7. Revisit Old, Abandoned Projects

As a corollary to the previous cost-saving measure, survey old projects that may not have gotten off the ground to see if there might be some intellectual property worth salvaging. Taking the junkyard approach to project management—by, say, unscrewing code from an old junker and bolting it on the new ‘car’ you want to build—can accelerate projects and save the department a bundle.

Check out Baseline’s special coverage of  project failure to learn how to effectively dump the zombies and how to get the most out of the work you’ve already done.

8. Install Air Economizers

In a recent data center operations pilot project, Intel’s IT department found that it could save $2.8 million annually on a 10-megawatt data center by using an air economizer that expels hot air outdoors and draws in outside air in lieu of air conditioners and chillers. The affects on air quality had negligible effects on data center reliability and reduced that center’s power consumption by 74 percent.

Finding ways like these to cut down on power and cooling costs can make a significant difference to IT’s bottom line.

Learn more about Intel’s data center efficiency efforts.