Can I Afford New Technology in a Down Economy?

This is another great question from one of our Tech Tips subscribers.  There is no doubt that the recession has forced businesses to tighten spending and look for savings wherever possible.  The thought of purchasing new equipment and software might not even be a consideration right now, but let me ask you this:  can you afford to keep your old technology?

The truth is, maintaining your old systems might be more expensive than purchasing new ones.  Servers and workstations are like any other machines; they don’t last forever.  Think of it like a car.  After you’ve driven it for a couple hundred thousand miles, things start to break.  A new transmission here, a new alternator there, and eventually you’re putting more money into the car than it’s worth.  There’s no need to treat computers and servers any differently, but for some reason, we do.  Maybe it’s because buying 10 new workstations for your staff is not nearly as fun as driving off the lot in a brand new sports car.  However, it is a very wise investment.

Here are 4 reasons why purchasing new technology is more affordable than keeping your old systems:

• Equipment is getting cheaper and cheaper.

In 1989, a PC cost about $9,000.  Now, they’re as cheap as $500 (and of course, they’re much more sophisticated than they were back in ’89).  Same goes for servers, printers and other office electronics.

• New equipment is cheaper to maintain.  It’s an obvious fact; new computers run faster, experience fewer crashes and need less maintenance than older ones.  Not to mention, the hours you and your employees gain in productivity equals more money in your bottom line.
• Network monitoring can save you from expensive failures. If you are on one of our N-Care plans, your systems are monitored 24/7/365 and we are instantly alerted of any potential threats.  This means that you don’t have to worry about your servers crashing or losing crucial data.  For a low monthly fee, you can save your company from losing tens of thousands of dollars in the event of a network failure.  This is not a scare tactic; we’ve seen it happen many times.
• Cloud services are an affordable alternative to major software and hardware purchases. What are cloud services, you might ask?  Cloud services (or Software as a Service—Saas) are software applications that you can access over the internet, eliminating the need to purchase and install the application on your computers.  Not only do these service drastically reduce maintenance and support needs, they’re also generally a lot cheaper.  Some of Nexxtep’s cloud services include Stor-Guard Offsite Backup and Recovery, N-Guard Spam Filtering, and N-Care Connect Hosted Exchange.

Related posts:

1. Cut Costs, Be Green & Stimulate The Economy
2. What is Cloud Computing?
3. N-Guard Email Archiving
4. Keep Your Server Room Cool
5. N-Guard Spam Filtering

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