Executives demand that you cut costs, but they expect you to go on delivering all that you have in the past.

Challenge

Cost cutting may be necessary. But you're set up to fail if you're expected to deliver all the same things with a smaller budget.

To expect you to "do more with less" presumes that you've been wasting time and money in the past, and can now become more productive by edict.

The truth is, your staff are already working hard and you have not been wasting money. With budget cuts, you're going to do less with less.

But if you don't manage expectations up front, you'll be blamed when you can't deliver all that you did in the past despite the cuts.

How can you counter the unreasonable "do more with less" demand?

Solution

The enterprise will get from your organization what it can afford to pay for. It's as simple as that.

In a tough economy, the enterprise can no longer afford to buy from you all that it needs. Now, you've got to help the enterprise figure out what it will do without.

This involves facilitating a sober look at your deliverables, and a business-driven decision process that eliminates products and services of marginal value.

With reduced expectations, you can reduce costs and still have enough resources to deliver the products and services which the enterprise can afford and chooses to buy.

Anecdote: Take It Out of Hide
budgets have to be cut, but clients go on expecting all the same deliverables.

Comprehensive solution....

"My organization had been under-spending on information technology for years. With FullCost, at a time where other budgets were shrinking, my budget actually went up because clients favored the new process and were able to defend their worthwhile investments."

Lew Davison CIO, Missouri Highway and Transportation Department

Other Resources

White paper: Do More With Less -- NOT!
how to solve the problem of finite resources and infinite demands....

Case Study: From Adversaries to Advocates
how budgeting and product/service costing improved relationships between IT and its clients

Anecdote: Take It Out of Hide....
how we set ourselves up for the "do more with less" expecation

Anecdote: Another Cut?....
how to defend yourself against the "do more with less" demand

Anecdote: Oh, One More Thing....
to respond to unfunded mandates....

Column: Unfunded Mandates....

Speech abstract: Do More With Less -- NOT!
a practical antidote to unrealistic demands