numbers look better in the short term. Long term deliverables falter. Middle management weenies who would rather gut the company than let go of thier fat bonuses to make an arbitrary number get cut. Competent worker geeks get promoted to middle management where they fail abysmally. Original developers are brought in as contractors to get the project back on track, although at twice the cost. CIO who prompted cycle gets new job with more money at another company. Original company gets bought by CIO's new company. Original company's officers stock options sell for enough to retire to Palm Springs. Second company's employees positions are threatened by management with first company's current staff. Keep infrastructure in the house and offshore development.... Rinse and repeat.
So stop using an expensive simulation of a typewriter and use a real one instead.
what the hell? were you working for EA?
-- Dedicated Cthulhu cultist since 1982 A.C.E.
Pagers also have much better battery life, lasting 3-4 weeks on a single AA battery. You'll rarely miss a page because the battery is dead-- but a cell battery won't even last a full day.
Not to mention that no doubt the vast majority of your staff already carries around a cell phone. Carrying around a cell and a pager is not that weird, but carrying around two cells would be very strange.
You mention all of these things like they're faults, but I consider them to be features of cell phones. Sporadic coverage? Bad reception inside buildings? Low battery life? Cell phones offer all of the political capital of being 24/7 reachable while still offering a million excuses for why you never answer or call back.
Well... I'VE gotten a million JILLION DAYS!
Regular Meta Moderators are not more likely to get mod points.
My clerk always calls me the minute I sit down on the loo. It happens with such dependable regularity that I am beginning to wonder whether he has hacked a remote sensing device into my belt buckle.