All Businesses want to shave off costs where possible. In fact, both in your personal life and in business it makes sense to look for the best deals. However in terms of IT support and equipment, the best deal is not necessarily the cheapest. What businesses and individuals often forget are the associated costs with what seems like the cheaper deals. 

For example, the cheapest company may not have a turnaround time that is quick enough, or may not guarantee the availability of a critical service (for example an internet connection).

We recently dealt with a company that had purchased a bundle offer for Internet, IP phone and telephones. This was all wrapped up in nice cheap deal that saved money on calls and seemingly provided all the support needed, which was great until it all went wrong.

The connection between the package provider and the Internet went down, and suddenly none of the phones for the businesses multiple sites worked and nor did their internet connection. This problem went on for 4 days, and the company could not contact the provider by telephone or email. They were simply being ignored. All items previously ordered through the internet had to be ordered using a mobile phone. As customers and potential customers could not contact them, the loss business they faced was immense, not even considering other losses such as the damage to their reputation.  To add to this, they could not redirect phone calls (due to the inability to contact the provider) and another company would take up to 10 working days to port the services.

To avoid the situation described here, I often ask companies to do a simple sum: If every person in your business is unable to work for 1 full day, because of computer system downtime, (by this I mean if they could not access email, documents, online research, ordering, banking, etc...), how much would this cost the business? You should then search for the right IT systems with this figure in mind.

Consider this, even 99% guaranteed availability with an internet connection means you could be without a connection for over 3 days each year! If this happens you want to know you can contact someone who will help. Is an extra, say, £30 a month worth this improved service for your business?

Another thing to consider is the computer product selection process. Buying products from the cheapest supplier makes sense: after all it doesn’t change the product... or does it? When purchasing a product it is often fruitful to look around at various suppliers and average out the price. This is the maximum amount you should be paying rather than the cheapest. When selecting a supplier, also consider the service they provide, the delivery terms and conditions, and other people’s experiences with the supplier. After all, when you get those much needed PCs and find out that some have problems, do you want to wait 10 working days for them to replace them. Would you not rather have a supplier that will replace the goods within the next 2 days? And tell me, it isn’t worth paying that little bit extra for this level of service?

Cutting cost at the expense of service is almost always a bad idea unless it is a service that you don’t require. This is something to keep in mind the next time you are considering purchasing IT equipment or services.