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“Managing IT costs
efficiently is not just for bad times,”
Dr. Ratajczak gave a brief economic forecast telling the group that the economy will slow in 2007 but will stay out of recession. “The Federal Reserve has achieved what it wanted to,” he said. “The speculation in housing has slowed and inflation worries have dimmed.” He suggested that CIO-s continually question where they can improve efficiency in their operation without damaging the company’s goals. He cited the increasing corporate use of global resources to reduce software costs, as one example of reducing expenses without sacrificing efficiency. “Search out where savings can be achieved now. Do it before a crisis requires it,” he said. “Both you and the company will benefit.” David Hudson, continued on the theme of efficiency in operations, by noting that in many cases, major corporate workplace changes, designed to improve efficiency, fail to achieve the planned results. “Management often doesn’t understand how to manage the change process,” he said. “It is a complex undertaking that must be well organized, and involves a gradual process of educating employees on why changes are necessary and how those changes will benefit the company and the employee.” He also noted that a good rule of thumb is that when 20% of those affected, including the company’s ‘thought leaders’ buy into the changes, there is a good chance those changes will be effective. “Top management tends to want new policies to happen immediately,” he added. “To have change work, they have to be the first to get behind a comprehensive change program, not just order it done.” Dr. Ratajczak previously served as Director of the Economic Forecasting Center in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University from 1973 until June 2000. He also was a Professor of Economics in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. In 2000 he founded Brainworks Ventures, Inc., an Atlanta, Georgia based venture-development company. He joined its Board after it merged with Assurance America in April 2003. Hudson founded Solution Resources, Inc., in 1985 as a
consulting firm focused on enhancing organizational performance through
the integration of strategic planning, tactical implementation and change
management. Since then he has applied his experience and expertise in a
variety of client environments in North America and Europe. He has worked
with a number of leading organizations, including AT&T, Marriott,
Kimberly-Clark, Renault, Rock-Tenn, Rollins and the Thomson Corporation to
help them manage critical organizational changes. Paalam, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is a technology
services company that specializes in managing globally distributed
technology development teams for its clients. Paalam offers significant
savings by providing fixed price contracts, guaranteeing quality and
managing software development projects end to end.
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