I've been meeting with many of my customers on this topic recently. Life cycle planning is one of those best practices that large companies have been doing for years. They reap the benefits of a constantly refreshed infrastructure. Again, the small and medium businesses (SMB) has had a difficult time taking hold of this concept because of the perceived costs associated with it. I understand this challenge.
The general rule for a computer is that you can get 3-4 years of usage and then it will be time to replace it. We all know companies that make their equipment last a lot longer. I wonder if those companies save money? My guess is that some companies are successful operating this way. I think this is the case because they don't put a lot of stress on their networks. I've seen this with some manufacturing companies. They might have an old Unix based software product which runs their entire organization. They may have no real need for a computers other than word processing and email. In some of these cases a small company can hold out for a long time and run old hardware because their software does not need to be up to date. If that is the case for you great!
The rest of us have a challenge on our hands. How do we make a small IT budget stretch and still have enough to keep updated hardware. If you've read any of my earlier blogs you know that I think it all starts with having a plan. I think your IT provider should provide you with a plan. Part of the plan should cover applications will serve your companies needs. The plan should also talk about hardware hardware life cycle management, and provide what I call an IT road map. Lets just say that your software and systems have to serve your business process. The systems and software that serve your business are dynamic and constantly changing. Your IT road map and life cycle plan should take this into account.
Recently, I've been able to help companies free up cash to purchase new equipment to run their business by renegotiating contracts for services that have monthly recurring costs that are too high. These costs are often forgotten about when customers focus on the challenges of running the day to day business. This is where having a well rounded provider can be helpful. Over the long run companies can realize savings by, knowing what their IT assets are and managing them as they age. The savings can be realized by not having to pay $100-$150 per hour to a tech firm to fix an aging broken infrastructure. Employees are happier and get more work done when their computer is working well and when they have great tools to do their work.
There is no need to make things too complicated. There is affordable software (and free versions) which will automatically search out your network and provide a report of everything you have. A good provider should be able to recommend a standard hardware and software configuration that is affordable and functional. It's a good idea to stick with one manufacturer of Hardware for PC's and Servers to keep the support simplified. Make sure you get a 3 year warranty on all your business machines. If you do that your warranty will match the life of the machine. If you want to you can extend the warranty after the 3 years is up with some manufacturers. These are just a couple of basic Ideas to get started. Many businesses I meet with can get a handle on their infrastructure by just making these basic moves. Its really just makes sense if you think about it.
I hope you find something here that is interesting and helpful. I'd love to hear any comments.
Thanks for reading my blog.
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