There are a lot of companies who are spending too much money on IT.
That statement might come as a surprise – but actually, what was best IT practice just a few years ago has moved on, so in 2018, your processes and systems may very well need updating – especially if you want to make sure your business’s money is kept in the bank.
We’ve posed 5 questions for any business decision maker – check them out – and if you find yourself answering ‘yes’ to any of them, you might want to read on, and see how you can significantly reduce your IT spending…
Do you have an in-house IT team?
When we talk about IT costs, we tend to think of hardware cost – followed closely be software licencing costs. What many people fail to consider is the cost of maintaining and supporting your systems.
In most cases, over the course of a year, IT staffing costs are far greater than the cost of the hardware and applications they’re supporting – and what’s more, the fact that you’ve got a team of people who rightfully require holidays, leave and training means you’ve got to dip back into your budget to make sure you’re adequately covered all year around.
The good news is, you can slice your IT support costs down to a fraction of the cost of an in-house team by employing the services of the right Managed Service Provider (MSP).
Effectively, an MSP is an outsourced IT team – and while they don’t work on your site, cloud technology gives them the hands-on access that they would have if they did. What’s more, they’re generally available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year if required – so you never have to worry about making provision for people being off.
Don’t worry, we’re not suggesting you fire your IT team – we’ve simply suggesting that you consider alternatives when it comes to replacing people as they leave or are promoted. If you do, you’ll save on a host of IT support costs, including wages, training, accreditations and much more…
Have you bought your equipment outright?
Again, you’re not necessarily making a glaring error by buying your IT equipment – unless of course you’re cutting back on other mission-critical areas by doing so.
If you’d like to keep some cash in the bank to drive your business forward in other ways, considering leasing plans for costly hardware is a great thing to do. There are some credit checks that a provider will have to make – but assuming they deem your business okay to lend to, you can effectively rent cutting edge equipment for a monthly payment that’s a small percentage of the overall cost.
In the long-term, you may end up spending a little more leasing – but if it means you’ve been able to progress your business with the latest equipment, this may well be a small sacrifice that pays itself back many times over.
Do your employees all use business devices?
This next tip is one that often splits opinion in the world of IT – but if you’re considering providing business devices for your entire staff team, you might be missing a great money saving and productivity boosting opportunity.
There are a host of businesses out there who encourage BYOD policies. BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device – and the idea is exactly as it sounds, employees bring their own devices to work and access business systems with those laptops, mobiles and tablets.
The statistics around BYOD use are impressive – and not just from a money saving point of view. Numerous studies show that workers who are using their own, familiar devices, are often up to 10% more productive through the day.
There are places where this kind of approach just isn’t possible – banking, healthcare – and other businesses who handle a lot of sensitive data – but for many small businesses, some solid security practices will allow people to safely use (and take home!) their own devices, with no danger of security breaches.
Do you print in-house?
Have you found yourself replacing your print cartridges less frequently over the last few years? If the answer is yes, you’re not alone – businesses are moving away from having paper-heavy offices, and doing an increasing amount of collaboration, corresponding and signing online.
If you’ve in a position to do so, moving toward an entirely paper free office can be a financially smart move. Need to make note? Do it on a tablet. Want to circulate a document? Do it on a project management tool or via email. Want to send a letter? Use a print-and-post service off site.
When you make your business paperless, you save a huge amount of money on printers, scanners and copiers – as well as cutting down on the considerable consumables cost associated with all of these.
Have you been with the same circuit provider for a long time?
This is a good old fashioned ‘shop around’ tip – but one that many people overlook when they’re in business.
