You might recall a few years ago that there was a seemingly sudden cost of having to update all your operating systems when Microsoft announced it would no longer support Windows XP. That might seem like an unpredictable technology cost but it wasn’t.
This upgrade, like many other IT costs that seem to spring up on you, can (and should) be better accounted for. You just need know what to look for.
Here are 5 IT costs that your company can better plan for:
Cost of support. Support costs can be variable or fixed, depending on the IT provider. If it’s variable, you might avoid contacting your IT support provider when a need arises, so things break down more and cost more. Your IT support vendor is also in the position of needing your systems to break for them to earn revenue, so they’re not motivated to fix root causes. When support is a fixed cost, you pay the same no matter how often you call.
Cost of downtime. When you factor in the cost of employees not working and operations grinding to a halt, even a few hours offline can have devastating impact on your budget. But downtime often lasts for hours or even several days. Downtime can happen to any business, no matter how small or large. Remember, it only takes one employee to infect the network with ransomware.
Productivity loss. When issues arise, you need to be able to resolve them quickly. If you have employees that can’t access email or are working on a slow connection, it’s a drain. Your IT should include access to a help desk that includes after hours and weekend availability that can quickly resolve your issues. For example, Connecting Point currently resolves 85% of issues within 45 minutes, with the average being less than 35 minutes to resolution.
Cost of poor planning. We have a philosophy around Connecting Point. We believe you should never pay for something that wasn’t budgeted for. When we work with clients, we assign them a business consultant who helps them craft a three-year technology road map that aligns with the company’s direction. The document is flexible but allows them to predict technology costs associated with those goals, like adding new employees.
Refresh and renew costs. You might prefer to keep technology around for five or more years, but by then it is usually inefficient (if operational), out of warranty, or incompatible with other technology. You can opt to do a rolling equipment replacement and software renewal to make the cost predictable and prevent surprise mandatory upgrades and replacements.
These costs aren’t often considered when you’re shopping around for an IT service provider, but you’ll certainly wish you had known about them and taken them into account.
Does your IT budget take everything into account? Contact Connecting Point at 970-356-7224.
