Take a leaf out of the M&S IT recipe book

Most managers know where there is slack in their operation that can be removed

We had hoped to resist the temptation to use the line: “This is not an IT strategy, this is an M&S IT strategy” when discussing Marks & Spencer’s IT transformation programme, but the opportunity was too good to turn down.

Nonetheless, there are plenty of valuable lessons that can be learned from M &S IT director Darrell Stein’s plan that can help other IT leaders drizzle some super-soft burnt sugar icing delicately over their whole fruit technology cake.

OK, we promise to stop now.

M&S has been going through a business turnaround for some time as it rides the rollercoaster of consumer tastes and high street decline. Much of what the retailer has been through will be similar to the challenges facing many recession-hit organisations in the coming months.

Stein’s “spend and save” plan is a great example of the importance of balancing the books when it comes to IT budgeting.

Experts such as Gartner and other analysts have extolled the virtues of redirecting cost cuts into IT innovation, but the reality has often proved harder to achieve.

At M&S, however, the firm is two years into a major IT change programme, yet at the same time operational IT costs have been reduced by 13.5 per cent in the last financial year and incremental IT spend cut by 60 per cent, with the overall cost of technology remaining flat.

Every IT leader needs to be looking for opportunities to remove unnecessary expenditure to free up funds for the sort of innovations that will be needed to remain competitive and come strongly out of the downturn.

Be honest ­- be brutal if you have to -­ but most managers know where there is slack in their operation that can be removed. Remember that one per cent cut from 10 areas is just as valuable ­ and sometimes more palatable ­ than 10 per cent taken from one project.

Computing has featured in recent months many of the technologies and techniques that can help to get through the credit crunch ­ virtualisation, outsourcing, a focus on customer-facing systems such as e-commerce, among others ­ these are all fruitful areas to investigate, and all used at M&S too.