Intelligent Cost Cutting
The average Irish business can save €62,000 p.a. just 
 
by turning off and wising up, says Openplain.
Simple changes to employees' computer habits, and not buying
unnecessary software, can bring immediate financial savings  
12th November, 2009: At the first in a series of breakfast seminars held this week, entitled  'Intelligent Cost Cutting', Dublin-based technology company Openplain outlined a series of simple measures that Irish businesses can undertake in order to save significant costs.
Held in association with the National College of Ireland, the seminar was attended by over 100 representatives of local companies from the financial services, consulting and IT sectors. 

Jon Mulligan, Managing Director of Openplain, outlined four main areas where Irish companies can cut costs by analysing their employees' use of computers and software, and by utilising new technology. He said: 

"When companies are attempting to reduce costs, instead of making sweeping cuts, such as staff redundancies, there are simple measures that can save businesses thousands of euro. Two of the biggest culprits are in relation to IT - companies need to turn off their computers and stop buying software they don't use. 

"Software usage monitoring enables IT departments to identify what software is not used and
therefore, is surplus to requirements. They can quickly see where immediate cost savings can be made. This type of approach to IT management and costs is crucial in the current economic climate." 

Openplain is an Irish software company that has developed an on line service that enables companies to easily track and analyse their employees' computer activity. 

Power Usage

Openplain's has 10,000 users in Ireland (80,000 worldwide); their software has found that 62% of Irish workers needlessly leave their computers on when they leave the office. With each desktop computer using an average of 1750 kWh of electricity per annum, this is 13 times the power use of the average domestic oven or 4.5 times the average fridge freezer. 

With Irish electricity charges some of the highest in the world, ESB charges 14.8c per kWhESB General Purpose Tarfiff for SMEs (average between Block 1 and Block 2). which means the cost of running each computer is €259 per year. Whereas if they were turned off when staff leave the office it should only cost €50 per year. This is an average saving of €20,000 for a medium-size company of 100 people, which can be achieved just by turning off a switch. 


Buying Too Much Software


In tracking software usage Openplain has found that most companies only use 70% of the software that they have bought. This is a huge over subscription, which costs businesses thousands of euro each year. 

 

The average software expenditure in medium and large sized companies is over €1,400 per employee. Removing all unused software would generate savings of €420 per employee. That equates to a cost saving of €42,000 per annum for a company with 100 staff. 


 

Openplain also recommended using inexpensive on-line services, and introducing tele-working for employees, in order to gain further savings. 

 

Moving to on-line services requires changing from a physical in-house hosting server to an off-site one, for systems such as email, calendar, VPN, CRM etc. By introducing tele-working companies benefit from reduced overheads, reduced pay demands and lower staff turnover. Both these options can provide significant cost savings over the medium to long term if companies are willing to embrace change and use new technology. 

For further details please contact Simon Palmer of Republic PR, +353 (0) 1210 3520, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Twitter @simonprepublic


Openplain is a privately held Irish company based in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). Founded in 2006, with the support of Enterprise Ireland and the AIB Seed Capital Fund, it is the only Irish provider of IT software to track and analyse employee productivity and computer activity.


Openplain is an award winning Irish IT company: in 2008 the company was the winner of InterTradeIreland's All-Ireland Seedcorn Business Competition; in  2007 it won first prize at the Docklands Innovation Park Awards.


It currently has 80,000 users of its software in 89 countries including the USA, Japan, Brazil, Russia, China, UK and 10,000 in Ireland alone.


Openplain's two main products are OfficeMetrics, which tracks employee performance and productivity through computer usage, and also LicenseMetrics, which analyses a company's usage of software and licensing. For more details please see: http://www.openplain.com, http://www.officemetrics.com

 

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