Computer Support Network

With the uncertain economy it’s no surprise that many businesses have decided to cut back on new hardware expenses. Cost reduction in an economic crisis is prudent but if a business cuts hardware upgrades entirely the result will be catastrophic. Hardware is the backbone of your business. Without it, your workers will be unable to complete their jobs and work will come to a standstill. Remember, these five critical upgrade reasons when planning your hardware budget.

#5: Employee Retention: Outdated or defective hardware not only makes work harder for your employees but makes them resent your business for making them use it.  Periodical upgrades will make employees feel important and respected.

#4: Limited Resources: Every year new versions of software are released and with them hardware requirements escalate.   If your business relies on software upgrades to excel you will soon fall behind the curve without adequate hardware.

#3: Old Hardware Costs More in the Long Run: Old hardware is less energy efficient, requires more knowledge to operate and is far more prone to failure.  The resources needed to provide upkeep to an old system could be applied to a new system for a fraction of the costs.

#2: Competition: Is your current hardware enough to compete with your competitors now?  If so it might be easy to think that that is enough but you would miss an opportunity.  Through hardware upgrades you can gain a competitive advantage in your industry and gain an early lead when the economy recovers.

#1: Nothing Lasts Forever:  Equipment wears out.  Hard drives fail.  No matter how careful a business is, it will still experience hardware failure overtime.  If you find yourself with a downed storage server because the hardware wore out you will not only have to deal with the immediate cost of replacement but also with the cost of business downtime. Business critical devices should be kept on a strict upgrade and repair cycle.  A mistake that many businesses make is to think that old hardware can be brought back into use in an emergency. While it’s nice to think that a 10 year old computer from storage can be used in a crisis, in most cases, it’s not viable. A decade old computer simply does not have the capabilities to run many of today’s hardware intensive programs. The same applies tenfold for the use of outdated storage devices.

When economic times are tough efficiency is paramount to success. Hardware neglect is the one thing you can’t afford.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department

With the uncertain economy it’s no surprise that many businesses have decided to cut back on new hardware expenses. Cost reduction in an economic crisis is prudent but if a business cuts hardware upgrades entirely the result will be catastrophic. Hardware is the backbone of your business; without it your workers will be unable to complete their jobs and work will come to a standstill.

Remember, that just because the economy is on a break doesn’t mean your hardware is. Over time storage devices, computers and even monitor displays will wear out. If you find yourself with a downed storage server because the hardware wore out you will not only have to deal with the immediate cost of replacement but also with the cost of business downtime. Business critical devices should be kept on a strict upgrade and repair cycle.

A mistake that many businesses make is to think that old hardware can be brought back into use in an emergency. While it’s nice to think that that 10 year old computer from storage can be used in a crisis for most cases it’s just not viable. A decade old computer simply does not have the capabilities to run many of today’s hardware intensive programs. The same applies tenfold for the use of outdated storage devices.

Just because the economy is down doesn’t mean that competition has ended. If your competitors suffer more than you because of the economy you should use this opportunity to gain a competitive advantage. Likewise if you do the bare minimum they might take advantage of your weakness and pull ahead. Leverage an advantage now and it will carry you to the top when the economy improves.

Efficient hardware goes hand and hand with job satisfaction. A good employee is the most valuable asset your company has but a poor work environment will cause discouragement. If your hardware is in disrepair or in a state that makes work difficult it increases the likelihood that and employee will become discouraged and leave. Position replacement causes downtime, inefficiency and will cost your business far more than the replacement of aged equipment.

When economic times are tough efficiency is paramount to success. Hardware neglect is the one thing you can’t afford.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department

With the economic downturn of the American economy many businesses are faced with the problem of cutting cost but keeping quality high. Until recently the tech support branches of American businesses had been largely impervious to the problems faced by the economy. Recent studies, however, have shown that that this might have led many to a false sense of security. With no guaranty that the economy will be picking up in the near future many IT branches have had their income compensations stagnated without an increase in sight.  

With the economic problems many companies have been forced to cut expenses’ or cut funding entirely. The result of the cuts is that more and more of the jobs once performed by in-house staff are being moved out of the country by outsourcing. The problem with this is it creates a vicious cycle for the economy. By outsourcing businesses save money and that savings can be passed onto the client but ultimate by removing a worker from the equation the economy is further damaged. If the cycle continues long enough you end up with an even smaller distribution of wealth; after which is becomes difficult to recover.  

Perhaps the most troubling repercussion of this trend is the fact that people who would once be happy to take the IT positions in a company are now reluctant to take a chance. Worried that with the possibility of cuts there is little job security to look forward to. With the future uncertain it is hard to say just how the economic situation will play out. It’s possible that the current stagnation is unjustified but until the situation untangles itself it is very likely that many more companies will follow suit.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department