Technology can be pretty expensive to buy and maintain, but it can get a whole lot more expensive if you aren’t cognizant of how your IT dollars are being spent. Long ago are the days when companies could get their technology for a song and it would work for years at a time. Today’s business technology has to build a more efficient workplace, as capital is harder to come by today than it has been for quite some time. Let’s take a look at four ways you could be wasting your technology budget and what you can do to ward against it.
Are You Using All That Software?
One way that many smaller businesses try to compete with the big boys is by using similar tools. This strategy, which was once viewed as foolhardy—because of the costs associated with enterprise software—is now completely possible through the use of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). SaaS allows any organization to purchase a single software license in a cloud-based virtual server for a flat rate per month, per user. The technology has changed the way that businesses view their application investment strategy.
But do you use it all?
Studies have shown that nearly a third of all SaaS licenses are unused. Now that percentage should be much lower at an SMB, but wasting money on a single unused software license is detrimental to the organization’s growth, let alone several user accounts that are renewed without assessment. Be sure to know what your organizational computing needs are and purchase software commensurate with those needs.
Not Everyone Needs the Same Workstation
One of the biggest technology purchasing fallacies is that if you buy better hardware, you won’t have to replace it as frequently. Of course, in terms of being able to run more advanced applications over time, that is true, but as far as the predictability of whether or not that technology will fail in a certain time frame, it is horribly misguided.
When purchasing new hardware, you need to understand that not everything is equal. If you have people that deal in major media or need to run cutting-edge, resource-intensive software, they will need better workstations than people that basically need to be able to run the CRM and word processing programs or spreadsheet programs. By assessing your core needs before purchasing hardware, you can save a lot of capital when making these decisions.
Your Vendors are Making Business Difficult
Vendors are notoriously seeking to upsell you to gain higher commissions. When you have several technology vendors, you can spend a lot of time dealing with them. Moreover, they will try to squeeze every cent out of you that they can in that time. That’s why it is important to actively review your vendor contracts and make sound financial decisions for your business.
If you are pleased with a vendor’s product and you don’t think that you need anything better, that’s fair, but you have to know that you can save a lot of money if you simply shop around as your vendor contracts expire. Technology vendors are constantly running promotions to try and grab a larger market share, so if you play your cards right, you can get similar (or superior) services for a fraction of the cost of renewal.
Grove Networks Can Help
One of the biggest benefits of doing business with us is that we know how to save a buck on technology. If you would like to learn more about cutting your business’ technology spending without sacrificing productivity and efficiency, reach out to the IT professionals at Grove Networks today at (305) 448-6126.
