It looks like life will still be busy for IT managers in 2005 and beyond. This year has been the year of corporate governance rules, which has heaped more work on IT teams as firms try to get their houses in order. And this pressure looks set to continue, with more laws on the horizon.

Some argue that the compliance requirements offer a perfect opportunity for IT managers to demonstrate the role technology plays in key business issues. They say IT chiefs can use the current emphasis on compliance to get money for new IT systems or to overhaul what's already there - and to get a toehold on the board.

I'm sure this is true in forward-thinking organisations. But I imagine that many companies respond to requests for cash for IT to aid compliance in the same way that they respond to requests for higher spending elsewhere - fine-tune what you've already got to fit in with the new requirements but at no extra cost to us.

But hopefully this group is the minority, especially in light of last week's comments from BT's chairman Christopher Bland on the price of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. According to Bland, compliance with these US rules has cost BT £10m - a hefty burden on the IT department if a proportion of this cost went on upgrading systems.

Budget restrictions mean IT directors have to constantly look around for ways to get more value out of existing systems for little or no additional upfront investment.

In some cases, improvements may be possible by tightening up supply chain systems. New research from Unisys shows that almost two-thirds of manufacturing firms expect to spend more on supply chain solutions over the next three years to improve the visibility of goods in their systems. Technology for supply chain management does seem to have weaknesses at present - only 15 percent of manufacturing executives say they completely trust the accuracy of supply chain data.

Businesses wanting to improve efficiency through their supply chains might do best to start with the basics. For example, they might see better results by implementing additional controls over data entry and management, rather than investing in an end-to-end technology management system.

And any changes on the supplier side ought to be tracked and recorded in a timely manner so companies can make their purchasing and selling decisions based on the correct information.

Another possibility for reducing costs is at the software maintenance level. According to analyst firm AMR Research, the emerging trend of third-party support could cut firms' maintenance costs for enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems by up to half.

This might be a good time for IT directors to revisit their current agreements with vendors such as PeopleSoft and SAP, and to consider whether they are getting worthwhile or necessary upgrades. If not, perhaps they should start looking for third parties that would be willing to take on the support contract but at a more competitive price.

In the coming months and years, many IT chiefs will still be asked to get more business value out of IT but with less cash, and this poses a constant challenge. Under these conditions, stepping back and considering the bigger picture and being open to less familiar options could pay dividends.