How to save money on your IT purchases
The experts at Lifeline IT explain how you can make your money stretch further and get the IT equipment you really need to run your business.
With an overwhelming amount of choice available when it comes to IT equipment, it can be a real challenge trying to find the best device at the best price.
Businesses want to ensure they get value for money and there are plenty of ways that you can save on IT purchases without sacrificing performance and safety. Here are just a few tips, from Lifeline IT, to bear in mind when looking for a saving:
1. Planning
Take trusted advice early and look to plan your entire IT infrastructure spend, rather than rushing out to buy items on a whim. Think about what business essential items you need and how, where and by whom, they are going to be used. Purchases that are part of a well thought-out and budgeted IT strategic plan will provide a high performing IT system, which will give a better return on investment than piecemeal purchases made as and when things fail.
2. Buy from a reputable seller
If a price is too good to be true, then it usually is in the case of IT purchases. Don’t be tempted by the seemingly low cost of ‘grey market’ hardware – the specifications may differ significantly from equipment imported through the proper channels and warranty support may be unavailable. It definitely makes sense to shop around and look at different online and retailer offers but always buy from authorised resellers – margins on hardware are universally low so if a company is offering something at an unbelievably low price, you should be very careful.
3. Upgrades
When buying a device, look at what upgrades are available to extend the life of a piece of equipment. If chosen well, desktop PCs often have significant capacity for upgrades – servers should be specified to comfortably allow for predicted growth in data volumes over their useful life, which can often be up to five years. It is also worth noting that some Apple laptops cannot accept memory upgrades, so bear this in mind if buying a product by this manufacturer.
4. Aftercare support
Always think about after care and support – will you be covered if things go wrong either during or after the warranty expires? Make sure you finance wisely – not all finance companies will fund software or labour costs but if the purchase is being made as part of a project, often the entire implementation can be financed. Ideally, you should have support in place as part of your overall IT plan, so you have somebody on hand who can fix things if there is a problem. There’s no point having state-of-the-art technology if there is no back-up when it goes wrong.
