| Cut tech costs without cutting effectiveness |
| Wednesday, 01 April 2009 06:10 |
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Advice on the migration to web based technologies and services.
Advice on the migration to web based technologies and services. In any business, large or small, there is one mantra that gets chanted repeatedly when the economy goes even a little weak - cut costs. However, cutting costs is good advice in any economy. Even when times are flush, an organisation really should not be paying for things it does not need, or paying more than necessary for the things it does. Typically, when an organisation purchases a new business application it has to install it onto a server or servers (depending on the application and the size of your organisation).Once it’s up and running, one or more IT people are required to keep it running at peak efficiency, which all adds to the expense, whether it’s internal or external. Then there are the monthly maintenance costs which most software manufacturers require as part of the license. If there is a significant software upgrade there is another cost, and the organisation has to rely and call on IT to complete the process. If there is a fault on the server then there’s an additional cost to replace the hardware. Businesses today simply do not have the financial or human resources for this. One strategy that is having a major effect on businesses in the downturn is moving away from purchasing technologies, which require software and/or hardware, to web-based services with a “pay-as-you-go” model. Such services offer cost effective alternatives and eliminates the need for huge up-front capital expenditure, high maintenance costs and ongoing support costs, whilst assuring the technology that is being used has all the latest features and upgrades. Up-front costs for hardware and software can on occasions be replaced by a small monthly fee, with users in some instances able to select their own tariff as they would with a mobile phone. Furthermore, organisations do not necessarily need the involvement of the IT department to get the service running – it’s all self-contained. The same goes for hardware and software maintenance. It all happens behind the scenes, saving time and money while assuring the organisation can benefit from the software’s latest features. Should a technical issue arise, one call to the supplier’s technical support group generally solves the problem – again at no extra cost. This move to web-based services is not just for “outlier” applications either. Even core applications, such as the office productivity suite, are now moving away from the traditional client / server model to being web-based. The reason is simple, service providers dedicate considerably more resources to that function than internal IT departments, resulting in greater uptime and expertise. Larger, more complex applications such as a contact management or e-mail campaign management system provides even greater opportunities for savings because the need to maintain both hardware and software is reduced and in some cases eliminated. Faxing is another prime example of how organisations can cut costs by moving to a web based faxing service. If the business relies on faxes and the organisation sends and/or receives enough that it needs a dedicated line for the fax machine, not only do you have additional costs from the extra line rental but ensuring the machine is maintained and kept running is very costly. One option available is for the company to sign up to an internet fax service. With such a service the company can send and receive faxes from the desktop PC, laptop or mobile device – no additional machine is required, therefore eliminating the cost of the machine, rents, toner and the cost of a second phone line. All faxes are sent and received over the internet connection that is already installed. With electronic files, paper costs are also reduced; you only print the pages you choose to print. If an organisation is looking for ways to reduce business costs – and who isn’t these days? – consider moving some of the applications to the web. This is a great way to cut costs without cutting efficiency.
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