IBM Article Sample

Reducing complexity to free up resources and support growth is one of the primary outcomes of ITO initiatives. With ITO, SMBs actually can do more with less. Existing IT infrastructure can be fine-tuned and reinvented, while new technologies can be cost-effectively implemented to support growth and new challenges. Above all, ensuring that IT exists for the sake of supporting business—not the other way around. According to Laura DeDio, research fellow at the Yankee Group in Boston, Massachusetts, it's an important distinction. "Too often I see people having the technology master them instead of them mastering the technology," she says.

Today, however, most SMB IT investments require that core business processes—such as sales, billing, and employee workflow—are tailored to fit with the way IT works. In some cases, organizations will purchase more technology than they actually need. This overspending usually catches up to these businesses, which later find themselves possessing systems that are too large and complex to maintain or use cost-effectively. As time goes on, a complex environment is also likely to hinder the implementation of new hardware and software that can be critical to new projects and future plans for growth.