Computer services and hardware company Unisys Corp on Tuesday unveiled new service packages aimed at cutting technology costs for businesses who have clamped down on their spending for new computer systems.

Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-based Unisys said it has developed software and services packages it called "blueprints," to target 14 different industry areas including finance, airline, and tax and revenue management.

Unisys chief executive Larry Weinbach said in an interview that the blueprints were meant to help companies map out how their software would work together, at a lower cost.

"If you were a building a house, would you build a house from scratch without a blueprint? If you did, you might find that when you got all done the plumbing was on one side of the house and the bathrooms were on the other side," he said.

Weinbach will present the new offerings at a meeting in New York on Tuesday with analysts.

The move comes as other technology companies have also tried to spur demand amid a downturn in spending with services aimed at using technology better, such as "on demand" computing from International Business Machines Corp and "adaptive enterprise" at Hewlett-Packard Co.

Under the HP and IBM models, customers buy only the computing power they need at a given moment, similar to the way businesses pay for electricity or other utilities.

Weinbach acknowledged that the industry-specific packages were a means to sell its services amid a downturn in corporate spending on information technology.

"There is no question that the technology market has been soft -- although we see it stabilising now -- but at the same time it's all about return on investment," Weinbach said.

"Even if business picks up, there is still going to be pressure on IT spend."