Small Steps Can Save Big

Ricardo Harvin
E-mail questions for Tech Tools to techtools@uschamber.com.

When it comes to your IT infrastructure, there are a number of things you can do to trim spending without hurting your operations.

Evaluate your current technologies and consider lower cost alternatives, modifying how they're used. Try using third-party replacement or remanufactured cartridges in your printers. They're generally much cheaper than the ones sold by the printer manufacturers and can match or beat them in terms of quality. Also consider switching to cheaper, lower quality paper for interoffice use, saving the good stuff for brochures, invoices, and other customer materials (you can do the same with the ink).

Reduce the cost of a necessary computer purchase by opting for one with only the RAM, hard drive space, and video capability that you need now, as long as you have the option to easily upgrade all three at a later date. This strategy can save you $100 or more on your purchase. Based on the average cost of a Mac, PC laptop, or desktop, this can result in a savings of 6% to 16%. With the upgrade option, you'll be able to extend the life of your machine and realize the same overall cost of ownership in the long run. 

Using free, high-quality office productivity suites and other open source software options may save you another $100 to $200. Google Docs and OpenOffice are just two examples of free software that I've written about before (see E-Sources online for links).

Determine whether company-provided mobile devices pay for themselves. You may not be able—or even want—to pry them out of your employees' (or your own) hands, but see if you can cut back on usage.

Implement a policy that prohibits your sales team from making calls (or sending text or e-mail messages) while on the road unless it's business critical. This may reduce airtime enough to switch to a lower cost service plan. Instead of spending nearly $100 each month for high or unlimited usage, you may be able to scale back to one that saves you 25% to 35% each month.

Whatever you do, don't cut IT out of your budget entirely. Successful businesses maintain a suitable technological foundation. Not having an IT budget would be like deciding to work without heat or air-conditioning to save money. It could be done, but would that help or hurt your work environment?

There are probably a lot of other things throughout your organization that can be used in a more cost-effective manner. If you're smart and frugal now, you may come out on the other side of the economic downturn as a much better, more productive organization.

E-Sources:

Articlesbase  article "Generic & Remanufactured Printer Cartridges Vs. Brand Name"
Gizmodo Article: "Average Mac Computer Price More That Twice That of Average PC"
Google Docs - free, online office productivity tools
OpenOffice - free, desktop office productivity suite sourceforge.net - SourceForge - the largest repository of Open Source software
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