Tips on Maximizing your IT Budget

As printed in OFDealer September 2010 Issue from OFDA

By Dave Brysch and Vincent Tran

 

Ensuring your business takes full advantage of the latest advances in technology can have a significant positive

impact on productivity and the bottom line. But successfully managing your company’s technology investment can be tricky business. There is a fine line between the putting yourself on the “bleeding edge” and falling behind. Finding the balance means staying competitive.

Making do with what you have

Existing hardware requires continual maintenance and monitoring. The failure of a desktop or server can mean costly downtime or recovery.  

• Keep up with patches and software updates. Whether on old or new hardware, keeping up the latest protection can save hours of costly recovery. Always be sure you thoroughly test all upgrades and know how to roll back before deploying them.  
• Keep it clean. Dust, static, moisture, fluctuations in temperature and humidity can wreak havoc on a data center. Have proper and regular cleaning schedules.  
• Protect your machines with battery backups rather than just surge protectors. Battery backups do a better job of providing your equipment with a constant stream of “clean” power, free of spikes and dips. They also prevent sudden shut-downs, which can be disastrous to hardware. 
• Restrict traffic and access to your hardware by implementing security policies. This can prevent accidents and 
• limit the introduction of unwanted elements into your data center. When it comes to software, make sure you authorize what’s being installed on all workstations.  
• Test your disaster scenarios. Set up testing periods where you take down servers and fail over to their backups. Understand how long the entire process will take and what it will mean to the business. Test your backup power generators and batteries. Check that your software backups are really working. 
• Vendor warranties and support policies. Research whether the products you’re using are still under warranty, have outstanding recalls or have available support for older, “end-of-life” models. Lacking support when you most need it is a recipe for disaster. 

Upgrading or replacing

• Knowing when to upgrade is only half of the equation. Acquiring the right hardware, the right way, is the rest of the battle. 
• Explore software-as-a-service (SAAS) and infrastructure as-a-service (IAAS) offerings. On demand services allow you to take advantage of the latest technology without incurring a large cash outlay.
• Cloud-based IAAS offerings can drastically reduce or even eliminate on-site server hardware and the costs associated with operating a data center. An added benefit to IAAS is your data and business systems are located in a secured off-site location. 
• Warranties, warranties, warranties. For mission-critical appliances and devices, there’s never a bad time to have the original vendor insure your purchase. With high-touch devices such as laptops and mobile phones/PDAs it’s even more important. Consider third-party providers who are beginning to offer warranties that are just as good as the manufacturer warranty, and sometimes at a lower price. 
• Price out scalability. Whether it’s a new laser printer or a new server, identify the device’s weakest link and determine what it requires to function properly at peak demand. With a printer, it could be as simple as knowing when and where to purchase toner. With servers and hardware, determine if it’s capable of
  being upgraded with new drives and RAM. 
• Research and test compatibility. Often times the latest and greatest devices may not necessarily provide backwards compatibility. Make sure you have all the cables, wiring, and space required to properly support the new devices.

General advice

• Set up monitoring. Monitoring applications enables you to track the health and vital signs of your network and lets you remain proactive in paring down costs and planning upgrades. For instance, network monitoring lets you know if the bandwidth you’re paying for is too much or too little. You can quickly determine the hard disk utilization of a particular server and if a desktop has unauthorized or out-dated software installed. Monitoring is the first step towards maximizing your IT ROI.
• Keep anti-virus, malware, spyware up-to-date. Out of date security not only is dangerous to your customers’ data, but a compromised machine leads to early failures and can result in a complete loss. Your entire corporate security is only as strong as your weakest point.
• Hire a reliable vendor to support your IT staff. Most businesses rely on one or two IT staffers operating a help desk in break/fix mode. All too often, they are constantly repairing and maintaining devices, and never planning ahead. They’re usually spread thin, and are unable to keep up-to-date on the latest certifications and skill sets. Utilizing an IT vendor that offers a broad range of services—and fixed rates—can help ensure
  consistent service levels.
• Review telecom and software contracts. Negotiating down costly connectivity, telephony and support contracts can quickly reduce monthly operating expenditures. Vendors will often renegotiate rather than lose a customer. 

You may already have many of these tips instilled, but if you haven’t, start today. Once you’ve identified and corrected the inefficiencies, you can start utilizing IT as a way to help drive productivity and increase efficiency rather than as a burden and uncontrollable expense.

Dave Brysch | President | Channel Dynamix
Dave has a long history of providing software and IT services for the contract furniture dealer market. His experience stems from years of developing custom applications and supporting complex, mission critical infrastructure. He founded Channel Dynamix in 1999, and has since guided it to become a leading provider of analytics and managed IT services.

Vincent Tran | Channel Dynamix
Vincent heads the Interactive Services division for Channel Dynamix. He specializes in web and application User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) development, with a focus on how people interact with data. Prior to joining the IT side, he ran his own award-winning creative and web agency for nearly a decade. 

Follow him on Twitter @channeldynamix