A little help in hard times
 
|
|||
 | |||
|
The Wall Street Journal reported recently that the terrorist attacks will cost the U.S. "at least" $100 billion. That includes everything from the cost of lost physical assets to lost business, increased expenditures on defense and the cost of rebuilding.
With the economy already on the ropes, it is clear the financial burden of the attacks has staggered businesses across the board. And who knows what the long-term ripple effects will be, where the bottom is and when things will rebound.
Given the uncertainty, the message for IT management and IT spending is proceed with caution. For some of you the word might be more dire: duck and cover.
But one of the beauties about technology is flexibility. Unlike specialty manufacturing tools designed to accomplish one task, many of our tools can be stretched, extended and redeployed in new capacities. Hardship is the mother of creativity, and if your business is severely hampered by the whipsaw effects of the current situation, now is the time to start thinking anew about how to make what you have work harder, longer or differently.
It is also time to reexamine what you do and how. Is it time to outsource a few tasks? Can you squeeze more out of your telecom suppliers? Should you change the way you negotiate contracts?
To help, Network World launches with this issue a semiregularly appearing series called "More With Less: Budget stretching strategies." The stories will run the gamut, from odd technologies that might help you in a pinch, to free tools that are worth their weight in gold.
In this issue see "Deep discounts: Cisco and other vendors are offering up big savings on network equipment - if you know how to ask" (page 57), and Mark Gibbs' Gearhead column, "X10: A low-tech power line net with high-tech uses" (page 44).
We have built a companion Web page where "More With Less" stories will collect, and have already populated it with stories that address the issue, including "The price is right: 10 free management tools," and "Getting a better deal: Tips for holding your own at the negotiating table."
If you have discovered a way to make do in hard times, share it in the More With Less forum, or by sending it to me.
-John Dix, Editor in chief
jdix@nww.com
RELATED LINKS
