This is a continuation of our analyst note from yesterday where our analyst stated that following the first reactions to the Coronavirus (i.e. newly allowed remote working policies) fiscally prudent organizations will take action to account for the new costs, and to formalize remote working policies.
Today we'll focus on how to pay for those incremental costs
3) Find the budget
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) is causing budget pain because of the unplanned spend. Emphasis on ‘unplanned’. Enterprise IT can claim unknown requirements – but some IT spending will come anyway. People who are making a difference can and should get overtime/rewards for spending above and beyond hours.The extra expenses (e.g. extra calls for VPN and desktop support) will show up first on the labor expenses for enterprise IT. To avoid tough conversations about budget changes later, it's wise to get ahead of the situation.
Hints on how to find budget get resources:
a) Find a big budget cut in one lump – An across-the-board cut may be appealing but it will create all sorts of small-to-large problems later. Instead, take the pain upfront. Pick a bigger block of spending and cut It now. Giving up some capital spending, and returning a few percent of overall spending back to accounting, while blaming it on Coronavirus is likely not to be enough to satisfy the budget. Management needs to make a decision to kill a bigger project and then fight thru the process to use that same money to cover spend that fell on enterprise IT but wasn’t planned.
b) Don’t short enterprise IT staff – The crisis from Coronavirus (COVID-19) is likely to run months. You can burn out staff fighting to get network performance, software to behave on BYOD, and coping with cranky end-users. Pick recognition and rewards that provide status, cash, or new opportunities (moving staff to a new project with training first) Staff will be the next problem with no-hiring and more problems coming.
4) Be ruthless and fair with vendors
That new vendor that’s really wanting to get a piece of your budget? Bargain hard with them for longer ‘trial periods’, deferred billing, better discounts, and more support up front. Let your incumbent vendor know that their extra efforts are recognized, and that there are other competitors so that they can get you the best deal right now. Vendors often aren’t motivated to do their best if there’s no visible competition. New vendors may take this chance to crack your enterprise account. Use that dynamic for a better deal now – your enterprise needs the money. Explaining the realities of competition and finding money in your budget is a fair way to get people to work on better, faster, cheaper – solutions.
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