When it comes to starting on our own or setting up a small business, business computing is one of the biggest headaches. In most cases, the ignorance of this world makes our attitude towards computing based on “it costs me as little as possible and does not give problems.”
But as in everything related to the creation of a new business project, it is essential to be well informed to choose the most appropriate and cheapest computing solutions. For this reason, in this article we are going to propose a series of strategies to reduce spending and achieve significant savings in computing. Here are the 5 ideas to save on computing Best rated in New Zealand.
Save on maintenance and repair
Did you know that almost 75% of the computing budgets in a company are destined to the maintenance of the local software infrastructure? Without a doubt, this is not efficient in any sense: we are dedicating three quarters to maintenance and only 25% to operations and strategy. The IT tools we choose will affect all the business areas of our company, so it is crucial to look for solutions that invest this proportion: operations and strategy must occupy 75% of IT resources.
How can we solve that?
For small and medium-sized companies, my recommendation is to outsource the least critical aspects of computing. There are many providers of computer services specialized in SMEs. We recommend that you contact one of them in your locality so that they can advise you according to your specific needs.
Improve productivity
As we have highlighted in the previous section, business computing today conditions many of the production processes that generate value and business for companies. In this sense, one of the factors that reduce productivity is usually the time of assimilation of new technologies.
How can we solve that?
Create online store
We always recommend looking for universal software solutions that can be updated without wasting time. A good example of this is Google Apps, which offers word processor, spreadsheet, email, and cloud storage capabilities, and makes minor improvements and updates on a regular basis. When we implement this solution in a company, we manage to greatly reduce the learning times of the new functionalities by the staff.On the Google Apps for Work website you can hire their services for just 4 euros per user per month.
Manage data backup and recovery
The management and storage of databases and backup copies of the information generated in the company is one of the largest IT costs for companies. Traditionally this work required the acquisition and maintenance of large servers, which is a huge investment and makes data vulnerable to disasters (for example, a fire that destroys servers).
How can we solve that?
Today most companies choose outsourced solutions. For entrepreneurs and small companies, it is usually enough to rent a private virtual server or resort to cloud computing solutions such as Drop box or Google Drive. This saves us the initial purchase cost and allows us to pay only for the space that is actually used.
Reduce energy consumption and noise pollution
A proprietary IT infrastructure generates costs in terms of energy consumption and noise pollution of which many entrepreneurs are unaware. Desktops are a constant energy drain and servers need to be in refrigerated rooms, which dramatically increase the electricity bill. In addition, if the servers are close to workplaces, they generate noise pollution that can cause lack of concentration and stress.
How can we solve that?
One solution that we usually recommend is to install a simple Thin Client device, which runs an operating system that is accessed through the network connection. A thin client greatly reduces annual energy consumption levels compared to a classic CPU. For more details on how to implement this solution, we recommend contacting your usual IT provider.