How to reduce hidden IT costs in your business

Look after your computers and they’ll look after you!

How many times have you heard a colleague say they “go away and make a cup of tea” while their computer is starting up in the morning? How many computers are left forgotten under the desk, caked in dust as the cleaners won’t touch them, hidden by stacks of files and a handbag? Do you even know how old your computers are and when they should be replaced?

Now add up the total time that your computers are used over the day, the month and the year. Most likely this all day, every working day.

With all this in mind it is vital the computers you use are given some important consideration and TLC to help them run as efficiently as possible. Total lost minutes every day waiting for the computers to initially be useable added to the time waiting for certain common tasks to complete (or those annoying crashes and errors) and you can potentially lose many days of productivity over a year for each computer.

To mitigate some of these losses, scrutinise your IT equipment to ensure it is working best for you. It’s often commonplace for those responsible for IT equipment acquisition to wait for failure prior to replacement or maintenance, but as discussed this can lead to hidden costs in productivity. Then there is unplanned downtime, impending software and hardware incompatibility and other factors to consider…

Based on this it is advisable practice to have a planned upgrade & replacement programme combined with regular maintenance how ever many computers are involved. By doing this you will maintain high levels of productivity, manage and increment inevitable software releases (avoiding potentially costly “jumps” in releases), dodge probable downtime and ultimately show employees you value what they do by giving them the right tools for the job. Often the cost of a new computer is not as much as you may think and can be more than recouped by the advantages of such a programme.

So move those handbags, dig out those files and reach for the duster – it’s time to start looking after those warm dirty metal boxes under the desk as they are one of the most important and hard working tools your business has. Imagine trying to work without them.

Mark Warburton

more information can be found here at Sound Networks IT services