Because the costs associated with IT are ongoing, it makes sense to do some planning and budgeting in advance to ensure you maximise your return on investment.
First, let's establish whether you really need computers to run your business. If you don't need them and you can make money without them, you're in a fortunate position! If that is the case, throw out your existing computers, as email and social networking are bound to be wasting employee time – at your expense.
If you suspect you could do without them but aren't entirely sure, turn them off for a few days and see what issues arise.
If yours is one of the many businesses that do rely on computers, the first part of keeping your IT spending manageable is to replace your computers regularly.
Computers double in speed at least every 18 months, and double in capacity as least as quickly. This means that a three-year-old computer is four times slower than a new one. Add to that the fact that aging computers have an increasing rate of hardware failures, and you end up with a high-risk, low-performance environment as machines age past the three-year mark.
So, how can you improve your return on investment?
First of all, it is well worth getting good quality equipment with a manufacturer's three-year warranty (today some are even doing five-year warranties). This will protect your initial investment, and ensure you get the hardware support you require.
The next piece of advice I would offer is to spend a little more time and money on the hardware design and selection to get better performance, as this will extend the useful life of the machine at the tail-end by some months or years.
The reason for this advice is that the services that go into setting up a computer form a significant part of the cost of the equipment, as does the software licensing that goes with the device. So a longer machine life protects the other parts of the investment.
By extending the life of each of your computers, you may be able to reduce your purchasing cycle by one computer per employee over a 10-year period. This can represent significant savings, without a perceived drop in care for your employees. This applies equally to PCs and servers.
Once you have a plan in place in terms of what you need to buy, and how often, you can assign a budget. If a large capital expenditure does not work for your business, you should consider a finance deal. Talk to your accountant to determine the best method, and then ask your suppliers for vendor-based credit, as this can be a great way to get cheap loans for computer equipment.
In terms of the costs associated with managing your IT environment on an ongoing basis, consider the following. I have seen many companies with a full-time employee running from place to place fixing aged computers as they break. The irony is that a full suite of new, stable, financed computers, and an outsourced management solution, would have cost less per year over three years than the cost of a full-time employee.
Furthermore, the savings that a stable IT environment would have created in terms of increased staff productivity and improved employee retention would have been significant. So, be careful that the affordable short-term option doesn't end up costing you more in the long run.
Ultimately, don't let short-term issues and a lack of strategic planning cause you to leave creaking infrastructure in place. This will only destabilise your IT environment and frustrate your staff. Instead, get some advice on what solutions will bring good stability and cost savings to your business, and then action a plan to implement those solutions accordingly.
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