Weighing up the costs of maintaining or replacing your computers

If you’re having the debate of whether to replace any, or all, of your business computers and/or laptops, then the likelihood is you probably should. Any underperformance you’re experiencing is likely to be wearing on your time and patience, and therefore affecting your efficiency, not to mention ease of working. But if this is an unexpected expense, a good IT provider should be able to talk you through your most cost-effective options, and how to plan in the future for the ongoing costs of IT and its maintenance.

Although business-class computers and servers have a longer life expectancy, and warranty, than consumer computers, they still have an average life of between three and five years. But with a strategic approach to planning your IT and related technology costs, you can mitigate the expense of hefty replacement costs and stop them being an unpleasant, unforeseen surprise.

The most sensible approach to the financial planning of your IT infrastructure, is to plan for ‘end of life’, since in the end, all computers will fail. Bleak, but true! But some systems will last longer than others, depending on how they are used and maintained. For instance, if you have become accustomed to underperformance, and paying for patching, software upgrades and maintaining software, as well as repair costs along the way, it’s possible that you are spending more money on maintaining your old system than if you just replaced it with new computers, set up in a more efficient way, with up-to-date software and applications.

There may also be other costs, associated with running an inefficient system, such as lost productivity and interrupted service for repairs; you’re also likely to be consuming more energy. Newer tech could add minutes back to your working day and reduce costs you’ve not even thought about caused by old equipment.

Because it’s easy to fall into the trap of just getting on with the technology you have, until it’s obvious it no longer works, you should plan to regularly review your tech and IT infrastructure every year, or every two years, and more often if your business is developing at speed. You could have a policy for regular review based on time, or a service-level-triggered policy, for instance, when a computer drops below a certain level of performance.

If you’re not sure of the best approach for review, or how to go about a replacement programme, particularly if you can’t do it all at once, a good IT provider will be able to examine your system and your business operation and advise you. They will plan out what will be the least disruptive and risky to your day-to-day, and suggest what could add efficiency and increased margin to your bottom line. They will be able to suggest newer, better ways of accomplishing tasks and increasing service levels, as well as ensuring your business compliance and continuity.

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