UK firms are trapped in a vicious cycle of spiralling
costs and inefficiency because of increasing levels of complexity
in their IT systems, research commissioned by BT has
warned.
The survey of more than 450 senior managers in UK businesses
ranging from 50 to 10,000 employees found that despite the costs of
maintaining legacy systems, UK businesses are failing to implement
a standard, cheaper infrastructure for the future.
Although more than six out of ten managers said their firms
planned to cut down the number of vendors, hardware types and
operating systems they used, the research carried out by the
Bathwick Group found that procurement processes did not support
this strategy.
More than 72 per cent of the businesses covered by the survey
continued to buy some or all of their technology on a project or
‘fit for purpose’ basis.
Gary Bullard, managing director, BT UK Major Customers said:
“This research demonstrates the extent to which UK businesses are
suffering from diverged IT infrastructure. Despite many years of
recognising that complexity is the enemy of productivity and cost
reduction, there is a clear lack of joined-up thinking on the part
of these senior decision makers on how to address the problem and
break this vicious cycle.”
