7 Ways to Save Money with your IT Infrastructure

Who isn't looking to spend a little less or get more out of their current investments? The costs of day to day business for small businesses need to be within budget, but you still need to give your staff the tools they need to get the job done. Here are some tips for cutting costs without making big sacrifices.

Increase Workstation RAM

This may sound like an expense, and not a very good first tip for a way to spend less on IT, but RAM is cheap, and can greatly increase the performance of PCs that just aren't as fast as they could be. Sometimes a small investment of RAM will give that workstation another few years of efficient life, and your users will be able to get more done to boot.

Consider Refurbished Tech

Some manufacturers offer refurbished workstations, and this trend is also becoming popular for mobile phones and laptops. When upgrading your existing tech, consider investing a little in cleaning up and repurposing the old device. If your conference room needs a new PC, that older workstation might be the perfect fit after a little maintenance.

Stop Paying your Phone Bills

Yes, you heard us right. Cease paying your phone company by switching over to a VoIP solution instead. Small businesses save up to 80% on their telephone communication expenses, so the investment pays for itself quickly. Many VoIP systems allow your users to take their phone and use it anywhere, giving you increased flexibility and functionality.

Roll Out Energy Efficient Policies

Wait, you can do good for the environment AND save money? Reducing the amount of electricity you use will (believe it or not) reduce your electricity bill. Having all LCD screens in the office go on standby after 10 minutes of being idle (and switching to all LCDs if you are still using any CRT monitors) is a great start. You can also replace older workstations with newer, energy efficient devices.

Outsource your Vendor Management

When something breaks, don't expect someone internally to sit on the phone with tech support instead of doing what you hired them to do. Outsourcing your vendor management to a technology professional keeps your staff doing their work, and a good IT company that offers vendor management are much more proficient in dealing with hardware/software vendors (hey, we do it every single day!)

Consolidate your Printers

Does everyone in the office need their own ink-guzzling printer? While printers are usually pretty cheap, maintenance and management can be a time-wasting nightmare. Use a network printer in a centralized location and reduce the need for purchasing ink for a single user. You can also go one step further and go paper free, relying on digital files whenever you can.

Get Proactive Monitoring and Maintenance

Most day-to-day IT issues can be completely prevented with just a little bit of maintenance. DirectiveSHORT offers these services to our clients, reducing the amount of downtime they experience. Remember, when your company faces downtime, you are paying your employees who are getting less done AND likely paying to get a technician to fix whatever the issue was. That can get very expensive, and proactive maintenance can vastly reduce that.  Give us a call at 607.433.2200 if you'd like to talk to us about managing your IT or any of these other cost-saving tech tips.