This year’s crop of CIO 100 honorees include small organizations along with giants. Here are tips for doing more with less from two of the smaller businesses.Keep the budget lid on. Chase Pitkin Home Centers lives by this rule: “If you don’t know the business benefit, you had better not do it because technology is pretty darn expensive,” says T. Christopher Dorsey, CIO and controller at the retailer. Business volume has increased every year at Chase Pitkin’s 15 stores, while IT spending continues to decline. The company uses non-IT departments’ staff for basic IT needs such as “light” development work, certification and testing. For example, members of the accounting staff do some coding, testing and validation of new financial systems. Chase Pitkin identifies the hard dollar savings of a project, evaluates the ROI and applies economic value-added analysis, which takes into account the cost of capital required to fund the project. Then, the company measures actual versus budgeted results on an ongoing basis.Cross-train staff. Most doctors’ offices have a staff-to-physician ratio of 3-to-1. Seattle Eye M.D.s has cut this ratio in half. All of Seattle Eye M.D.s’ six support employees are trained to troubleshoot the software and hardware they use every day—including workstations, point-of-sale software and a SQL Server-based Electronic Practice Management software package. Networked office man- agement technology has eliminated the need for a dedicated billing specialist and a full-time physician assistant. These moves mean the company can operate two retail stores and a Web store with existing staff, says Darwin J. Liao, an opthamologist who serves as Seattle Eye M.D.s’ CIO. Related content brandpost Sponsored by Freshworks When your AI chatbots mess up AI ‘hallucinations’ present significant business risks, but new types of guardrails can keep them from doing serious damage By Paul Gillin Dec 08, 2023 4 mins Generative AI brandpost Sponsored by Dell New research: How IT leaders drive business benefits by accelerating device refresh strategies Security leaders have particular concerns that older devices are more vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. By Laura McEwan Dec 08, 2023 3 mins Infrastructure Management case study Toyota transforms IT service desk with gen AI To help promote insourcing and quality control, Toyota Motor North America is leveraging generative AI for HR and IT service desk requests. By Thor Olavsrud Dec 08, 2023 7 mins Employee Experience Generative AI ICT Partners feature CSM certification: Costs, requirements, and all you need to know The Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) certification sets the standard for establishing Scrum theory, developing practical applications and rules, and leading teams and stakeholders through the development process. By Moira Alexander Dec 08, 2023 8 mins Certifications IT Skills Project Management Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe