More with Less - Coping with Cutbacks

This is a new series, focusing on how Insight teams can make optimum use of their resources. If you’re facing cutbacks, how can you turn this to your advantage? It all depends on your attitude and response…

Having less of something can actually drive your resourcefulness and creativity. When you have a healthy budget, it can be tempting to adopt a knee-jerk reaction of kicking off a new piece of work every time you get a request. However, this can mean that you quickly become fully stretched managing projects. Breakthroughs often come from thinking things through and combining different elements – which you simply won’t have the time to do.

We know a number of organisations that have had budget cuts over the last year. With the current climate, no doubt many more will face cuts this year. So how can you adopt a positive response to this?

• Scrutinise your budget allocation. Is it all either making a difference to your business decisions now or developing your future capability? If not, how can you justify it?
• Look at your existing commitments. Are they earning their keep? Look at the scale and frequency of your trackers – could a more streamlined version meet most of your needs? (Don’t forget the Pareto 80/20 rule!). How extensively are they being used to support, direct or preferably drive business decisions? Or are they just rolling along because they have always been there? With new sources of data such as social media, do you still need elaborate brand and customer satisfaction trackers?
• Re-think your ad hoc work. Pause and ask questions before you agree to do anything. Probe for the real business need – why do  your customers need this information? How will it affect a business decision? What would they do if they couldn’t get it? Sometimes we’re asked to carry out work to support decisions that have already been taken. These projects are prime candidates for any cuts.

• Check what is available without having to initiate external work. Review your existing knowledge and data – you could already have 70% of what your customers want and you can produce it much more quickly than by starting a new project. If you trade off a quick answer now for a full answer later, you might find that some stakeholders are happy with the former.
• Use your own market knowledge and intuition. If you take the time to stop and think, you probably already know the answer to many of the questions you’re asked. Have the courage of your convictions and answer questions from that knowledge base. Your stakeholders will respect you if you do. You might need to piece together some evidence to support your view but this could take a fraction of the time and cost involved in setting up a whole new project.
• Talk to your colleagues. One of them might be aware of a data source or a previous piece of work in a related area that will answer the question. Don’t just restrict these conversations to your own specialist area. Different sources of insight can often be used to throw light on an issue, so seek opportunities for conversations across the disciplines (research, behavioural analytics, market intelligence). A quick question with the team members (either face-to-face or by email) might save a lot of work – and your precious budget.

• Save time and money - look in the larder
• Battling with budgets