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the quarterly magazine of ILTA 59 Peer to Peer acquisition activity. Industry experts expect that number to rise dramatically over the next year, as a tougher economic climate will only accelerate the existing pressure faced by on-premise software and the traditional perpetual license model. Additionally, general economic factors also favor SaaS. Although the recession will surely pose challenges for SaaS vendors, the consensus is that conventional software vendors will be harder hit. In fact, one widely held school of thought reflects the belief that SaaS is one reason for the pricing pressures facing traditional application software developers. The low-risk, pay-as-you-go model offers a substantial competitive advantage to SaaS vendors, especially if capital expenditure budgets are cut. The advantage of SaaS comes from the ability to install and activate new applications with a substantially lower initial cost of ownership. Economically pressured organizations favor limiting the upfront investment in new software applications, particularly when the ultimate ROI is in doubt. And because SaaS is flexible and scalable, it reduces risk and maximizes scarce resources. In addition to these financial factors, many IT personnel like the low-cost, low-maintenance, low-resource profile of externally delivered SaaS applications. In short, running a lean business is the key to riding out the economic downturn, and with management espousing ROI as the mantra while keeping a tightly clenched fist around the corporate checkbook, IT can utilize SaaS to provide results while minimizing risk and expenditure. This trend will be a key driver in the growth of software development and will buoy the continued use of Web 2.0 technologies through 2009 and beyond, especially as this technology drives the exponential growth of communication bandwidth and collaboration, but without the traditional upfront costs. ILTA brett tarr serves as general counsel for eMag solutions, based in atlanta. before joining eMag, brett worked as a practicing attorney at King & spalding llP, and has held chief operating officer, legal counsel, and senior marketing executive positions for several corporations over the past 10 years. brett has published articles on multiple topics involving electronic discovery, legal preparedness and data security, among others. brett graduated Phi beta Kappa from university of california at los angeles; additionally, he earned his law degree from Duke university school of law and holds an Mba in Marketing and Management from Georgia state university. brett can be reached at btarr@emagsolutions.com. A New View of IT Cost Cutting Cost-Cutting Begins with a Technology/Cost Analysis firms are looking for ways to reduce operational overhead and it support costs. because of systems and solutions deployed in response to changing business needs and competitive pressures, companies often have infrastructure duplication or functionally redundant systems across business units or departments. and when growth occurs through mergers or acquisitions, these problems are compounded. additionally, companies that have experienced organic infrastructure growth are also looking for ways to control and reduce costs. it decisions have always been driven by return on investment, which increases with it cost reduction. traditionally, it cost reduction involves infrastructure consolidation, technology replacement, reducing software license and support requirements, revising purchasing policies, outsourcing, centralizing server workloads and storage, and many other factors. the first step in it cost reduction is performing a technology/cost analysis, which will help an organization create a road map for cost reduction. this process involves a review of: • Organizational structure • Business requirements • Existing infrastructure • Growth trends and factors • Operational overhead • IT resources • IT expenses • IT strategy and future plans these factors and the dependencies they support are often complex and sometimes problematic. however, the technology/cost analysis process helps to identify both inefficiencies and expenses that can be reduced through technological and methodological changes. What does post-analysis success look like? it means establishing and maintaining service levels while reducing technology cost, complexity and operational overhead. at the same time, technology strategy, growth trends, capacity and competitive business factors have to be considered. Post-analysis projects might involve server consolidation, functional standardization, and migration of multiple systems to more efficient configurations, all of which can result in short- and near- term Roi and overall cost savings.